A few helpful hints that I picked up from the Recycling Centre

[Renata Hamvas]

I spent Friday afternoon visiting the Refuse and Recycling Centre, just off the Old Kent Road. It was an amazing sight, a huge web of conveyor belts sorting rubbish (a lot of it automatic sorting , such as powerful magnets removing metals and size/weight sorting for paper and cardboard, but a very skilled team also manually pick out items that have been mis-sorted by the automatic sorting).

A few things I picked up that may be useful for residents to know.

The metallic/plasticky cat food pouches are not recyclable at present. Film on top of ready meals, and cling film are not recyclable. Cling film wraps around the rotors and causes the system to jam.

All harder plastic containers, even the darker almost black ones are now recyclable. Tetrapacks are recyclable. The plastic milk containers should be rinsed out, flattened and the lids put back on. They are recycled by pelleting and the pellets are made into new milk containers.

Steel cans and aluminium cans (and other aluminium items) are easily recycled by the machines, but if you eg have had a can of baked beans, please rinse it out.

Pizza boxes with a few grease marks are recyclable, if they have cheese, tomato sauce, bits of pizza in them they are not (you can cut out the bases and recycle the food free bits.

Compostable coffee cups don't compost in the normal food waste, they need a special process, so either return them to where you got them from or put in general waste. (better to use a reusable cup).

Please put your recycling loose in the recycling bins, plastic bags jam up the system. (unless you have been given the large clear recycling bags)

All glass is separated out and made into glass based insulation. Nothing is sent overseas for recycling, most is done locally.

Thanks

Renata

[Sally Eva]

Cling film and other bits of soft plastic can be recycled at the Co-op. From the picture this includes crisp packets and similar soft objects.

What about till receipts Renata? The rules on these seem to vary from place to place.

Does anyone know how to recycle CDs -- used, battered, useless ones of course?

[Renata Hamvas]

Hi Sally,

thanks for that about the Co-Op. From Nunhead Rocks I've picked up that rinsed out cat food pouches can also be disposed of there for recycling. I forgot to mention clothes and fabrics. There are recycling bins for fabrics linked to charities. Unusable clothes and bedding can be put in these as the fibres are then recycled and made into new fabric.

[Angelina]

hi Renata

Are there stats available for the percentage of recycling that is actually recycled - and how much is sent to landfill or send abroad to be recycled?

It would be really useful to know.

thanks

Angelina

[Renata Hamvas]

I don't know exactly the total recycling percentage but nothing goes to landfill and nothing goes abroad. Most of the recycled material is processed locally, but the plastic milk containers go to a specialised facility in Merseyside.

[legalalien]

thanks that's really useful.

When I was a child our school trips were always to places like food processing factories (and farms). Do you know whether Veolia do school trips to their recycling centre? I imagine that might be quite educational.

[Angelina]

Thanks Renata - can there be more transparency?

I don't see anything published and this should be visible.

I gather it's cheaper for companies to use newly produced plastic than recycled.

Also - what pressure is there on the supermarkets to move to recyclable materials? The amount of packaging that is not able to be recycled is very high.

[Nigello]

Thanks - does litter placed in Southwark litter bins get sorted, even minimally (eg. glass and metal fished out for recycling) or is it all dumped or incinerated?

[Penguin68]

Renata - that's been really useful - did Veolia give any indication whether, when or if they are going to introduce anaerobic digesters (for kitchen waste) into the system? - rather than just combining kitchen and garden waste for composting? At the moment the separation we are obliged to undertake is not actually matched by Veolia, who treat both types together. I know Veolia do operate digesters in some areas.

Also, I'm assuming that when you write 'even the darker almost black ones are now recyclable' you mean that the actual black ones still can't be recycled.

[slarti b]

Renata,

Interesting post, thanks you, but shouldnn't there be detailed information on the council web site with all this information and useful stuff? I had a look a year ago or so after an argument with my wife about whether plastic flower pots could be recycled and could find nothing to help. Have I missed anything on the web site?

Also, you say none of the waste goes to landfill, how much of the recycled waste gets incinerated?

[slarti b]

Renata Hamvas Wrote:

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I don't know exactly the total recycling percentage but nothing goes to landfill and nothing goes abroad. Most of the recycled material

According to Govt figures for Southwark, about 35% of household is sent for recycling. This puts Southwark in the bottom 25% of boroughs across the UK. The Govt figures don't say the waste sent for recycling ends up being burned, is that something you can find out?

