Tetra Pak recycling

[badger]

Ever since the Tetra Pak bin was installed at Thurso recycling I've been hoping one would appear in Wick so phoned the Council today to ask. Seems silly for them to come up here to empty Thurso bins and not go a little bit further to Wick, especially as Thurso bins are usually overflowing. Anyway it seems there are no plans but Council suggested I contact Tetra Pak to ask and I thought maybe if enough of us do it then we might get a Wick bin. Their website is http://www.tetrapakrecycling.co.uk/recyclable.asp

[Kodiak]

I always thought Tetra Pak's could not be recycled. Just how wrong can you be. Anyone know where the Tetra Pak Recycling Bin in Thurso is?

[Nick Noble]

It's up at the recycling centre, and as badger noted it's nearly always full to over flowing, but it's amazing what you can cram in if you try. It's in the corner furthest from the gate.

It really is time that the Highland Council reviewed it's re-cycling collections, not everyone has transport to get to the re-cycling centres, far more should be getting collected, for instance glass and the tetra pak type packaging.

[badger]

I should have said that I think they are reviewing their collections so maybe there will also be some improvement there.

[Green_not_greed]

Thanks for the link Badger. I save my tetrapaks and try and recycle them every 4-5 weeks but as you say its often difficult to squeeze them into the remaining space left at Thurso recycling centre. I didn't know that Wick didn't have one - so I guess the chances of getting a bin at the Reay recycling centre are about zero ! Still, I have posted a question asking for more recycling centres in the Highlands.

While we're on the subject, does anyone know if Highland Council has any plans to introduce type 5 plastic for recycling? Its one of the few things ending up in landfill from this household. Thanks for any info.

[Bobinovich]

There must be close on half a dozen Tetra-Pak units at Janetstown so HC obviously realise it's a popular item for recycling. On the point of them appearing full, the last carton that goes in often sticks in the entrance brushes giving the impression that they're full, when much of the time they're actually not!

However I don't see any good reason they could not be included in the household recycling bins, whereas I can with glass.

[linnie612]

Why is glass not included in household recycling bins?

[dx100uk]

possible because it will break and endanger the collection & sorting personel.........

dx

[crashbandicoot1979]

To follow on from Badger's points, it might be worth noting that the tetrapak recycling banks in Thurso are supplied and serviced by tetrapak themselves, as part of a trial. Tetrapaks are notoriously difficult to recycle because they are a 'composite' material (i.e.made up from various materials including plastic, foil and card which are difficult to separate). Tetrapak only service 5 recycling centres in the Highlands as part of this trial, but presumably if it is successful it may be extended.

As for glass in the blue bins, bear in mind that the materials are separated by hand and machinery at the other end, and imagine how difficult it would be to remove shattered glass, which would also compromise the quality of the other materials. Also, in order for glass recycling to be worthwhile, it's far better that the different colours are separated - if they are mixed they are only useful for aggregate because the quality is not as good. Whereas if they're separated by colour, they can be recycled over and over with no loss of quality.

[crashbandicoot1979]

Thanks for the link Badger. I save my tetrapaks and try and recycle them every 4-5 weeks but as you say its often difficult to squeeze them into the remaining space left at Thurso recycling centre. I didn't know that Wick didn't have one - so I guess the chances of getting a bin at the Reay recycling centre are about zero ! Still, I have posted a question asking for more recycling centres in the Highlands.

While we're on the subject, does anyone know if Highland Council has any plans to introduce type 5 plastic for recycling? Its one of the few things ending up in landfill from this household. Thanks for any info.

The reason the council only collect plastic bottles marked 1 or 2 at the moment is because the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) that buys the blue bin contents don't have the means to deal with any other kinds. The bottles are sorted by machinery that can differentiate between 1 and 2 plastics - don't ask me how - but that same machinery cannot deal with bottles marked 5 and nor can it deal with plastic tubs/pots/trays etc hence why these are not supposed to go in the blue bin.

Presumably as technology improves, their facilities will improve and ideally all plastic will eventually be acceptable.

It's worth noting that the council don't dictate what goes in the blue bin, its the MRF that decides this. The Council uses this MRF as its the closest one, albeit in Grangemouth, so the plus side is that although not all materials are accepted, at least the carbon footprint for transportation is lower than if they were using a MRF further south.

To be fair, the blue bins are much better than the blue boxes were, but I think people lose sight of this sometimes. Yes, it's a pain we can't recycle glass and tetrapaks at the kerbside but at least we can now recycle cardboard and plastic bottles as well as cans and paper.

[Green_not_greed]

Thanks. Interesting stuff.