Mixed recycling

Sat 11 Oct 2014, 19:51

Got it, thanks!

Sat 11 Oct 2014, 16:52

Thanks!

Sat 11 Oct 2014, 13:12 (last edited on Sat 11 Oct 2014, 13:21)

Recycling is getting more sophisticated all the time. The company that collects our waste and sorts it on the kerbside, May Gurney, was recently taken over by a bigger company called Kier. They have an MRF. Most of our collections are still separated at the kerbside and the contents taken to different depots, but some are taken to the MRF for sorting, which is why you sometimes see items being thrown in together. Some lorries that collect plastic. paper etc also have slots at the top for cardboard. In fact it is likely that as MRFs become more common, we will be asked to put everything into one bin, as happens in some other Oxfordshire districts. But for the time being it is safer to separate everything.

Sat 11 Oct 2014, 12:37

I thought it depended upon which facility the recycling was taken to. If it's taken to MRF (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materials_recovery_facility) then you can throw it all in together.

Sat 11 Oct 2014, 11:59

Thanks for the explanation, Liz. But I watched paper, plastic and cardboard bins being emptied into the one lorry. That's not the story you've been told!

Of course, glass and tins may also have been tipped in already before I got there.

By the way, I know the term 'comingled' makes the process sound very modern and scientific, but it just means 'mixed', doesn't it? And the co- prefix is redundant: like saying 'mixed together'. You can't mix things without them being together.

So what we have is mixed waste. I can believe that tins, plastic and paper can be separated mechanically, but throw in some shards of broken glass and I'm less confident.

I'm a strong believer in recycling, so I'd like the process to be more transparent.

Fri 10 Oct 2014, 10:49

Surely Jon's saying they Aren't separated at the Spendlove, it's all chucked in together there?

Thu 9 Oct 2014, 19:11 (last edited on Thu 9 Oct 2014, 19:11)

Jon, sorry not to have written this sooner but I've been away. Yes, the bin men do co-mingle some items, and they get sorted at the depot. BUT items go to different depots. Glass and cardboard go to one, and tins, plastic and paper go to another. This means that they have to be separated at the Spendlove otherwise things go to the wrong destination. So please continue to separate items into different bins.

Tue 7 Oct 2014, 13:26

I just stood in the Spendlove car park and watched three different coloured skips being tipped into a recycling lorry, with no apparent segregation. Various extra bits of plastic and cardboard were thrown in by hand. Does this mean it no longer matters what goes in each bin? If that's the case, would it not be less of an eyesore and less of a waste of time and space to have fewer skips, as they are never all full?