Market squeeze impacts on council’s recycling service

Citing the decline in recovered material prices as the reason behind the decision, the county council has told residents that it is currently not accepting yoghurt pots, margarine tubs and food trays at the county's recycling centres.

However, kerbside recycling collections of plastic bottles and rigid plastics throughout Hertfordshire – such as garden furniture and children's toys – are said to be unaffected.

A statement released by the council said: “The private contractor that processes Hertfordshire's difficult to recycle plastics, such as food trays, margarine tubs and yoghurt pots, has announced that they cannot currently accept these plastics for recycling.

“The financial situation means that market prices have fallen and reprocessors are less likely to accept materials that may contaminate or reduce the quality of the final product,” it added.

Stopped

The county council has explained that the recycling of the mixed plastics had been part of a trial with a private contractor and the cessation of the service was beyond its control.

Councillor Derrick Ashley, executive member for waste, said: “We're well on track to not only meet but exceed many of our recycling targets and we're disappointed by this news, as we're sure residents will also be. However, we do appreciate that due to the global financial crisis, there simply isn't the market for some recycled plastics at the moment.

“We will continue to monitor the markets and actively look for an alternative outlet for the material. In addition, we are aware that many other councils in the country share this problem, so we look forward to hearing how this issue will be addressed on a national level,” he added.

A spokeswoman for the council informed letsrecycle.com that the authority hoped the service was only being temporarily stopped and would be able to continue again once recovered material markets had recovered.

Cllr Ashley said: “We would like to thank residents for their patience and continued commitment to recycling their waste and hope to resolve this problem as soon as possible.”