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Confusion over what recycling goes in which boxes as rates stagnate
Recycling rates in Bristol are stagnating amid fears that residents are uncertain about what materials can be put in which containers.
Just under half of household waste is sent for recycling or composting, with no improvement in these rates for several years.
A recent rise in online shopping has added to pressures on binmen, as much more cardboard is now thrown away.
is needed now More than ever
Bristol City Council could soon launch a public awareness drive to encourage more people to recycle more of their rubbish.
The average Bristol resident throws away hundreds of kilos of rubbish into their black bins every year, some of which could be recycled.
During an update on recycling given to councillors on the environment policy committee, Green councillor Abi Finch said: “I get a feeling that there’s maybe an amount of uncertainty around what happens to the recycling, how to sort it and what needs to go where.
“A public information campaign could show people what actually happens to their recycling, and what can go in which boxes.”
Last year Bristol residents threw away an average of 343 kilograms each of rubbish into their black bins, more than four times the body weight of the average person.
The majority of this is burned in an incinerator, with the heat converted into energy and then used to power homes.
Between April and June this year, 46 per cent of household waste in Bristol was sent for recycling or composting. This is two percentage points less than the same period last year.
The recycling rate has hovered around the same levels for six years, despite efforts to increase it.
Green councillor Martin Fodor, chair of the environment committee, said: “The rate has been good for a core city for a number of years but it’s not been improving.
“The pressures on it are extra cardboard, which means there’s twice as much to accommodate in the same vehicles that were made to collect what we had five or ten years ago.
“We want to get stuff out of the (black) bin that shouldn’t be in there, like food waste.”
Fodor said that getting recycled material, known as recyclate, to market helps pay for the service.
“There are some cities where they make an arrangement with a company to take it away, and then it turns up in a field abroad not being recycled,” he said.
“We process it, it’s sorted in the street which actually gets us quite high quality material and that material goes to market.
“It’s bulked up and sold to get the best price. We rely on that quality and price to support a good service.
“I know it’s been quite a while since anyone has had anything delivered saying ‘remember this goes in this, this goes in that’.”
A previous public awareness drive in Hartcliffe doubled the uptake of residents using food waste bins, Fodor added.
Black recycling boxes are used for glass bottles and jars, newspapers, magazines, most paper and envelopes, as well as clothes, shoes, batteries and small electrical items which must be put in an untied bag.
Green recycling boxes are used for most plastic, cans, foil and takeaway containers, but not black plastic, soft plastic or crisp packets.
Blue recycling bags are used for cardboard, brown paper and clean food and drink cartons.
Cardboard with food on it, like pizza boxes, shouldn’t be put in these bags. Any tape should also be removed from cardboard.
Polystyrene, bubble wrap, crisp packets, cellophane, cling film and wrapping paper can’t be recycled and should be put in black bins.
The reason for sorting recycling at the kerbside, instead of lumping it all together into one bin, is that it makes it much easier to separate, sell and then convert into reusable materials.
The risk of contamination is much higher for councils that don’t separate recycling at the kerbside, meaning less is ultimately recycled which then adds to the overall cost to the taxpayer of collecting bins.
Different materials are sent from Bristol across the country. For example, glass bottles and jars are sent to Harlow in Essex, and cardboard is sent to Sittingbourne in Kent, to be remade into glass or cardboard packaging.
Main photo: Martin Booth
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