240603ECO – Rubbish Talk

My notes about Recycling! (Jackie Walton 04/06/24)

Talk “Rubbish Talk” and question time, 03/06/24, kindly given by Tracey Flint, Waste Prevention and Recycling Officer, North Yorkshire Council.

Different councils/areas have slightly different systems!

It is hoped that eventually, it’ll be consistent.

Unless landfill sites are managed well, they don’t generally work. In this country, we’re trying to move away from landfill.

Blue-lidded, black wheelie bin: YES to:✔

  • All tin cans.✔ (No need to remove paper labels, rinsed, no need to squash.)
  • Aerosols,✔ (must be empty!)
  • Biscuit and chocolate tins.✔
  • Cardboard. ✔ (all colours, including loo roll tubes), (if it’s really large, please break it up! It’s ok to leave a small amount of tape on the cardboard, but there’s loads, please try and remove as much as poss.)
  • Egg cartons✔ (or donate to your local egg supplier, if you have one!)
  • Cartons – food, drink and similar containers✔ – (rinsed and flattened.)
  • Plastic bottles ✔–  (including bottle-shaped, hard plastics- shampoo, conditioner, bleach, rinsed with lid on.)
  • Plastic food containers✔ (including yoghurt pots, butter/margarine tubs – every colour except black, supermarkets are changing the colours, away from black.) – (rinsed)
  • Toothbrush packaging.✔ (Both card and plastic can be recycled, but please pull them apart first.)
  • Envelopes✔ (including windowed, no need to remove it.) 
  • Foil and aluminium food trays ✔– (rinsed and can add any other bits of foil and scrunch it into a ball as this stops smaller bits dropping through the machine.)
  • Food packaging card. ✔
  • Greeting cards✔ (remove glitter and decorations.)  
  • Junk mail, catalogues, newspapers and magazines✔ (ideally, contact the companyto get taken off the mailing list.)
  • Office paper – white and colour. ✔
  • Other paper – including clean paper bags.✔
  • Pet food tins ✔– (rinsed, no plastic pouches.) 
  • Shredded paper ✔– (this must be put into a cardboard box such as a cereal box, then both can be added to the recycling bin.)
  • Jar lids with rubbery bits are ok!✔
  • Telephone directories.✔
  • Metal lids.✔

Blue-lidded, black wheelie bin: NO to:❌

  • Dirty pizza boxes ❌(can cause contamination.)
  • Cat food plastic pouches.❌
  • Pogo sticks! ❌(Yes, they’ve had these!!)
  • Polystyrene.❌
  • Take away drinks cups.❌
  • Gas cylinders.❌
  • Soft plastics.❌ (Some supermarkets have deposit places for soft plastics.)
  • Blister packs for meds. ❌(Superdrugs, with a pharmacy, are recycling blister packs.)
  • Carpets! ❌(Take to the tip.)
  • Textiles.❌ (Take to charity shops or clothing banks)
  • Electrical equipment/cables ❌– (if broken, take them to the tip, if not broken, some charity shops do “PAT” testing and may be able to sell it or “Repair cafes” often have “PAT” testing equipment and may be able to fix it for you, please give a small donation. If not, please take them to the tip.)
  • Batteries.❌
  • Nappies.❌
  • Dog waste bags.❌
  • Jiffy bags❌ (the design is changing.)
  • Crisp packets.❌
  • Tissues.❌
  • Toothbrushes.❌
  • Bubble wrap.❌
  • Fruit netting❌ (the stuff that oranges and lemons often come in.)
  • Saucepans.❌
  • Engine parts.❌
  • Coathangers.❌ (Tescos and charity shops will take these.)
  • Plastic plant pots/dishes.❌ (They’re often contaminated with soil/stones. Strikes and Whitegates will take them and Northdale and Strikes are happy for you to take your own container to transfer the plant and soil straight into.)

Blue recycling tubs: YES to:✔

  • Glass jars and bottles. ✔Can include broken bottles!

Blue recycling tubs: NO to: ❌(these are a different type of glass and have a different melting point.)

  • Window panes.❌
  • Cut glass.❌
  • Pyrex.❌

👀 Where does my recycling go? 👀

UPM (Sorting facility, in Shotton, Wales.) All recycling gets sorted here. UPM won the contract as they gave good value, although it’s a big carbon footprint taking it to Wales. North Yorkshire wanted evidence of where our waste goes. UPM agreed to keep it within the UK/Europe as much as possible rather then sending it to Malaysia/China, etc.

Their contract ends in July 2024. The new contractor is a bit closer!

Then it goes to the Materials Recovery Facility. Some hand sorting is carried out, this is why they prefer CLEAN and DRY waste, as it’s separated into different components.

April 2023/March 2024

94% of recycling was carried out in the U.K.

6% of recycling was sent to Europe.

Plastics:

74% U.K.

9% France

17% Spain

Total recycling collected – 7,741 tonnes.

Total residual waste – 17,943 tonnes.

Current recycling rate = 48%

From the tip – Yorwaste have the contract, so once waste goes to the tip/placed on the ground, it becomes their responsibility. If you see something in someone’s car boot, before they’ve unloaded it, you might be able to make a quick deal/help if you can reuse it. (Tracey did not say this!)

The restrictions, for taking in DIY waste, have been lifted. Check on the North Yorkshire website for amounts allowed.

Councils which show a higher % of recycling than North Yorkshire, include food waste in their figures.

Household waste – all North Yorkshire household waste currently goes to Allerton Waste Recovery Park, Knaresborough.

What goes wrong?

10% (506 tonnes) of recycling collected was contaminated with things like nappies, hard plastics, needles, polystyrene, etc. The impact of contamination costs the Council money.

Why recycle?

Plastics get made into furniture, clothing, etc.

Metals get recycled back into metals.

Aluminium can be recycled an infinite number of times.

Saves energy.

Helps to protect the environment.

Reduces landfill.

If items are NOT recycled then new products have to be made. This often means extracting raw materials from the earth through mining and forestry.

Please say NO to single use plastics like plastic bags, cling film, plastic cutlery, coffee cups, straws, drinks bottles, etc.

Often, cafes will fill your own cup for a take away drimk.

Changes:

  • Consistent collections – Currently, within North Yorkshire, there are 7 local authorities doing things slightly differently, let alone across the country. They want everyone to be doing the same thing with a consistent service. There are consultations going on, after this, there’ll be a survey for the public to complete.
  • Deposit return schemes. “Reverse vending machines”, these are currently being trialled in Scotland. Plastic, glass and cans can be taken to the machine, by each individual and they receive some money in return.
  • Producers of packaging waste need to be responsible for 100% (ie reduce waste at source). Ensuring producers pay the full net cost if managing packaging waste at the end of it’s life.
  • Food waste – by 2026, all councils are to have food waste collections.

Ideally don’t buy more than you need (of anything). Try and avoid buying anything in single use plastic. Be shopping and recycling savvy.