General Recycling help?

[Quik]

You have a blue bin for cans, glass bottles and plastic bottles, not for any sort of plastic waste. If you want to put other things in it as a form of protest that is entirely your choice, but you need to know that it isn't likely to change anything apart from causing damage.

 

On one level I agree but given the other plastics can be recycled surely it should make them get on with doing so?

[medusa]

On one level I agree but given the other plastics can be recycled surely it should make them get on with doing so?

 

Surely to get them to start introducing facilities to recycle other types of plastics will involve budgeting, practical planning, policy priorities and a whole load of other things including a fundamental change to the processes through which the waste must be put to separate the plastics appropriately? Starting to do this for a city the size of Sheffield just can't be started without some serious planning.

 

Engage with the decision makers, submit a request asking why these plastics aren't recycled in Sheffield, actively take your plastics to a 'bring' station where they CAN be recycled without derailing the current system, campaign for a change in policy, lobby your councillors, start a city wide petition, get a copy of council budgets and find a way of affording the changes needed to implement wider recycling- there are rather a lot of ways to change the policy that are likely to be a whole lot more productive than just doing a one-person protest that actually costs money pointlessly.

[AY1975]

Unfortunately there are now fewer local recycling sites than there were a few years ago. That means that I no longer have anywhere to recycle plastics other than plastic bottles anywhere within walking distance, although I do occasionally go near some of the remaining sites (less often at the moment as I'm working from home, though).

 

It's not just plastics that ought to be recyclable but aren't always, although luckily some Co-op supermarkets now have a bin for soft plastics. 

 

I've also often wondered what the position is with metal lids of glass bottles and jars. Some people have told me that it's OK to put glass bottles and jars in your recycling bin or a bottle bank with their lids on, some people have told me that you must remove the lids but you can put them in the same bins at recycling sites as tins and cans, and some people have told me that metal lids aren't recyclable and you have to put them in with your non-recyclable waste.

 

In Germany you can usually put metal bottle and jar lids (and aluminium foil) in with other metals (i.e. tins and cans), so if they can do that, surely so could we.

[Dromedary]

1 hour ago, AY1975 said:

Unfortunately there are now fewer local recycling sites than there were a few years ago. 

That may be down to the fact that the EU was subsidising them by giving funds out for them to be able to do recycling under the EU recycling initiative. Paying companies to carry out recycling is a bit counter productive and not very cost effective and thats why its sometimes sounds a good idea but really it's not.

[El Cid]

On 03/02/2016 at 20:19, JackK0 said:

Another thing is do you bother washing plastic tubs etc out like what you get breaded chicken in or similar things

I have read that card/paper that is contaminated with oil is no longer recyclable.

[cgksheff]

9 hours ago, AY1975 said:

.......

 

I've also often wondered what the position is with metal lids of glass bottles and jars. Some people have told me that it's OK to put glass bottles and jars in your recycling bin or a bottle bank with their lids on, some people have told me that you must remove the lids but you can put them in the same bins at recycling sites as tins and cans, and some people have told me that metal lids aren't recyclable and you have to put them in with your non-recyclable waste.

.....

....

 

No need to worry about what "some people" may say.

Veolia Sheffield are quite clear on the subject when they ask you to rinse glass and replace lids.

👍

[AY1975]

7 hours ago, cgksheff said:

No need to worry about what "some people" may say.

Veolia Sheffield are quite clear on the subject when they ask you to rinse glass and replace lids.

👍

Ah yes, I see that the Veolia Sheffield website does indeed ask you to empty bottles, rinse and replace tops, and it says tops can be recycled. Until now I had always assumed that you had to remove lids from bottles and jars before putting them in your recycling bin or a bottle bank (which I think you do in some other areas - it varies from council to council). I have sometimes put the lids in the same recycling banks as plastics, tins and cans, though, but I'm not sure if you're supposed to do that.

 

Obviously it would be difficult to put lids back on bottles that you remove with a bottle opener, such as those on most beer and cider bottles.

[cgksheff]

51 minutes ago, AY1975 said:

Ah yes, I see that the Veolia Sheffield website does indeed ask you to empty bottles, rinse and replace tops, and it says tops can be recycled. Until now I had always assumed that you had to remove lids from bottles and jars before putting them in your recycling bin or a bottle bank (which I think you do in some other areas - it varies from council to council). I have sometimes put the lids in the same recycling banks as plastics, tins and cans, though, but I'm not sure if you're supposed to do that.

 

Obviously it would be difficult to put lids back on bottles that you remove with a bottle opener, such as those on most beer and cider bottles.

You are correct in that it does vary from authority to authority and company to company. 

It shouldn't, really, but always good to ask and check. 👍

[El Cid]

17 hours ago, Dromedary said:

That may be down to the fact that the EU was subsidising them by giving funds out for them to be able to do recycling under the EU recycling initiative. Paying companies to carry out recycling is a bit counter productive and not very cost effective and thats why its sometimes sounds a good idea but really it's not.

I am sure recycling makes economic sense when companies will need to pay for their waste disposing, especially with the landfill tax.