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colchesterfoeSeparated kerbside collections
Dear Editor,
Don Martin thinks (ECS 3/4/09) a zero waste option is a 'marvellous idea', but to cover the costs of weekly collections of all materials with increased revenue from recycled materials is 'an illusion'. He says 'the market for recycled materials has slumped to an all-time low'.
It is 'commingled' (mixed) recyclables in wheelie bins or sacks which are the problem. They are crushed in a compactor and transported to a costly MRF (Materials Recycling Facility) to be mechanically sorted. ECC plans MRFs at Basildon and Rivenhall.
This contaminates these materials, particularly paper, wastes energy to transport and sort them, with 10-15% dumped. It costs councils to transport them and pay a high gate fee per tonne to a waste disposal company, without receiving income from recyclables.
WRAP (Waste Resources Action Programme) does independent research funded by the Government. They report that materials collected separately at the kerbside still got good prices and the market is recovering (see council's Finance Audit Scrutiny agenda 24/2/09).
For example, paper over the last year rose from £60 per tonne to a high of £100 per tonne in August, dropping to £40 when the market slumped. Separated card was worth more all year than mixed paper and card which went from a high of £60 to zero last November.
The FAS report states that mixing paper and card in plastic sacks and mixing higher grade plastic bottles with other plastics as Colchester is doing now, 'require extensive sorting' and 'it is unlikely that top or bottom range prices for paper .. would be achieved'.
The one-use plastic sacks cost £142,000 for one year. Why haven't we cancelled them this year to get higher income for separated paper and card, and particularly to help fund the mobility scooters, garden beds, Colne River maintenance etc?
Glass prices remained steady all year, with separated clear glass twice the value of mixed glass such as Colchester now collects. Green and brown glass were both worth more than mixed. Separated recycled glass also saves huge amounts of energy and CO2.
We are still lumbered with the split vehicles which can't cope with the varying tonnages. Why didn't the previous administration buy more of the 'Fame' vehicles as independent consultants recommended, to sort the glass colours at the kerbside as we used to do?
Last June WRAP reported that separated collections sorted at the kerb are cheaper to run and produce high quality recyclate. These also provide more local jobs, support our UK reprocessors and save energy. Recycling is not just about keeping waste out of landfill!
Yours sincerely,
Paula Whitney, Co-ordinator,
Colchester & NE Essex Friends of the Earth,
4 Shears Crescent,
West Mersea, Essex, CO5 8AR.
Dear Editor,
Don Martin thinks (ECS 3/4/09) a zero waste option is a 'marvellous idea', but to cover the costs of weekly collections of all materials with increased revenue from recycled materials is 'an illusion'. He says 'the market for recycled materials has slumped to an all-time low'.
It is 'commingled' (mixed) recyclables in wheelie bins or sacks which are the problem. They are crushed in a compactor and transported to a costly MRF (Materials Recycling Facility) to be mechanically sorted. ECC plans MRFs at Basildon and Rivenhall.
This contaminates these materials, particularly paper, wastes energy to transport and sort them, with 10-15% dumped. It costs councils to transport them and pay a high gate fee per tonne to a waste disposal company, without receiving income from recyclables.
WRAP (Waste Resources Action Programme) does independent research funded by the Government. They report that materials collected separately at the kerbside still got good prices and the market is recovering (see council's Finance Audit Scrutiny agenda 24/2/09).
For example, paper over the last year rose from £60 per tonne to a high of £100 per tonne in August, dropping to £40 when the market slumped. Separated card was worth more all year than mixed paper and card which went from a high of £60 to zero last November.
The FAS report states that mixing paper and card in plastic sacks and mixing higher grade plastic bottles with other plastics as Colchester is doing now, 'require extensive sorting' and 'it is unlikely that top or bottom range prices for paper .. would be achieved'.
The one-use plastic sacks cost £142,000 for one year. Why haven't we cancelled them this year to get higher income for separated paper and card, and particularly to help fund the mobility scooters, garden beds, Colne River maintenance etc?
Glass prices remained steady all year, with separated clear glass twice the value of mixed glass such as Colchester now collects. Green and brown glass were both worth more than mixed. Separated recycled glass also saves huge amounts of energy and CO2.
We are still lumbered with the split vehicles which can't cope with the varying tonnages. Why didn't the previous administration buy more of the 'Fame' vehicles as independent consultants recommended, to sort the glass colours at the kerbside as we used to do?
Last June WRAP reported that separated collections sorted at the kerb are cheaper to run and produce high quality recyclate. These also provide more local jobs, support our UK reprocessors and save energy. Recycling is not just about keeping waste out of landfill!
Yours sincerely,
Paula Whitney, Co-ordinator,
Colchester & NE Essex Friends of the Earth,
4 Shears Crescent,
West Mersea, Essex, CO5 8AR.