As a long term councillor I am surprised you didn't know this sort of stuff already ;-) ?

[rachp]

St Christopher?s (and possibly other charity shops) can take fabrics for recycling- they sell it on (the bins are often full or not near the high street).

[kiera]

Renata - Thank you, but I agree with previous posters that we are not given enough information about what happens to our recycling.

I suspect that Veolia burns plastic dishes and calls that recycling, as it provides fuel to heat a Southwark council estate. That would explain why they are happy to take black plastic which is generally recognised as unrecyclable. Are you able to find out? I would find it really helpful to know for sure, as water is a valuable resource and I would like to cut down on the amount of water I use to ensure my plastic dishes are perfectly clean, if they're only going to be burned.

[geh]

slarti b Wrote:

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> Renata Hamvas Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> I don't know exactly the total recycling

> percentage but nothing goes to landfill and

> nothing goes abroad. Most of the recycled

> material

>

> According to Govt figures for Southwark, about 35%

> of household is sent for recycling. This puts

> Southwark in the bottom 25% of boroughs across the

> UK. The Govt figures don't say the waste sent for

> recycling ends up being burned, is that something

> you can find out?

>

> As a long term councillor I am surprised you

> didn't know this sort of stuff already ;-) ?

This is a rather disappointing read, I'm sure I recall from previous visits to the Old Kent Rd centre, as will others, that the signage proudly claims 100% of the materials are recycled.

Cllr Hamvas, it would be useful to understand whether this statement is true, or in fact another interpretation of the facts, perhaps you would be able to clarify for me please?

Thanks

[geh]

or is it 100% diverted from landfill? Perhaps it's that, but I think one leaves the centre thinking the situation may be better than in fact it really is?

[redpost]

geh Wrote:

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> or is it 100% diverted from landfill? Perhaps

> it's that, but I think one leaves the centre

> thinking the situation may be better than in fact

> it really is?

The residual waste is recycled into electricity ie. burnt at deptford incinerator

Not everything can be recycled, even the swedes can't recycle everything.

I believe it's highly disingenuous to claim that 100% recycling

[Metallic]

You didn't mention the incredible addition of the small electrical recycling bin which is by the P4 bus stop in the Village. Do people from all over the borough drive down to use it?

I would think a better place for it would be up near the old Lloyds Bank in Woodwarde Rd.

[Nigello]

I think we need more of those small electrical item recycling boxes. Yes, it gets full but at least it is there and it urges people to use it next time they pass.

And Renata;s post can at least serve as a spur to recycle more/compost more and, ultimately, use less or at least reuse stuff. It is not the council's fault that certain items are not recyclable. It is the individual's fault if s/he CBA to put items in the right bin, which must happen at least some of the time.

[Friernlocal]

Thanks for this helpful post. Lewisham publish a comprehensive pdf recycling guide on their website. The advice might not be the same as Southwark's policies, so it would be helpful if Southwark could publish something similar. This is the link:https://lewisham.gov.uk/myservices/wasterecycle/a-to-z-recycling?fbclid=IwAR2gkEm47HzfJkSaTp-USwKqpXyRCOiYh7NyM4ffUd7eL360QfCCduW4SdY

[slarti b]

@Friernlocal

Thanks for the link; that is excellent and, if I lived in Lewisham, would have settled the argument with my wife (no, plant containers can't be recycled). It still doesn't give guidance about, eg food stained cardboard, but is a lot better than Soutwark. It would also be helpful to mention the standard codes given to different plastic types ( 1-7) which identify the plastic type them and whether it can be recycled.

@Renata

Can Southweark produce a detailed guide like that?

[tomskip]

What always amazes me is that glass goes into our general recycling bins. How do the myriad little bits of smashed glass get sorted from the rest? It can't be by hand.

[hpsaucey]

legalalien Wrote:

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> thanks that's really useful.

>

> When I was a child our school trips were always to

> places like food processing factories (and farms).

> Do you know whether Veolia do school trips to

> their recycling centre? I imagine that might be

> quite educational.

Hi legalalien - yes they do. My sons went from school around 3 year ago or so and had a great time. Suppose things might be different with Covid.

HP