Recycling: don't let your neighbours down

Householders in South Norfolk are being urged to think carefully about what they put into their recycling bins, after the Council announced that contamination is costing its tax payers £30,000 a year.

David Osborne, head of environmental services, explained:

"By contamination, we mean any items which cannot be recycled. When too many non-recyclables are put in our green bins, a whole ten-ton load may end up having to be diverted to landfill - which not only costs money but also loses us recycling credits.

"Since we introduced our new twin bin-scheme, residents in South Norfolk have really shown commitment to responsible recycling. Yet a few households can undo all their neighbours’ efforts, simply by adding too much contaminated waste to their area’s fortnightly recycling collection. Every resident needs to recycle as much as possible, but our guidelines are very clear - and throwing in anything else could end up being dramatically counter-productive."

Steve Jenkins is local authority contracts manager at the Costessey Waste Recycling Centre, which processes all of Norfolk’s household recyclables. He said:

"A lot of things may seem harmless enough, but are far from it. We’ve been finding quite a few old video tapes recently, for example. When these get broken, the tape comes loose and gets wrapped round our sorting machinery, and that can cause significant damage.

"It is amazing what some people consider recyclable: discarded food, taps, rusty machinery - even dirty nappies or dog waste. This sort of thing can completely ruin a lot of clean, recyclable paper.

"What many people also don’t realise is that staff at the plant sort the material as it travels down the conveyor belt, removing by hand anything which is unrecyclable. Old bits of machinery coming at speed could injure them, whilst no one should be expected to have to remove soiled nappies by hand.

"Although some councils vary in what their residents can and can’t recycle, they all have a clear list. If you are still not sure, just give them a call."

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