Tesco to trial paying customers who recycle 10p per plastic bottle - MSE News

TheBanker

My fear is that these new schemes will take all the good quality materials out of the council collection schemes. It might not lead to much more recycling but might divert some existing recycling into a new channel.

Why is that a problem? Well, if the council are left with a load of poor quality material, the cost of running kerbside collections may not be viable. So we could lose out on kerbside recycling opportunities while the likes of Tesco 'cherry pick' the most profitable materials.

A better solution would be to mandate all councils to collect plastic for recycling, and ensure that there are recycling bins in public areas for people who have a bottle of drink on the go.

Bacman

Given that Councils are starting to say it is uneconomical to send recycle plastic that households separated in their waste for recycling, and China who apparently we used to send our rubbish to are imposing tariffs now, why is it commercial sense for Tesco to pay people to recycle when in reality the plastic they get will be sent to council dumps who will then not recycle them but put into landfill?

TheBanker

Bacman wrote: »

Given that Councils are starting to say it is uneconomical to send recycle plastic that households separated in their waste for recycling, and China who apparently we used to send our rubbish to are imposing tariffs now, why is it commercial sense for Tesco to pay people to recycle when in reality the plastic they get will be sent to council dumps who will then not recycle them but put into landfill?

I think the issue is the type of plastic. Clear plastic bottles are worth recycling but all the other types of plastic (coloured bottles, yogurt pots, ready meal trays etc..) are worth less. So Tesco etc. are cherry picking the materials they can sell for a profit by limiting their scheme to certain types of bottle.

My concern is that Tesco and others will collect and profit from the good quality, and the council will be left with all the poor quality which is not worth as much money. This makes kerbside collections of recycling less viable.

If we really want to reduce plastic use, rather than simply generate good PR, the government should think about adding additional VAT to products which are packaged in plastic. As with the 5p carrier bag charge, this would soon change behaviours and the shops would have more incentive to remove plastic to make their products more competitive.

lily117

Well I tried the one in Swansea yesterday. We get a free bottle of Evian water with the Daily Telegraph every day and the machine accepted ten of them. Not going to complain about £1 off my shopping!

Harvey_Odze

Tesco Borehamwood have removed their plastic bottle recycling machine, so it looks as though they have terminated the scheme. 

lily117

Harvey_Odze said:

Tesco Borehamwood have removed their plastic bottle recycling machine, so it looks as though they have terminated the scheme. 

Yes, ours has gone too (Swansea)