Recycling plastic in Caithness

[mccaugm]

Would you recycle plastic if the option was available to you?

[Bobinovich]

Absolutely! I already visit the recycling centre on a regular basis with my glass and cardboard and would happily get storage bin(s) for plastics.

However I do feel that the brown bin is almost redundant during the winter months and would like to see an alternative collection in those months - just not sure what would be best but cardboard (with Christmas) would be a possiblity.

[BMcGillivray]

Im fairly sure the reason plastics aren't recycled up here was due to the distance to the nearest recycling plant for plastics, it would cost far too much to transport the plastic to be worth it.

[Mr_Me19]

Here in Castletown we have our regular gray bins... and thats it...

I really wish we would get the oppertunity to recycle.

[floyed]

I voted yes i would take my plastics to the recycling bins:lol:

[dozy]

The council were offered recycling for plastics ,wood ,non-recyclable paper/cardboard ,organic waste plus any others in the waste stream and they turned it down flat .The facility was to be based in Wick and would have employed 12 .The Council stated that there was no need to recycling these materials at present or in the future ..Yet some of the ideas put forward appeared in the Highland Waste Strategy..

[mccaugm]

Dozy was not aware of that ...do know that the nearest plastic recycling point is in the South of Scotland....which begs the question is our rubbish not good enough to be recycled? I thought the government was all for recycling!

[ashaw1]

Dozy was not aware of that ...do know that the nearest plastic recycling point is in the South of Scotland....which begs the question is our rubbish not good enough to be recycled? I thought the government was all for recycling!
Tain recycles plastic.

[dozy]

If you are talking about the plant in Dumfries .YES ! I know all the plants in the UK and abroad that are into recycling and have done some work for the one that you are thinking about .They recycle mainly farm plastic waste into planks, bollards etc..There was one in Aberdeen that got all the grants going and went pop due to not knowing the process...That now sours it for the rest .
If the councils are going in incinerate/gasify your waste they need plastic in the mix....

[the charlatans]

The council in Oban used to recycle plastic. Which was great considering the amount of milk cartons alone that went through. Now i've got a milk guzzling toddler machine i think it would be a service i would like up here. Plus if the whole country is recycling plastic then there is a need for another factory somewhere else than the south of Scotland.

Or bring back milk bottles and i'll recycle them along with the thousands of beer bottles Mr C seemed to get through when i was away this weekend! If you hear alot of clinking tomorrow at the bottle bank in Tescos, thats me, say hello cos i'll likely be there allllllllll day.

[Spring Flower]

Here in Castletown we have our regular gray bins... and thats it...

I really wish we would get the oppertunity to recycle.

There are recycling facilities in the car park opposite the shop at Castletown. We live out in the country and too only have the grey bin but we bought boxes and store them in our garage, one for paper, one for glass and one for tin and then take them to the recycling point when they fill up.

If not there are lots of recycling places in Thurso.

Hope this helps.

Forgot to mention, we also have three compost bins in our garden so put all our grass, peelings, egg shells etc in that.

[dozy]

Believe it or not plastic is one of the easiest waste materials to recycle or i should say remove from the waste stream .Once collected you just wash it to remore the labels and the residue,sort then shred and granulate .Its the tranport costs thats the killer but if you have a plant that can do number of processes like crush cans ,glass ,builder rubble, tyres etc some of the base materials can be used locally and the rest transported .
I am sure that local folk could come up with uses for these raw materials and hopefully jobs...

If you take tyres for instance ,if you strip off the rubber and you are left with a steelbelted carcass which can be put through a rollers and flatten,during the process they are welded together to make a matting for roads, pathes etc .The Council got all the info but turned their noses up at it ..

[Oddquine]

I'm afraid I'm not too inclined to recycle now I have no transport.........not because I don't think we should but because I'm not into trekking the length of the village to do it.

I did recycle where I lived before, but it was less hassle as it was saved in boxes from the council and collected when the bins were emptied.

[dozy]

Recycling Plastic or any waste disposal should be made as easy as possible .We all should have 2 domestic waste bins .One bin for all the dry recyclable waste ,the second bin should have two compartments ,one for compostable/food waste and the second compartment for wet and non-compostable waste ( food and sanitary)
So all the dry stuff ie plastic, cardboard,paper, cans. textiles, batteries etc in one bin ,so all your recycling needs as a household are taken care of and the council can sort it into classes of waste with ease .
The second bin has two compartments, compartment 1 goes for hot composting,compartment 2 goes for heat treatment than landfilled or mixed with wood waste and burnt in high pressure/ temperature Vortex boilers (over 1400 degrees)..
As long as the TAXPAYER will foot the bill the council will do nothing .They shout about recycling levels of 26% ( you cant find out to where/whom the waste goes and for what price ) thats 50% behind some counties ..
Most so called recyclers just bale the waste and sent it off south ,thats not recycling thats just collection .........

