Make your resolution to recycle right this year

‘Wish-cycling’ is something we’re all guilty of. It is the practice of putting items in the recycling bin in the hope that they will be recycled, after all, the packaging says it’s recyclable so why can’t we place it in the green bin?

The problem with ‘wish-cycling’ is that not all Local Councils have the facilities to recycle everything, this means that many items are incorrectly finding their way into our green bins.

Putting the wrong thing in the recycling bin can ultimately lead to whole batches of recycling being sent for incineration instead of being recycled because they contain a mixture of recyclable and non-recyclable items.

In addition non-recyclable items can lead to obstructions and damage to machinery at the sorting facility which can lead to delays and increased costs. 

The good news is that the county’s residents currently recycle around 44% of what they throw away, and the council wants to remind residents about what goes where to help that figure continue to improve further.

The amount of recyclables collected in the green bins over the last year included:

• nearly 5,000 tonnes of plastic
• over 20,000 tonnes of paper
• over 5,000 tonnes of card
• over 2,000 tonnes of cans
• over 20,000 tonnes of glass

This equates to more than 6,600 bin lorries full of recycling.  

Councillor Tony Miller, Cabinet Member for Environment said: ‘Wishcycling’ is something we’re probably all guilty of. Many people still find themselves hovering over a recycling bin, not sure whether the item in their hand can go in the recycling bin or not.  They may look for a label, but still be unsure, so they decide the right thing to do is to put it in the recycling bin, just to be safe.

However, the amount that we’re able to recycle is directly dependent on our residents ensuring their waste is placed in the correct bin.  The key to this is knowing what can and cannot be recycled.

For example, you should avoid items such as, dirty pizza boxes, bin bags, plastic shopping bags, crisp and sweet wrappers, bubble wrap and takeaway coffee cups. All of these items make sorting the recycling into different materials more challenging and costly.’’

For further information on reducing your waste and how to recycle correctly, please visit the Let's Waste Less website.