Showing posts with label hdpe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hdpe. Show all posts

Thursday, 27 September 2007

Recycling and Rainham MRF

Keeping recyclables separate, or separating them out when they've become mixed ("comingled") is something I've pondered. The Barking & Dagenham Post (26 Sep) carried an article about Rainham Materials Recycling Facility (owned by Veolia). All kinds of clever gadgets sort the waste out automatically into:

Quality paper
Mixed paper
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) - eg soft drink bottles
High-density polyethylene (HDPE) - eg milk polybottles
Mixed jazz *
cardboard
plastic film (eg thin carrier bags)
aluminium
steel

The Post says "7 grades of waste are baled separately" but I make it 9.

It seems sensible that all these materials can go in our orange bags, and also that they should be kept separate "up stream" where possible - by use of bring banks. * - The Post article gives the example 'coloured bottles' for 'mixed jazz' but according to http://www.plasticsrecycling.co.uk/ it seems to be some kind of plastic recyclable material.

I think the plant can process black bag general waste, too. Presumably separately from the orange bag stuff.