Expansion of recycling services: Drinks carton recycling introduced in Scottish Borders
Thursday, September 6 2007
Scottish Borders Council is launching a new beverage carton recycling scheme throughout the Borders to give residents the opportunity to recycle even more of their household rubbish.
The new scheme is being introduced in conjunction with Tetra Pak Ltd and the carton industry body ACE UK (Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment).
Each year, UK beverage carton manufacturers produce approximately 55,000 tonnes of paper-based cartons for milk, juice, sauces and other liquid foods/drinks. This equates to around 2.3kg of cartons per household which could be recycled instead of thrown in the rubbish bin. In response, SBC has worked with the carton industry to establish carton collection points at Community Recycling Centres (CRCs) for residents to take their empty cartons to be recycled.
Banks will be sited in the CRCs at Station Road Industrial Estate, Duns; Gunsgreenhill, Eyemouth; Mansfield Road, Hawick; Easter Langlee, Galashiels and Riverside Road, Selkirk. A bank is due to be sited in the next few weeks at the Eshiels CRC, off the A72 near Peebles.
Even though cartons can not be placed in household recycling bags for collection from the kerbside, the new project means that used cartons can now be recycled by householders taking them to the CRCs. Cartons can be recycled into a number of different products ranging from plasterboard liner to high-strength paper bags and envelopes.
Julie Rankine, SBC Waste Strategy Manager, said: “Borders residents have always responded well to the different recycling schemes we’ve introduced, but we’ve still got some tough targets to meet. We’re delighted that Tetra Pak and the carton industry is supporting us to help increase the number of cartons recycled and we hope everyone will take their cartons to the Community Recycling Centres.”
Richard Hands, Environment Manager at Tetra Pak Ltd and Chairman of ACE UK, added: “Whilst cartons have been successfully recycled in large volumes for many years throughout Europe, the UK has a long way to go. It’s therefore fantastic news that Scottish Borders Council is taking a lead by adding cartons to the list of materials recycled and we very much hope that the initiative is successful. We and our industry partners are committed to increasing the level of carton recycling in the UK with the aim of reaching a national network of carton collection by the end of 2008. Our work with SBC takes us and households in the area one step closer to achieving that.”
For more information on recycling in the Scottish Borders, visit www.scotborders.gov.uk/recycling or call the Recycling Helpline on 10835 825 128.
For more information on beverage carton recycling, visit www.tetrapakrecycling.co.uk.
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