Pots and trays boost Shropshire recycling

The council is among the latest to begin collecting the material including margarine tubs, yoghurt pots and fruit punnets for recycling, and said that residents had been requesting that the material be recycled at the kerbside for a long time before it offered the service.

Increasing numbers of local authorities have begun collecting mixed PTT in recent years, with figures suggesting that around 50% of councils now collect the material. Mixed PTT is seen as a difficult target material for local authorities and waste companies with councillors and members of the public often wanting PTT recycled along with bottles which have established markets.

However demand for the plastics in the UK is low, with some facilities charging gate fees of up to 40 per tonne to accept the material, while other sections of the industry believe that end markets do not exist to justify collecting it in large quantities (see letsrecycle.com story).

TheUKs largest facility for PTT, run by Biffa Polymers in Redcar, North Yorkshire, closed its doors in early 2013, with the operator telling letsrecycle.com that large-scale recycling of the material was currently not viable in the UK (see letsrecycle.com story).

Veolia

In Shropshire the material is collected at the kerbside by the councils contractor Veolia. Shropshire uses a three box system with the PTT going into the same box as drinks cans, food tins, foils and aerosols and plastic bottles. The materials are then sorted at Veolias MRF in Four Ashes into a plastics product which is then sent for further sorting in the UK, with the end product being reprocessed in the UK or overseas.

The council says that since October 2012, plastic collections have risen to more than 238 tonnes per month.

Steve Charmley, Shropshires cabinet member responsible for waste management, said: “The kerbside collections of plastic bottles was rolled out across the Shropshire Council area between 2009 and 2011 in response to demand from local residents, and as part of our drive to provide the best possible recycling service, and to boost our recycling rate.

Likewise, the collection of a wider range of plastic pots, tubs and trays alongside plastic bottles is something residents in Shropshire have been requesting for a long time, and something that helps to further improve our recycling rate. So, Im pleased that the council and our contractor Veolia were able to start collecting these items too in October 2012, and really pleased that people have made such good use of this service.