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A campaign for sustainable methods of waste management |
Peterhead Newsletter 4, Sunday 14 February 2010
Hi all
In Aberdeenshire this is what happens to each of the Items below once you have taken them to a Recycling Point or Household Waste and Recycling Centre. It doesn't show the proportion of what is produced in total to what happens here, but interesting....if we can find out what is actually landfilled of the difference between them, then therein is the business deal to be had and the contacts are there presumably waiting to accept more? Note that plastic bottles go all the way down to Liverpool, so with WRAP grants at 50% start up costs why is there nothing in Scotland....think of the savings inn heavy lorry journeys...anybody know how many plastic bottles are thrown away in Scotland every year...must be a few bobs worth..etc
John
What happens to Cardboard?
It is bulked and baled in Inverurie (Souterford Road) or Banchory
(Crow’s Nest) and sent to Severnside
Recycling for reprocessing. It is used mainly to make
more packaging and the covering material on plasterboard.
What
happens to Earth and Rubble?
Earth and Rubble is sent to either Bridgend
Sand and Gravel in King Edward, A&M
Smith in Portlethen or Lovie
Quarry & Concrte Products. The earth and rubble components
are separated and the rubble is screened to sort it into different sizes
and it is then used to supplement virgin aggregate.
What
happens to Electrical Appliances?
Cooling Appliances: Appliances such as fridges, freezers, and air
conditioning units are hazardous as waste and must be sent to remove
cooling gases and insulation foam for treatment before recycling.
Large Household Appliances other than Cooling Appliances: Items
such as washing machines, tumble dryers, microwaves, electric cookers, and
fans are separated for metals recycling and recovery.
TVs and other Display Equipment containing Cathode Ray Tubes:
Products such as TVs, computer monitors and other equipment containing
cathode ray tubes must be sent for hazardous waste treatment before
recycling suitable materials.
Gas Discharge Lamps (including fluorescent or low energy bulbs):
Straight and compact fluorescent lamps, high intensity discharge lamps,
but not normal household light bulbs (filament lamps) are classed as
hazardous waste due to the small amounts of mercury they contain. This
means they should not go to landfill, so they are recycled along with WEEE
(waste electrical and electronic equipment) under the heading
of 'gas discharge lamps.' Following removal of mercury for reuse or
treatment, the metals and plastics can be separated and recycled. 'Normal'
filament light bulbs do not contain hazardous materials and are difficult
to recycle because of the mixture of materials in them. Therefore, they
can go straight to landfill. We are still investigating recycling options
for these types of bulbs.
All other Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (Small Appliances):
The many smaller electrical and electronic products, tools, and appliances
used in households, such as computers, hair dryers, and vacuum cleaners,
are collected together for metals recycling, and plastic recycling where
possible.
What
happens to Food & Drinks Cans and Aerosols?
Steel and aluminium cans are magnetically separated in our baling
room. Aluminium cans go to Novelis
in Warrington to be made into new cans. Steel cans have normally been sent
to Corus
(although this can change, subject to market conditions) to be made into a
variety of items, such as engine parts as well as new cans.
What
happens to Garden Waste?
Garden waste is composted in New Deer (Keenan
Recycling) or Portlethen (A&M
Smith).
What
happens to Glass Bottles & Jars?
The colour-separated glass is sent to O-I
(previously known as the British Glass Recycling Company) in Alloa. It is
crushed, cleaned and made back into new bottles and jars.
What
happens to Household Batteries?
Batteries go to G
& P Batteries where container loads of batteries are
emptied into a large hopper, which feeds the bags of batteries down onto a
conveyor belt to be hand-sorted by battery chemistry type.
Batteries of the same type are stored until enough have been gathered to
make a cost effective shipment to the recycler of that particular battery
type.
The batteries are turned into a variety of products, including more
batteries, as well as being used in the steel industry.
What
happens to Lead Acid (Vehicle) Batteries?
They are sent to a local scrap merchant who sends them on to a
specialist recycler of lead acid batteries - Williamsons in Fraserburgh.
What
happens to Mobile Phones?
Always ask the retailer about recycling your old one when you buy a new
mobile phone. There are also charities which collect old mobile
phones for recycling as a way of raising money. We normally send
ours to Children's
Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS) who raise funds through
Recycling Appeals. You can also recycle them at HWRCs as they are
electrical equipment.
What
happens to Oil?
Engine oil is collected by Northburn
Industrial Services Ltd. It is filtered, cleaned and made into
new lubricants.
What
happens to Paper?
Your paper is taken to a bulking point to await transportation to the
reprocessor. It is taken to Shotton Paper Mill (part of UPM
Kymmene) in North Wales, where it is pulped and made into
newsprint, which can be sold, used and recycled many more times.
What
happens to Plastic Bottles?
Baled bottles are taken to JFC
Plastics Ltd (previously known as Deleve Plastics) in St
Helens, where they are granulated to be made, by other companies, into a
wide variety of products such as fleeces, recycling boxes, composters,
watering cans, guttering, and the filling material for winter jackets.
What
happens to Refillable Gas Canisters?
If at all possible, please return empty gas canisters to the original
supplier or manufacturer (the manufacturer, at least, is usually indicated
on the side of the canister). Most suppliers will be happy to accept the
gas canisters back at no charge as they can refurbish and refill them for
use again. If this is not possible, please take your canisters to a
suitable Household
Waste & Recycling Centre, checking first to see that they have
facilities for gas canisters (or 'pressuirsied containers').
They are dealt with by specialist companies.
What happens to Scrap Metal?
It is taken to a local scrap merchant for sorting and is then sent to Corus
or other suitable reprocessing companies for recycling.
What
happens to Tetra Paks?
They are stored at the six
participating Household Waste & Recycling Centres and then
collected by Tetra
Pak, who take them to Sweden for recycling.
What
happens to Textiles?
The Salvation
Army or Nathan's
Wastesavers collect the textiles and sort them into grades. The
articles collected are used locally where possible, or failing that,
nationally or internationally.
All textiles put into the textile banks are reused or recycled in some
way.
For example, cotton materials unsuitable for reuse are ripped up and made
into bags of cleaning rags. These rags are sold to garages, factories and
other businesses which raises funds for further work by the two collecting
organisations.
Other unwearable items are used for mattress fillings or furniture
padding.
What
happens to Tyres?
They are collected by Envirotyre,
based in Coatbridge. Envirotyre bulk and ship the tyres to Blue
Circle Cement in Dunbar where they are shredded and used as
fuel in the kilns to make cement as part of an energy from waste
initiative.
What happens to Wood?
It is sent to Keenan
Recycling Limited in New Deer to be shredded and composted, A&M
Smith in Portlethen to be shredded and used to make chipboard,
or Puffin
Pellets in Boyndie to be made into fuel.
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