A high-profile figure within the glass recycling sector has called for the introduction of more twin stream recycling collections to help increase both the quality of paper and glass which is collected.

Mr Head believes that twin stream collections could help to redress the shortage of clear cullet available for remelt in the UK

Brian Head, South East recycling development manager of glass recycling giant Berryman Glass, told letsrecycle.com on Thursday (February 19) that collecting glass and plastic separately from paper and cardboard at the kerbside would reduce contamination and would mean less cullet would have to go to alternative uses such as aggregates.

The comments follow two major waste management companies lending their support to the introduction of more glass bring banks last week (see letsrecycle.com story) and echoes pressure from the paper mills for glass to be collected separately.

Mr Head, who has 20 years experience in the glass recycling sector, said: "The quality of cullet has gone through the floor, around half of what we make is mixed glass and a lot of it is contaminated or out of a MRF and we can't use it for remelt and we have to use it for aggregate. At the moment, we have a clear cullet deficit in this country."

"If we were to mingle newspapers, cardboard and brochures in one box and containers in another then we can still process required weights but the standard of the materials would be better because they are separated," he added.

Twin Stream

The use of a so-called ‘twin-stream' collection process - where fibres such as newspaper and glass and plastic containers are collected in separate boxes - has been seen as a middle ground between advocates of source separated and commingled collections.

In its waste hierarchy launched last year, the Campaign for Real Recycling (CRR) - which advocates the use of source separated collections and of which Mr Head is a member - claimed that the use of triple or twin streams could help improve the quality of material collected provided that the scheme was run efficiently (see letsrecycle.com story).

This is largely because one of its main concerns with commingled collections - where glass and paper is mixed together - is the damage caused to pulping machinery by glass shards.

Conversely, Ian Wakelin, chief executive of Greenstar UK and a strong advocate of commingled collections, has also praised dual stream systems for allowing for the collection of one material separately while the rest are commingled.

Containers

Mr Head, who is a CRR member, claimed that there was currently a lack of clear communication on what was acceptable in terms of glass recycling and that the use of wheeled bins for commingled collections rather than boxes for made it harder for residents and collection operatives to immediately spot any signs of contamination.

He said: "People see wheeled bins just as rubbish bins and then people put glass bottles in and it is dumped out. On average, it costs about three times as much to empty a wheeled bin than a bring bank because you are constantly collecting smaller amounts."