The council already collects plastic drinks bottles as part of its blue box service, but this month has been telling residents to separate out plastic food trays, yoghurt pots, margarine tubs and all plastic containers – including shampoo bottles – for the kerbside scheme.
” Although yogurt pots themselves are not going to hugely increase the tonnage collected we think the more materials that are available the more our residents will recycle. “
– Phil Davies, LB Southwark
Phil Davies, head of waste management and transport at Southwark council, told letsrecycle.com: “Our residents wanted it, and there were no additional costs involved. They are still using their blue boxes, they will just be able to put more in them.”
Southwark is hoping that the increase in the range of materials accepted in the kerbside scheme will now encourage more residents to begin using their blue boxes.
Mr Davies explained: “Although yogurt pots themselves are not going to hugely increase the tonnage collected we think the more materials that are available the more our residents will recycle. When we have added additional materials in the past it has led to additional participation.
“It makes people think about their waste again, so even though it may not contribute a significant amount it is still important,” he added.
Baylis
Collected plastics go to Slough-based Baylis Recycling, which has a sorting plant for separating different kinds of plastics. Baylis Recycling already has the capability of reprocessing HDPE material for use by the plastics industry, and is in the process of installing a plant to deal with the PET.
Items like yogurt pots collected in Southwark, mostly made from styrene material, are sent to the Netherlands. Chris Baylis, managing director at Baylis, said: “In the future there maybe a market for reprocessing styrene in the UK. But at the moment there is not enough demand for it.”
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Southwark's blue box collection scheme is available to the 50,000 households that receive front-of-residency collections – this represents about 45% of Southwark's homes. The council will also be including collection facilities for mixed plastics at bring-bank sites so residents living in flats can also recycle their plastic.
The borough generates just over 106,000 tonnes of household waste in 2005/06, and reached a 10% recycling rate in 2004/05.
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