[dirdyweeker]

I would definitely recycle my plastic given half a chance. We use the large (6 Pint) milk bottles, at least one a day and more plastics besides. I understand some people are maybe not fortunate enough to have transport to take it to the recycle centre but I am sure we are all willing to do our bit to help our children's future. The bulk of my grey wheelie is due to milk bottles.

[ginajade]

Smiles Plastic Ltd is a good website for products made from recycled plastics.

[Riffman]

A lot of plastics can be safely burnt withouth producing toxic fumes, I think the council should be looking at an energy from waste incinerator plant. Burying all the rubbish in the ground is very short sighted really, who knows what will happen in 50 or 100 years time?

Jersey has been burning all non-recylceable waste for years and also produced electricty from it.

[grandma]

I already recycle my glass, paper, old clothes etc and put it in the village recycling bins (I have a car so this is easier for me) and any food waste is either fed to the dog or put on the compost heap. I would definately like to see plastics recycled as well. Are the villages ever going to get their own recycling bins like they do in Wick?

[Riffman]

Having looked over what gets binned in our house it seems to be mostly plastic, what we currently recycle:

Paper
Glass
Cardboard
Textiles
Metal/Tins/Cans
Garden waste on our compost heap.

So it is mainly plastic that we bin.

[badger]

I recycle as much as poss. saving it to fit in the car boot and also put more food in the compost now - not meat but bread etc. plus of course egg cartons. Have also started lining my kitchen waste bin with newspaper so not so much plastic goes in the wheelie. That wouldn't work for large bins though. It was mentioned at the Landward Forum that Tetrapak have their own recycling bins and are hoping to introduce them up here so that would take care of all the juice/milk cartons. No mention of plastic yet.

[jings00]

I voted "other" as I would only be able to take any plastics for recycling to a recycling point if it was within Thurso as I don't drive.

[Jeemag_USA]

I used to recycle a lot of my own plastic, using milk jugs, liquid bottles and all sorts of stuff for plant pots for seedlings, funels for petrol, used to cut up milk jugs and make guitar picks from them, and used to cut clear plastic coke bottles in half and use one half for putting seedlings in and then when I transplanted them to the ground I used to take the other half and remove the cap and place it over the seedling so it was like its own mini greenhouse......

Then when I was done with all of it I would fire it all in the bin except for the guitar picks, I would lose them down the back of the couch. [lol]

But if there was a recycling point available I would save my stuff and drive to a drop off point ;)

[karia]

Horrible, mean and nasty thing to say..but sometimes I take a perfectly recyclable item and chuck it straight in the trash.
I COULD wash it..and dry it..and put it in the car and drive it 30 miles to be recycled..carbon footprinting as I went!:eek:

But I am just evil!;)

karia

[Moi x]

I should recycle but I'm too lazy to sort out all my trash and I have no room for all the multicoloured bins in my kitchen.

Will recycling save the planet or is it nothing more than a 21st century cult? I have no clue.

Moi x

[mccaugm]

I should recycle but I'm too lazy to sort out all my trash and I have no room for all the multicoloured bins in my kitchen.

Will recycling save the planet or is it nothing more than a 21st century cult? I have no clue.

Moi x

What would encourage you to recyle more of your rubbish?

I think in this day and age people need an incentive to do things...like losing weight, "saving the planet" etc....

[Mister Squiggle]

We recycle our paper and glass and I'd love to be able to recycle the plastic too. Just watched CBeebies with their little recycling song ("What would you do if the world had all turned grey da da da da daaaah... ") and felt quite guilty putting the milk carton in the bin. I think the bulk of our rubbish now is plastic (milk cartons, plastic containers) so it would be grand to think this could be recycled if I could take it to a drop-off point.
All together now parents out there: "Use a little less of something, use something again if that's Okaaaay ..."

[smarty]

I would definately recycle my plastics if we had the bins provided we go through loads of plastics in my house x

[mccaugm]

Thanks to all who voted in this poll....please feel free to vote if you haven't already done so.:Razz

[silversurfer]

We would love to recycle our plastics - so frustrating that it's just not an option up here.

[Tilter]

The council were offered recycling for plastics ,wood ,non-recyclable paper/cardboard ,organic waste plus any others in the waste stream and they turned it down flat .The facility was to be based in Wick and would have employed 12 .The Council stated that there was no need to recycling these materials at present or in the future ..Yet some of the ideas put forward appeared in the Highland Waste Strategy..

I can't believe this!!!! I will write to my Landward Councillor and ask about it. At their last forum a Highland waste guru gave a talk and everything sounded hunkydory.

My daughter lives in Greenwich council area and has a regular bin, a garden waste bin and a recycling bin. Anything that can possibly be recycled goes in the recycling bin unsorted, willy nilly. The council sorts it all and thus I assume creates jobs.

Yes I'll drop off my plastic if it doesn't waste more energy getting it to Dumfries, though I suspect the answer is more plastic recycling plants.

[alanatkie]

If we had recycle bins i would happily recycle my card board & plastics but as their is no sign of that happening soon in Castletown. I will just have to keep binning it :roll:

[silversurfer]

Any last minute thoughts/votes??