Plastic recycling - BCI times article
Thought I'd paste this on a new thread. You can now recycle plastic at seven sites across the borough SO PLEASE DO!!!Standing in my kitchen this week with a box of bras in one hand and a wine bottle in the other I was stuck with an interesting quandary.No, I was not debating my outfit for a night on the razzle, I was instead wondering just which one of my recycling boxes I need to put my half cardboard, half plastic brassiere packaging in. The wine bottle was easy, straight into the glass bin; I had to be more resourceful with the bra box and take a pair of scissors to it.My mother brought me up to be a bit of an eco-warrior and after having been dragged around a thousand green themed festivals as a youngster I am now trying to impart my Earth-saving knowledge onto my other half. So far I have managed to get him to put his scantily-clad-babe-filled tabloids into the council’s green box, along with his aerosol hairsprays and the batteries from his Walkman. Now I face the added challenge of getting him to sift through his plastics as well.This week the first batch of Hounslow Council’s plastic recycling skips were placed on sites across the borough. The skips will be in operation at seven supermarket sites and will collect plastic bottles, shopping bags, milk carton, yoghurt pots, netting for oranges - in fact all plastic items that can fit through the skips’ holes (the size of a dinner plate) will be accepted.Until now the borough has not been able to offer a comprehensive plastic recycling service - some were taken in at Feltham’s Space Waye Centre but it was deemed to costly to be undertaken in the doorstop green box collections.However, resident pressure has lead to the 21 skips at seven sites coming into action. Natasha Epstein, principle recycling officer for Hounslow Council, explains: "This is what residents want. They want to recycle plastic. When they look in their bins, it’s all they see because it’s bulky and other waste tends to drop to the bottom of the bin. Around 13 per cent of a household’s waste is plastic, which is 13 per cent we have not been targeting, and this will now contribute to our recycling figures."Hounslow is currently recycling 17.5 per cent of its waste, but has been set the ambitious target of 25 per cent by the government for the end of this year. Previously the council’s focus has been on reducing the biodegradable waste that is sent to landfill sites, as they must reduce this by 75 per cent. If they are not able to manage this they will be fined £150 per ton, for each ton they are under target. Eventually this financial cost will be put back on to the resident, so as Natasha explains "it’s in our own interests to recycle."Plastic, unlike paper, card, textiles and food waste, is not biodegradable and will not break down in the earth so will not count towards the landfill directive. But due to the properties of plastic it will also not make too much of a dent into the overall recycling targets, although this should not put residents off."Plastic is a very light weight material," says Natasha. "So even if we get that 13 per cent off every person in the borough it will only put around four per cent on our total recycling weight - but every little counts if we are to reach our target. We have also found that if people are collecting plastic they are more likely to save more of the materials they were already collecting and so our figures will rise that way."The council has been wisely frugal when planning the new plastic scheme. Natasha says: "Over 60 per cent of residents wanted the plastic to go in the green boxes but our contract with ECT, who collect the boxes, does not include plastic and to have that included would cost £200,000 a year."The alternative will see the plastic waste taken to Slough by a company called Grundons, who have in turn been given a target of recycling 90 per cent of the plastic that Hounslow sends them. This is quite high considering that some plastics are specifically designed not to be melted down and remoulded. However, those that can be recycled will be used to make a variety of products. Plastic bottles are particularly useful as they can be recycled into fleeces, shopping bags, toys and, of course, new plastic bottles.Hounslow Council will pay Grundons £33 per ton to take the plastic away. The West London Waste Authority will then pay the council recycling credits for their troubles, at around £43 per ton. This would appear to leave them in profit but the council must also pay £19 for each skip to be emptied, and the 21 skips will be emptied twice weekly. It is thus estimated that the total cost to the council will be £50,000 a year - far cheaper than having the material collected in the green boxes and even more so if it means avoiding the heavy financial penalties from the government.The council is also encouraging residents to be even more environmentally friendly by thinking about when they will go to the skips: "The sites are convenient to most residents, but we would ask them not to make a special trip to drop off their plastic, instead take it when they are going to do their shopping or driving past the skips. We would also like them to ‘wash and squash’ their plastics by giving them a quick rinse before they place them in the skip and then crushing them down as much as possible. This will reduce contamination - and a plastic milk carton won’t smell too nice if it’s been in there for a few days without a wash - and will also ensure that we can fit more material in before the skip is collected." Natasha adds: "It’s what residents have been asking for so we want them to show us that it’s really what they want by using it." · Plastic recycling banks will be located at the following sites: Sainsbury's car park, Acton Lane; Chiswick, Somerfield car park, High Street, Brentford; Tesco, Mogden Lane, Isleworth; Tesco, Bulls Bridge Estate, Hayes; Tesco, High Street, Feltham; Somerfield, Bath Road, Hounslow West; Tesco, Syon Lane, Osterley.
Sally Henfield ● 7230d0 Comments ● 7230d
This weekend..fill in that questionnaire!!