Recycling boost for pubs and clubs in Yorkshire

The scheme should increase awareness of local collection services available from licensed establishments in the Yorkshire and Humber area.

The Yorkshire region is a centre of glass recycling, making over half of all bottles and jars produced in the UK

RAY – part of development agency Yorkshire Forward – will be offering support and funding to help establish collections from pubs, clubs and restaurants. The region's local authorities and glass reprocessors will also be involved.

The scheme is also looking for new companies to come forward and offer collection services, particularly in urban areas.

Research carried out by packaging compliance scheme Valpak suggests that s much as 100,000 tonnes of waste glass could be recovered from the 11,500 licensed premises in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

Access
Ben Stone, RAY glass project manager, said: “Many landlords and restaurateurs are keen to recycle but just don't have access to a collection scheme or are unaware of the smaller local collection schemes. This initiative is designed to create awareness and participation by improving availability of recycling services.

“There is clearly potential for a significant increase in collections from licensed retail establishments.

“In order to be cost effective and maximise tonnage, we initially want to target the main urban areas where there are almost 6,000 pubs with a potential 53,000 tonnes of glass to recycle,” Mr Stone added.

Awareness
A national scheme collecting glass from licensed premises was run for two years by glass collector Berryman's from April 2003. The scheme, called Recycle More Glass, had to be cancelled in 2005 because it was not deemed cost effective (see letsrecycle.com story).

Many local collection schemes have survived the end of Recycle More Glass, but without a national campaign to highlight their availability, often pub, club and restaurant owners have not been aware of them.

Mr Stone said: “Previous attempts have failed because they were too expensive to operate, there wasn't enough interest from publicans or not enough premises were covered to make the schemes viable.”

Yorkshire is something of a centre for glass recycling in the UK, with eight of the country's 13 glass container manufacturing plants based there. The region makes over 50% of all bottles and jars produced in the UK.