Around 40% of recycling sent to the recycling centre in South Bank is contaminated and the council is appealing to residents to put their waste in the right place to ensure that plastic bags, food waste, clothes and textiles, nappies, takeaway boxes, polystyrene as well as electrical items and batteries don’t end up in their recycling bin.
A fortnightly recycling collection is provided to residents for cans and tins, cardboard, plastic pots, tubs and trays, glass bottles and jars and plastic bottles as well as paper including envelopes, newspapers, magazines and catalogues.
Recent recycling trials in Normanby and Redcar saw a significant reduction in the contamination of recycling in both areas with a 15% reduction in Normanby and a 19% reduction in Redcar. The trials involved the tagging of recycling bins in the area where contamination was present with clear instructions to residents of what should and shouldn’t go in their recycling bin.
Cllr Adam Brook, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods at Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council, said:
“The results from the recent recycling trials in Normanby and Redcar show that by working closely with residents we can reduce contamination and increase recycling.
“The latest recycling rate for Redcar and Cleveland is approximately 33% and we want to significantly increase this as well as reduce the amount of recycling being contaminated.
“Contaminated recycling has a significant environmental and financial cost as the local authority is effectively paying twice for the processing and haulage of the waste.”
It costs £100.00 a tonne more to process contaminated recycling at the recycling centre.
The benefits of effective recycling include:
- reduces waste sent to landfills and incinerators
- prevents pollution
- conserves natural resources
- conserves energy
- creates jobs and economic benefits.
Each additional tonne of recycled paper is equivalent to the energy saved to heat a home for six months and recycling an aluminium can saves enough energy to power a television for three hours.
To find out which bin an item should go in please visit www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk/recycling