South Gloucestershire’s SORT IT! Centres have accepted 160 tonnes of bulky rigid plastic items for recycling since the beginning of August 2011, when the new service was introduced.
Cllr James Hunt, executive member for communities said:
“We’ve had an amazing response from the public who have taken care to separate their rigid plastic items and place them into the correct container at our SORT IT! Centres.”
“The rigid plastics that we now send for recycling, as opposed to being destined for landfill, include garden furniture, children’s toys, crates, buckets and even broken water butts.”
Mike Wildman, Operations Manager at SITA UK, which runs the SORT IT! Centres on behalf of South Gloucestershire Council, said:
“It is always rewarding to see waste being put to good use and for those who like comparisons, the 160 tonnes of rigid plastics that we have obtained over the last six months is around the same weight as three Chieftain army tanks or a heavier than average adult blue whale!”
Rigid plastics deposited at the SORT IT! Centres by local residents are crushed and baled by SITA UK staff operating heavy duty machinery at the Materials Recycling Facility in Yate. These bales are taken away for recycling and the materials are then transformed into a range of new products such as plastic pipes, bumpers and interior fittings for cars, and buckets.
There are four SORT IT! Centres in South Gloucestershire, located at Yate, Mangotsfield, Stoke Gifford and Thornbury.
Photo (l-r): Phil Norcott, Principal Officer, Waste Disposal Authority (WDA) and South Gloucestershire Councillor James Hunt, executive member for communities, holding up some of the rigid plastic items that will be recycled. In the background are rigid plastics that have been crushed and baled in readiness for recycling.
