Recycling

[Famous5]

My local council has just introduced a recycling scheme and has issued every house with 3 wheelie bins.

The instructions on the bin for plastics allow bottles for milk, pop and shampoo but specifically exclude all other plastics like yoghurt pots and margarine tubs even if they have a recycling symbol.

Anyone know why this large category still has to go to the landfill?

[brachiopod]

It seems that each council / local authority has a different policy when it comes to which types of recyclable refuse it collects. (My London borough collects plastics, but not glass, where my mam lives in South Wales, they collect glass but not plastics!).

Being specific to plastics though, each authority will base their decision on the scrap value of a particular polymer (plastic), its ease of reclamation / sorting, and its relative abundance in domestic refuse. For example, say a certain plastic doesn't have a particularly high scrap value, but makes up a large proportion of our rubbish - then it may still be worth recycling it.

If you look at the recycling symbol on an item of plastic refuse, it will normally have a number in the middle of the 'arrowed triangle' symbol, and possibly some letters underneath. This identifies the type of polymer the item is made from.
Two of the most commonly recycled are;
PET or (sometimes spelt PETE) and recycling number "1" which is poly-ethylene terephthalate and is the stuff 2 litre fizzy drinks bottles are made out of (and cider bottles too. I seem to send alot of these for recycling. Ahem *cough* )
HDPE or High Density Poly-Ethylene, recycing symbol "2" which is used for plastic milk bottles, detergent bottles and the like.

Yoghurt pots are normally made out of polystyrene ('PS' and no. '6') which, although recyclable, probably doesn't make up a significant proportion or bulk of domestic refuse to be worthwhile recovering.

Anything with a '7' or 'Other' on it cannot be recycled, and this refers to a whole variety of different thermosetting plastics that once manufactured, can't be remelted and reused.

[brachiopod]

Just found this which explains the types.

Plastics

[Goofy]

also, even though they take milk and shampoo bottles, etc. it is not unusual for the tops to be excluded

[d0gsb0dy]

Our council gave us 3 bins, one of which was for composting garden waste. The first (and only) time I used it they refused to take it because it contained potato peelings. I rang the Town Hall and asked them to explain why peelings couldn't be used for composting, when any gardener knows they can. I got some nebulous answer referring me to their rules. I told them to come and collect their bin.