Swansea council has provided households with pink reusable bags for the disposal of household plastics, including clean plastic food trays; loose bottle tops and caps; margarine/ice cream tubs; yoghurt pots; and, plastic bottles.
The bags are to replace the previous system whereby households would fill single-use plastic sacks with recyclable plastic items.
The city-wide roll-out of the scheme will take place over ten weeks. The council said the changes are an effort to ‘satisfy’ plastic recycling companies who say that plastic sacks included in collections can affect the recycling process.
Process
The council explained that reprocessing companies have indicated that they do not want the plastics contained ‘within’ a plastic bag. And, have also stated that it is preferable to remove film, bubble, wrap and plastic bags from the plastic recycling stream as it can interfere with the sorting process.
The authority said it is working on identifying alternative outlets for residents to recycle their plastic bags separately.
The new bags also have a weighted base so they are less likely to be blown around the street during high winds.
The trial has been ongoing for more than 12 months, serving around 3,000 properties in the city.
According to the council, collected plastics go to a variety of destinations to be processed. Currently the local authority are mainly sending material to Turkey.
A demonstration video by Swansea council (Video: Swansea council)
A spokesperson from the council confirmed the change has been well received overall. “There were a few teething problems in terms of residents continuing to use single use sacks for their plastics, but the authority has worked with residents to overcome any issues.”
Mark Thomas, cabinet member for environment, services said: “The current system for collecting household plastic has been excellent for diverting a lot of waste away from landfill and improving our overall recycling rate.
“What happens with the plastic once it’s collected is equally important and companies we work with no longer want plastic bags. Therefore we have to adapt our collection methods so we can meet the needs of plastic reprocessing companies.”
“During the trial we have also been able to get feedback from residents taking part so we can improve the sacks that all households are getting.”
Target
Cllr Thomas added: “I’m delighted that we are increasing our recycling rate and moving towards the targets set by the Welsh Government. The key is for all households to do their bit as the targets will increase and we need to ensure that we keep moving forward.”
All councils in Wales must recycle 64% of their waste by 2020. In May this year, the council published provisional statistics for recycling in Swansea which show the city has achieved a recycling rate of 63.7%
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