Plastic Recycling

[Nick C]

We try to do our bit for the environment, which includes trying to reduce/reuse/recycle as much as we can - and one of the key things they keep telling us is that single-use plastic is bad.

 

So why is it, then, that a significant proportion of the stuff that goes in our normal bin is plastic packaging that is perfectly recyclable, but can't be recycled for the simple reason that the council refuse to take it?

 

What makes it even more strange is that they state they can recycle plastic bottles - so I asked them what types of plastic they can take (given that everything is numbered to make it nice and easy) - their response was "just bottles" - so trays etc, even though they're probably the same plastic as the bottles, will be refused. I can't understand the logic of that, other than lazyness on their part!

 

Are other councils more sensible with this? You're never going to persuade the general public to recycle more if you make it hard for them to do so...

[polybear]

Also, it seems that black plastic is a nightmare to recycle.  So why the hell are so many microwave items in black plastic?

[Guius]

Because of the ad hoc nature of individual councils, who for the most part  are forced to make their own arrangements with specific waste management firms, no coherent recycling procedure can be followed by individuals/ families, most of whom are happy to separate their waste into streams. I, for instance would like to recycle the soft plastic wrapping from haylage bails, in my case 3-4 bails worth per week but the council cleansing department cannot collect such small quantities or even suggest where I could take them. As a result, they go in the bin thence to land fill. 

At the moment, under the 'land fill tax' based system councils are not incentivized to have all encompassing recycling regime, with the outcome that the public loose interest and faith in recycling.   IMHO.

 

Guy.

[Rugd1022]

On our patch we just have one recycling wheeliebin for plastic, cardboard and glass, presumably it gets seperated at the plant later on. I think a lot more folk would recycle their waste plastic / glass / cardboard if there was some consistancy across the country.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Also, it seems that black plastic is a nightmare to recycle.  So why the hell are so many microwave items in black plastic?

 I suspect the answer will have something to do with customer preference.

[polybear]

 I suspect the answer will have something to do with customer preference.

 

Put everything in a standard, easy to recycle colour & material.  Problem solved

[Jonboy]

Let’s face it what we really need is central government to define a set of standard materials that can be recycled and should be used for packaging, with a requirement that all councils take it, and then a tax of £1 per item on each product imported and or sold packaged that doesn’t conform to the list( separate charges for imports because it is amazing how much packaging can be discarded within a supply chain).

 

That would then ensure councils made adequate arrangements and retailers had fair market pressure to bring their supply chains into line...

[spikey]

... why the hell are so many microwave items in black plastic?

Two reasons, actually. To make the food look good, and to avoid putting off shoppers who have a strong preference for/against a particular colour. Cost comes into it too, but it's not a major factor.

[eastwestdivide]

There's a school of thought that says you might be better off in terms of resource use by using your oil once to make plastic packaging, and then a second time to burn for energy (waste-to-heat or district energy plants), rather than use up more energy in all that separation and reprocessing. Of course you need a properly-run plant that burns at high enough temperatures and has decent pollution controls, rather than chucking your pop bottles on the barbecue or bonfire and standing round warming your hands.

There's another school of thought that says reduce-reuse-recycle in that order of priority: don't use as much, make it so it's useful after first use without reprocessing*, and only reprocess (recycle) if there's no other choice.

 

*like milk bottles via the doorstep, or ice cream tubs that can be used to store food in the freezer.

Edited August 22, 2018 by eastwestdivide

[Andy Hayter]

Put everything in a standard, easy to recycle colour & material.  Problem solved

 

There is a general misunderstanding that although there are lots of different plastics, they all do the same thing.

 

Sadly that is not the case - otherwise your suggestion of one plastic fits all would indeed be a good solution.

 

For example:  carbonated drinks need to be strong enough to hold the liquid under pressure, but at the same time they must hold the CO2 gas inside the bottle and not let oxygen in from the outside.  2 materials meet that need - PET and polycarbonate.  PET is used exclusively in Europe because there are some concerns (largely overstated but quite possibly real) of contamination from polycarbonates in long term contact with liquids.  You also need a lid to the bottle.  This has to have good sealing properties to hold the liquid and gas inside.  You want a tamper protection device - so currently an easy tear strip from the lid that breaks on twisting the lid.  Neither polycarbonate nor PET meet those needs, so HDPE is used.  Colour - most bottles could be clear water white but some drinks need to be protected from daylight to improve their shelf life and so colouring is added to the plastic to cut out rays dangerous to the product.  I will admit however that some plastic bottles are coloured for marketing reasons.  So now you have two plastics in a range of colours and all you have got is fizzy water and cola.

 

So now you want a plastic to hold 33kg of sand or gravel from the builders merchant.  You could consider paper, but sand is usually packed wet - not good for the paper bag - and these materials are usually stored outdoors with the damage of rain to consider.  We could of course build warehouse galore to store these materials, but not cost effective compared with a plastic sack.  So could we use the PET and the HDPE we have already come across for carbonated drinks?  Unfortunately no.  PET is too rigid to make a film that could be used, and while HDPE can be made into a film it has a strong tendency to split under pressure - like a 33kg sack slung into the boot of a car.  So another plastic comes into play - LLDPE.  

 

Those of my age may remember some of the early plastic buckets made from Polythene.  Wonderful things, cheaper than galvanised buckets, did not get dented if you banged into something, lighter in weight.  Wonderful - until you stood them in the sink and filled them with really hot water to wash the car.  You lifted the handle, and you lifted, and you lifted and while the handle and the sides moved up, the bottom of the bucket remained stubbornly inside the sink, because Polythene as produced then was not heat resistant and would easily deform.  So along came Polypropylene.  Now more widely used in car part manufacture as well as things like ice cream containers - but still to be found in the humble bucket.

 

For each and every application where a plastic is used, there is a series of trade-offs that  have to be balanced - cost, weight, ease of production, meeting the end properties required, market acceptance and yes recyclability.   To date no one material has been found that meets all criteria.

[eastglosmog]

According to West Oxon DCC, the problem with black plastic is due to the waste separating machine not being able to distinguish between black plastic and other types of waste so it ends up being treated as unrecyclable waste and sent to incineration.  If the gadget could tell the difference, black plastic trays could be recycled.

Quite why black plastic should  be considered to make food look more attractive is beyond me!