Should I recycle plastics?
In Suffolk Coastal over
8% (equivalent to 3,000 tonnes) of the 'black bag' refuse
disposed of by residents is plastics. Most of this is food and
drink packaging.
Plastics are produced from oil which has to be subjected to high
temperature processing, and has the addition of various chemical
polymerisers, pigments, etc to make the range of plastic products
in use today. Demands for oil are varied and vast, and if it is
possible to reduce or avoid the need to use this limited resource,
the longer oil reserves will last. Recycling plastics will prolong
the life of oil reserves.
The energy needed to produce new plastic products from recycled
plastics is far less than that needed to produce plastics from raw
materials. Recycling plastics will reduce the energy needs and
reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions associated with
manufacture.
Recycling plastics reduces the amount of plastic disposed of at
landfill sites.
Should I recycle degradable plastics?
Some plastic products are described as 'degradable' or
'biodegradable'. Manufacturers of degradable plastics take into
account the end use of the product, the likely period the product
will be in storage before use, the typical storage conditions, the
user's needs as regards strength and life, etc. The product is then
manufactured to meet these use demands and then to degrade. Some
products require combinations of temperature, moisture, and or
light before they start to degrade. Even degradable plastic items
can take a long time to degrade.
There are concerns that mixing degradable plastic bags with
other plastics will affect the quality of new recycled products. It
is currently recommended that degradable plastic bags be recycled
through the supermarket bag recycling schemes that operate at
several major supermarkets with in the district.
You can also use degradable or biodegradable bags to wrap your
waste either within your grey-lidded wheeled refuse bin if you have
one, or inside your black sacks if you do not have the wheeled bins
yet.
No plastic bags of any sort should be placed in the blue-lidded
wheeled recycling bins. Normal plastic carrier bags, degradable
plastic bags and biodegradable plastic bags should also never be
placed in the brown wheeled bin for compostable waste. Compostable
bags may be used in the brown bin, but they must state that they
are '100% compostable'.
How do I reduce the amount of plastics I dispose of?
Most of the plastics produced by householders is packaging. 60%
of the plastics produced by Suffolk Coastal residents are
disposable plastic containers, for example, drink and milk
containers, yoghurt and margarine type containers. The remainder is
plastic film, for example, carrier bags, food bags
and food wrapping. It is possible to reduce the amount of
carrier bags by using reusable shopping bags and plastic carrier
bags can also be reused.
Shoppers can make choices as to the type of containers they buy,
but the choice is not always easy. Some meats are sold in expanded
polystyrene trays which are difficult to recycle, some in
plastic trays which are easier to recycle. Some alternatives
to plastic can be more difficult to recycle, for example,
cardboard-based drinks containers which often have a plastic lining
and plastic spout.
How, when and where can I recycle plastics?
You can recycle plastics now - the main recycling facilities for
plastics (mainly for plastic bottles and other disposable
plastic containers) in the district are at Suffolk County
Council’s household waste recycling centres (new
window) at Foxhall, Leiston, and Felixstowe. There are also
facilities for recycling plastic carrier bags at a number of the
major supermarkets within the district.
Suffolk Coastal is currently introducing a
wheeled bin recycling service across the
district for the recycling of plastic, cans, paper, card and
cardboard. which should be available to all householders by 2010.
Everyday items such as plastic milk and drink bottles, margarine
tubs and yoghurt pots, shampoo bottles, plastic food containers and
clean food trays (but not expanded polystyrene) can all be placed
in the blue-lidded bins for collection.
Please remember to rinse all bottles and containers, remove lids
or bottle tops (but include the plastic lids or foil bottle tops in
the recycling bin) and squash items to reduce their bulk.
Can we have plastic recycling banks at local recycling
sites?
We have looked at the possibility of putting plastics banks at
local recycling sites in our towns and villages. Because plastics
are very bulky but light, most sites would need either large
containers or very frequent emptying to prevent the sites
overflowing and becoming a problem. The cost of this is high and
would not give Council Tax payers value for money. We do not
therefore offer plastics recycling banks.
Suffolk Coastal consulted with residents and parish councils
about recycling services, and is in the process of introducing
a wheeled bin recycling service so that plastics,
cans, paper, card and cardboard will be collected from every
household in the district.
Why can't I recycle some plastics?
It is technically possible to recycle most plastics, but not
always cost effective.
For the new recycled product to be acceptable to the purchaser
is must be of a good quality and have all the properties, such as
consistent quality, impact resistance, stability to light, heat and
moisture, demanded of it. Generally the manufacturer will therefore
need a material that clean, guaranteed not to be contaminated with
chemicals, and that is just one type of plastic.
There are six commonly used plastics for plastic containers
such as food containers and drinks bottles. These usually bear a
recycling mark with a code number 1 to 6. Two of these are very
common and used for drinks bottles and milk containers; there is a
good recycling market for these two types of plastic. The recycling
market for the other four common polymers is less well
established.
There are about twelve commonly used plastics for film.
These rarely bear a recycling mark, so identifying what the film is
made of is not easy, nor is the separation into different types.
The recycling market for film is limited.
After plastics have been collected for recycling they need to be
sorted into the different types, baled and transported for further
processing and cleaning. The cost of this can be high and it can
therefore be uneconomical to collect some types of plastics. For
this reason most plastics recycling schemes target drink, milk and
plastic packaging which is easier to separate into its different
types, and more cost effective.
In order to make the plastics recycling service to Suffolk
Coastal residents affordable, the service concentrates
on disposable plastic containers such as milk and drink
bottles, margarine tubs and yoghurt pots, shampoo bottles, plastic
food containers and clean food
trays.