Here are some facts I found about the importance of recycling:
• 80% of the things we throw away could be recycled
• More than 15% of the money we spend on products pays for packaging
• The top 3 most recycled items are paper, plastic bottles and aluminium
• Wales is recognised as one of the world’s leading recyclers.
• There are 3500 waste recycling plants in the UK
• In 2021 2.5 million tonnes of plastic waste was generated in the UK and only 44% recycled
One of the main problems, as identified in the article, ‘Waste not want: the future of UK plastic recycling’ by Dr Helen Holmes from Manchester University, is that there is no continuity across the country. There are 391 different local authorities in the UK with 39 different bin regimes! The 3500 waste recycling plants have different criteria for how they need the plastic waste presented to them.
All this causes confusion for the householder and therefore even when they do try to recycle, often it is not suitable for the waste plants criteria. Should bottle tops be on or off? Can you recycle yogurt pots? Should you thoroughly wash all recycled material for it to be acceptable? Can you recycle crisp packets, bread bags and tablet containers?
What Dr Holmes proposed is a one-bin for all plastic waste. This would then simplify recycling for households, but also unify recycling throughout the country and hopefully would increase the percentage we can recycle.
The Importance of Recycling by Councils
We have just moved from the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) council area to New Forest District Council (NFDC) and the bin collection/recycling is so different. BCP collects recycling but limits you to a large wheelie bin every 2 weeks.
They also collect food waste. NFDC collects as much recycling as you put out weekly and separates glass from other recycling, but food waste goes out to landfill; so, pros and cons for both. How much easier and more cost-effective for the country it would be if all councils were the same! Let’s hope this will happen in the not-too-distant future.
The importance of recycling gets greater every day and I wanted to share a couple of ideas I have seen recently. Instead of plastic bottles of water, I recently bought, while visiting Lyme Regis, water in a can. Simple. Also, I am still old enough to remember that you could return glass bottles and get money back. I have heard that this is being reinstated in some places but with plastic bottles – what a great idea!
Let me know your ideas and thoughts on the importance of recycling.
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