Recycling black plastic food trays in your area?.

Norman_Castle

My local council, Birmingham, will not accept black plastic food trays with the recycling. They accept all other colours. I'm sure there is a good reason for this but after opening some exceedingly good apple pies I wondered why the tray was black. If black plastic is unwelcome in the recycling system surely making the tray a different colour would make environmental sense.

Does your local councils recycling accept food trays in any colour except black?.

System

No, my council won't touch them either.

molerat

Recycling is a joke in the UK. No two councils seem to have the same rules. My council only accept 1&2 in any colour - so no margarine or yoghurt pots - and plastic milk bottles can have lids left on (saw a tv prog where the clever machine can separate the different colour chips of plastic once all chopped up). They also accept TetraPak cartons which the majority do not. Why are packaging manufacturers and retailers are not compelled to have the recycling code on plastic containers ?

My council recently carried out a door to door recycling survey.
Q : Why do we recycle ?
My A: The government gives you targets, if you did not have to meet them you would not bother and could save a fortune in staff- cynical or what

Norman_Castle

!!!!!! wrote: »

No, my council won't touch them either.

Just black?.

System

Black & the thin clear ones that some pre-packed fruit comes in

Andy_WSM

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Just black?.

My council (North Somerset) won't touch the black ones either. I don't think it's a racist thing though.

The_Green_Hornet

Our council (Milton Keynes) doesn't discriminate.

Plastic bottles and containers (washed with lids removed) including:

• drinks bottles
• detergent and bleach bottles
• milk bottles
• yoghurt pots and margarine tubs
• rigid meat trays and fruit punnets
• ready meal containers
• plastic bottle caps/lids

Mind you wouldn't recycling be a lot easier if the separation was done at the waste & recycling centre and not by the householder. Just give each house two bins - one for dry waste and one for wet waste.

Norman_Castle

The_Green_Hornet wrote: »

Mind you wouldn't recycling be a lot easier if the separation was done at the waste & recycling centre and not by the householder. Just give each house two bins - one for dry waste and one for wet waste.

Birmingham council uses two boxes. One for paper and card and one for tins, bottles, trays etc. I believe its mostly machine sorted.

Householders separating their own waste saves councils money. If the recycling process was more expensive council tax bills would need to increase to cover the extra cost.

Ectophile

My council - Hastings Borough Council - seems to accept a wide range of plastics, including many that don't say that they can be recycled:

• Plastic bottles (remove lids and include for recycling)
• Plastic food pots, tubs and trays
• Plastic film and bags
• Blister packs (moulded plastic packaging used for tablets/capsules, batteries, small toys etc)

No mention of colours.

Arthog

Ours takes 1, 2, and 3 types of plastic, and those include black plastic food trays.
Acceptance of plastic for recycling has been static for far too long. Why can't yogurt be put into recyclable plastic pots, for eg?? It all needs reviewing. Councils should be putting pressure on the food producers to use more recyclable plastic
The aspect that fascinates me is - which country prides itself on coming top for recycling? Germany! Which Supermarkets use hardly any recyclable plastic in the UK? The German ones!

Norman_Castle

Why can't yogurt be put into recyclable plastic pots,

Presumably your council does not recycle these. Ours does, so they can be recycled. Until recently mine did not recycle food containers or tin foil. Obviously councils need an outlet for what they collect.

I'll swap you 50,000 black food trays for 50,000 yoghurt pots. Meet me on the border.