Forum Topic

Contaminated recycling - food in this case

Explanation urgently needed - Cllr Guy Lambert would be a start.  I have been informed that the recycling crews are instructed to take ALL food waste in the green caddies even if it is in ordinary supermarket plastic bags.   Please explain again what happens when this food waste is tipped out of the recycling lorry back at the Hounslow depot.   Are there "sorters" there who carefully remove these apparently contaminated bags and then what happens?   What about the special (and expensive) light green compostable bags, are they truly biodegradable and quickly rot down once in the soil?   I read somewhere that there is now doubt over these bags too.   Should we all start to wrap all food waste in newspaper?   If so we shall need larger food caddies as this makes for very bulky "packages" after every meal. While on the subject, can we be re-assured than NONE OF HOUNSLOW'S PLASTICS are sent overseas?

Jennifer Selig ● 2258d4 Comments

It is easy to line a food waste bin with newspaper.  Shredded paper can be used too as well as paper roll.  IMO the charge for carrier bags should be increased as we still see so many reusable ones dotted around the streets and used as bin bags.  Cereal bags, spinach bags, magazine bags etc can all be used to line a bin if necessary and if opened carefully.  We need to be more creative.  We should also be recycling more in this countryWe can reduce the amount of food waste we make by making sure we eat more of what we buy:  www.lovefoodhatewaste.com shows us how to waste less - eat those broccoli stalks - peel them if necessary!  Don't buy too much and don't chop off too much when preparing when you can often break or pull the top off a vegetable/fruit.  Make sure that you and your family all understand the difference between Best Before and Use By dates!  There's a new generation needing to learn every year.

Philippa Bond ● 2254d

The Council does not ship any waste to Malaysia. Since January, we have been shipping our Southall Lane Depot plastics to two customers, as of the end of May: - Biffa Waste Services, Aldridge Plastics Recycling Facility. This sorts mixed plastic bottles and packaging into separate polymer streams which are then sent to Biffa's UK plants according to the polymer involved:• HDPE Natural – Biffa Polymers (Redcar)• HDPE Jazz – Biffa Polymers (Redcar)• Polypropylene - Biffa Polymers (Redcar)• Rigid Plastic- Biffa Poplars (Cannock)• PET Light Jazz – Evolve Polymers UK (Lincs)-Total Commodities, who ship on to Cevrepet in Turkey.http://www.cevrepet.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=featured&Itemid=100&lang=enMy Turkish isn't too good but from the video they take bales of plastic from us, sort, and reprocess into beans ready for reuse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8PkSezaWdw

Guy Lambert ● 2256d

Many thanks Guy for your prompt response.  Now we have to trust that the plastics UK recycling companies used by Hounslow do in fact deal with it all in this country and are not sending vast cargoes out to the Far East.

Jennifer Selig ● 2257d

I have visited the food recycling depot we use, in Mitcham . https://www.biocollectors.com/about-us.html In reality, the processors we use change from time to time according to where we can get the best deal.The waste goes through two processes - pre-digestion, where it is sort of rotted down into a slurry and contaminants (like plastic bags) removed. Then anaerobic digestion, where micro-organisms act on it in an oxygen-free environment and produce methane which is fed into the gas supply.The solid waste residue is used as fertiliser.Conventional plastics have to be removed as they would interfere with the digestion whereas the biodegradable bags do not- however they have to go through pre-digestion about 4 times to break down sufficiently. As with most things recycling, purity is preferred but because complete purity is unrealistic processors have to have a method of dealing with contaminants and will tolerate a small amount.All of Hounslow's plastics are currently taken by UK recycling companies.

Guy Lambert ● 2257d