Concerns have been raised about supermarket chain Sainsburys taking over the running of bring-bank recycling facilities from local authorities at its stores in the UK.
Sainsburys announced last week (June 20) that bring-bank recycling sites have now been rolled out by contractor Palm Recycling at 100 Sainsburys stores across the UK many of which were previously run by local authorities.
The supermarket plans to install the services at more than 300 of its stores across the UK, which it says will help to reduce local authorities costs and increase recycling rates.
However, a representative from a district council in South East England said the potential loss of its bring-site at a Sainsburys store in the region could undermine council recycling services, as it would lose out on revenue from material collected from these sites.
He said: The concern for us is that we have around 50 bring-sites in our district which collect a variety of materials and the material that we collect there goes significantly towards our recycling rates.
The bring-sites currently pay for themselves with the revenue brought in from recycling, so there is the potential that losing one of the bigger sites like the one at Sainsburys could undermine our ability to provide our services. It is all the sites together that help to keep our bring-bank services going.
‘there is the potential that losing one of the bigger sites like the one at Sainsburys could undermine our ability to provide our services’
Council representative in South East England
However, the council spokesman said there was no firm date yet set for Sainsburys to take over the bring-bank site and the council was working in cooperation with both Palm Recycling and Sainsburys and wanted to move forward to find a solution that suits all parties.
Similar issues with regards to Sainsburys bring banks have been raised in the past by local authorities in Devon, while a plan announced by Tesco to take over recycling banks also met with opposition from local authorities in 2011 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Eyesore
However, this contrasts with the views of South Oxfordshire district council, which welcomed Sainsburys move to take over bring-sites at stores in the region three months ago.
Matt Prosser, strategic director at South Oxfordshire, said: The bring-sites at the supermarket were being abused and contaminated, so Sainsburys wanted to sort it out as it was an eyesore. Also, while we still have WEEE and battery recycling banks there, we just want to collect most household recycling from the kerbside.
Sainsburys bring-sites which include recycling containers for mixed paper and card, mixed glass, mixed plastics, mixed cans, textiles and small waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) are being rolled out as part of the supermarkets aim to provide comprehensive and consistent facilities for its customers (see letsrecycle.com story). It said the roll out would also help it to meet targets outlined in its 20×20 Sustainability Plan, launched in 2011 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Positive feedback
Contractor Palm Recycling, part of Norfolk-based Palm Paper Ltd, said the facilities have received positive feedback from the public along with increases in the amount of materials recovered.
By taking over the bring-bank sites from councils and installing the 3.2-cubic metre container banks, Palm claims it is helping to drive up recycling rates while reducing local authority costs and complimenting kerbside recycling schemes.
Commenting on the roll-out, Ross Johnstone, business development manager at Palm Recycling, said: Our phase two roll-out programme of bring bank recycling centres across Sainsburys locations has been progressing rapidly and on-time, and it is extremely appropriate that the unveiling of the 100th store recycling centre coincides with the nationally promoted Recycle Week.
According to Sainsburys, customers each month recycle more than 250 tonnes of paper and card; around four tonnes of cans and tins; around 235 tonnes of glass; around 15 tonnes of hard plastic; and almost two million batteries at its recycling sites and stores.
Furthermore, through the bring-banks, Sainsburys said its customers had donated nearly 10 million clothing items as well as almost two million books, CDs and DVDs to charity Oxfam over the last year.
Paul Crewe, Sainsburys head of engineering, sustainability, energy and environment said: We aim to provide our customers with a convenient place to recycle that offers greater consistency and a wider range of recycling options. We agreed this new service with each local authority before installing the improved recycling centres and always provide local authorities with collection data.
Despite tough times our customers still expect us to do the right thing including caring for our environment. Providing convenient facilities to recycle is part of this and where weve introduced the new recycling centres weve seen measurable increases in the amount of materials being recycled.”
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