Mr
Matthew Eames, Leicestershire County Council Environment and Waste
Technician provided a presentation on what are recyclable and
non-recyclable items.
- All seven district councils use Case Pak in Leicestershire.
Leicestershire County Council is due to roll out a recycling
campaign.
- Leicestershire County Council Waste Initiatives Team
carry out talks on recycling in schools
and to community groups. Articles are placed in magazines such as
Letterbox.
The
Chair extended an appreciation of thanks to Matthew Eames at the
close of the presentation.
Recycling Dos and Don’ts:
The
Dos:
- Rinse and drain plastic bottles.
- Keep plastic in its original state. Squash it and place it in
the wheelie Bin.
- Place plastic tubs pots in the recycling.
- Tetra pack cartons are recyclable. Flatten them if you wish.
Those with the lids left on are more collectable.
- Cardboard can be flattened. Empty everything out of
them.
- Cleaned aluminium foil is acceptable and can be squashed
flat.
- Food tins must be rinsed and drained.
- Drinks cans are acceptable.
- Some types of clean tin foil are acceptable.
- Completely empty aerosol cans are ok to recycle.
- Rinsed glass bottles and glass jars with their lids on are
acceptable. Rinse the items and place the lids back on.
- Ensure all packaging is empty.
- Brown and green loose bags previously used for recycling can be
placed in the bin.
- With regard to rolls of old green and brown surplus recycling
bags, residents may contact Customer Services. They will advise
residents that they can either bring them into the Customer
Services Centre or arrange with the Depot (Tip) for the bags to be
collected.
- Residents were reminded that they could use their small black
bins for composting.
- Some terraced streets and flats have clear bags, as they are
unable to accommodate bins.
- Oadby and Wigston borough has one of the highest recycling rates
in the Country.
- Bins for normal waste will be introduced in June 2019.The
Government is to stick to the European recycling rates.
- Recycling bins from businesses and schools are treated as trade
waste.
Action:
The Chair is
to request a statement be drawn up by the Council on this matter.
This statement will be taken to the County Council about the
non-collection of recycling waste.
The
Don’ts
- Do not place any black plastic in the recycling waste. Infrared
rays used to identify plastic rubbish cannot pick up its
existence.
- Do not place broken glass in the recycle bin. Place it in a
bottle bank for recycling.
- No flat glass such as mirrors.
- Do not add textiles, as they tangle up in the equipment. Donate
them, even the rags to charity. Clothing can become tangled up with
glass and blocks the system.
- No used nappies. Place them in the general waste.
- No makeup in plastic tubes. These are difficult to
clean.
- No hard plastic such as hangers whole or broken, wash baskets,
washing up bowls or plastic storage containers.
- No children`s toys.
- Do not add crisp packets or multi-use crisp bags. Walkers Crisps
have set up a recycling process for their crisp packets. Some
stores are taking back plastic carrier bags for
recycling.
- No batteries or small electrical items to be placed in
bins.
- No tissues to be placed in bins.
- No single use plastic drinking cup to be placed in
bins.
- No polystyrene or Styrofoam.
- No used plastic bags are to be placed in bins.
- No tin foil as used in boxes of tea such as Tetley, PG Tips and
Typhoo etc.
- Scrunched up tin foil turns into a laminate so must not be
placed in recycling. The test to see if it is not recyclable is to
scrunch it up into a ball to see if it does not spring back open.
If it springs back, do not recycle it.
- No shredded paper as it can become mixed up and separate out
creating a mess on the conveyer belt.
- No food and drink. Food waste can cause contamination of
recyclables. Cross contamination is a bit of an issue on the
tipping floor when items are being graded.
- Do not add bags of items into one plastic bag to recycle. Case
Pak finds these causes a recycling problem.
- On non-emptied bins. It may have visual contamination in it.
Waste Officers are trained to spot visual contaminants. A bin
hanger is usually placed on the bin if this is the
case.
- Some food packaging might not be biodegradable. Some compostable
packaging may be misleading for composting down. If placed in a
landfill such items may form methane gas.
- Too shiny gift wrapping paper is a non-recyclable. Matt wrapping
paper may not be recyclable. Read the labelling.
- Too shiny gift wrapping paper is non-recyclable. Matt wrapping
paper may also not be recyclable. Read the labelling.
- Aerosol cans are fine from the house, such as air freshener/
deodorant/ polish etc. but not if they have contained hazardous
substances (i.e. from the garage or shed), such as WD40/ paint/
glue etc.
- No white plastic cups or disposable coffee cups.
- No blister packs used for medicines.
- Plastic tubes are not ok to include even if they have been
cleaned out properly (i.e. cut and cleaned).
- OM PAK labelling is great up to a point. “Widely
recycled” means that 75% of Local Authorities will allow the
item to be recycled.
- BBC Radio Leicester hosts a recycling box for receiving crisp
packets.
The Chair
thanked to Waste Recycling Officer for his presentation.