The council invested in the plastic bottle bring banks at ten sites in June 2002 and has seen a 30% increase in participation since the banks were installed. The million bottles equates to 50 tonnes of collected material for recycling. However, the council has found that the compaction mechanism fitted to the banks which should increase capacity is not being used by the public.
Plastic is a relatively light material which creates problems in the cost of collection and transport. The bring banks from Plastic Omnium Urban Systems have a compaction device, operated by a foot pedal, to squash the plastic bottles as they are placed in the container.
Emma Fountain of Recoup said: “The idea is that if you squash the bottles as they go in, you can fit more into the banks.”
She added that the trial had so far only seen 15% of the bottles compacted even though there is a potential for up to 50%. Ms Fountain said: “It depends on the public using the pedals correctly.”
Survey
Recoup, which supports plastic bottle recycling in the UK, has carried out a survey on Warrington residents which discovered that the majority of people recycling plastics in Warrington are aged over 40.
Stuart Foster, project manager at Recoup, said: “The scheme has been a great success so far, with the people of Warrington making good use of the facilities, the recent research has however highlighted that younger members of the community could be recycling more. We would really like to see everyone in Warrington recycling their plastic bottles at the ten sites, and using the foot pedal so we can fit more bottles in the banks.”
The survey also found that many people in Warrington combine recycling with trips to the supermarket. Ms Fountain said: “We also found that men were often responsible for recycling. While their wives went into the supermarket, they filled the car with petrol and went to the recycling banks.”
Funding to support the banks' introduction and promotion saw a 87,000 Landfill Tax Credit grant from Waste Recycling Environmental (WREN) awarded to Recoup. The scheme partners who contributed a total of 11% of the funding were Warrington borough council, Sainsburys, Express Dairies, Arla Foods, Dairy Crest, Tetrapak and Nampak.
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