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Recycling Plastics |
LATEST:
"A lot of people are getting together on an irregular basis to talk about what to do about
recycling in BFOE's Warehouse, and Maud at BFOE will know more about this: www.birminghamfoe.org.uk"
(thanks to Ethan Woehrling of the Green Birmingham email group for the below)
I have found it very difficult to recycle plastic living in the West Midlands conurbation, as have quite a number of people judging from the response that I got from a recent posting on Freecycle. I have put together this document to help us:
1. Recycle more plastic
2. Try and get the local councils in our area to do something about this problem.
Unfortunately this is no panacea and I apologise in advance if hopes of a plastic recycling bonanza are high L
Why is there a problem?
Plastic is bulky and cheap. This property is the reason it is used to package so much stuff and the reason most councils don’t want to recycle it. It is hard to make money out of plastic recycling. I have contacted my local council and the response that I got is this:
“It would cost the council money to recycle plastic and the tax payers don’t want an increase in their council tax”
This is rubbish. Yes it is more difficult to put a plastic recycling scheme in place but it can be done for nothing if you work at it. I urge all to write to your councillor. You can use the "Write to Them" website if you want to email them: fill in your postcode below to get to the relevant page.
The basics
Plastic can be identified by the following symbols. It is sometimes hard to find them but I have found that they do indeed appear on 80% of all the plastic I buy if I look hard enough.
PET
Polyethylene terephthalate - Fizzy drink bottles and oven-ready meal trays.
HDPE
High-density polyethylene - Bottles for milk and washing-up liquids.
PVC
Polyvinyl chloride - Food trays, cling film, bottles for squash, mineral water and shampoo.
LDPE
Low density polyethylene - Carrier bags and bin liners.
PP
Polypropylene - Margarine tubs, microwaveable meal trays.
PS
Polystyrene - Yoghurt pots, foam meat or fish trays, hamburger boxes and egg cartons, vending cups, plastic cutlery, protective packaging for electronic goods and toys.
OTHER
Any other plastics that do not fall into any of the above categories. - An example is melamine, which is often used in plastic plates and cups.
What I do with it
Warwickshire County Council offer recycling facilities of PET and HDPE at the following sites:
Hunters Lane, Rugby
Cherry Orchard, Kenilworth
Princes Drive, Leamington Spa
Burton Farm, Stratford-upon-Avon
Wellesbourne, near Warwick
Shipston, Shipston-on-Stour, Stratford
Go to the following web site for more details:
http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/Web/corporate/pages.nsf/Links/3C8EC7AFCF467FF080256C24005015AB
As the Kenilworth Site is only a 14 mile round trip for me I save up as much PET and HDPE as I can and link it in with a shopping trip to the supermarket.
LDPE can be recycled at many Sainsbury’s and Tesco stores. I am currently in contact with both of these companies to find out if their carrier bag receptacles can take all LDPE. (Waste of time calling the free 0800 numbers as the people in the call centres haven’t got a clue).
Other Information
CD Recycling can be done by posting CD’s to:
Polymer Reprocessors Limited
Peninsula Business Park
Reeds Lane
Moreton
Wirral, CH46 1DW
T: 0151 707 3684
Go to the following web site for more details:
http://www.reuze.co.uk/cds.shtml
Plastic vending cups at work can be recycled too. Contact:
Save-A-Cup Recycling Co Ltd
Suite 2, Bridge House
Bridge Street
HIGH WYCOMBE
Buckinghamshire HP11 2EL
T 01494 510 167
Go to the following web site for more details:
www.save-a-cup.co.uk
General Information:
http://www.wasteonline.org.uk/resources/InformationSheets/Plastics.htm
http://www.recoup.org/business/default.asp
Where can I recycle stuff?
Many Councils in the West Midlands (Wolverhampton, Sandwell, Shropshire, Warwickshire etc.) conurbation offer facilities to recycle PET and HDPE. Put your post code in to one of these sites and then look up ‘recycling’ under the a-z search at the councils web site. It often gives more details of other sites where PET and HDPE can be recycled.
http://www.wastepoint.co.uk/search1.asp
http://www.reuze.co.uk/recycle.shtml
Last Modified 3/27/06 9:56 PM