The best way to recycle ...

Published by phil hurst for Campaign for Real Recycling in Environment and also in Local Government

What is the best way to recycle? 

The government chief advisors on recycling, the Waste Recycling Action Programme (WRAP) recently published definitive guidance on the best way to recycle.

"On the evidence available to WRAP, our view is that kerbside sort systems offer reliable material quality and lower net costs for council taxpayers. They are also capable of capturing the same volume of material as co-mingled schemes.

There is no evidence that their operation – properly explained and justified – is unacceptable to householders and the physical evidence of sorting of materials happening at the kerbside is reassuring to sceptical residents.

There appear to be no unmanageable health and safety considerations.

Because of our priority for quality materials as a way to improve resource efficiency, WRAP believes that kerbside sort collections should be preferred where they are practical and that should be in the majority of local authority areas.

Where there are practical and operational barriers to kerbside sorting, two stream co-mingled collections have significant advantages over single stream collections, mainly through improved material quality and value as a result of keeping paper and card separate from other materials, particularly glass."
 

Kerbside sorting is where two containers are given to the household and the materials collected are sorted at the kerbside. This  saves expensive sorting costs, maximises the recyclability of the materials collected, and minimises waste budgets.

The full report can be found on the campaign for real recycling website:  www.realrecycling.org.uk and the WRAP website www.wrap.org.uk