Recycling Blog

Brown bins have now been rolled out to houses across Pendle and the new outdoor food bins are set to follow them.
We have got rid of the troublesome blue sacks and have been given the opportunity to recycle more than ever before.

But how many people are choosing to go down the green route and "recycle more for Pendle"?  And how many people are still struggling to get to grips with what should be put in what bin?

I jumped in a recycling wagon with a few members of the recycling team to find out.

Changes have been made over the past few months to the way we recycle.
Glass, cans and plastic bottles are now collected fortnightly from the brown bin and paper from the green boxes. Textiles, cardboard and garden waste are collected in the same way as before.

Wagon driver Michael Judson told me that many people have already got used to the new scheme and most seem happy to be doing their bit for the environment.
"At first some people were complaining that their brown bins were too big but now most people who've wanted a smaller one seem to have got one and everything is settling down.
Some people are still asking us what recycling goes where because they haven't seen the sticker on the inside of the lid but once we show them they manage it."

The biggest problem for the recycling team is people putting their recycling into the bin inside a plastic carrier bag, as this can't be recycled so the collectors have to open them up to empty the recycling out.

Pendle Council is giving us more encouragement than ever before to recycle and many people are getting into the green spirit. We recycled 34% of our rubbish between 2008 and 2009 and over the past few months since introducing the new recycling scheme this figure has risen to 37%.

Councillor John David, spokesperson for recycling in Pendle said: "The alternative to recycling is to use landfill sites which are quickly filling up and a terrible way to dispose of rubbish. By recycling we save energy and can reuse materials so it is a win win situation for everyone."
Pendle has a better recycling rate than both Burnley and Preston but we could still be doing more to make us one of the best recycling boroughs in Lancashire .

So what will encourage those reluctant few to go green?

Did you know that 60% of rubbish that ends up in a dustbin could be recycled and just one can would save enough energy to power a television for three hours and a glass bottle would power a computer for 25 minutes.

But what happens to our recycling rubbish when it is collected from outside our homes?

When paper and cardboard is collected it is stored at Pendle Council's Operational Services Depot until it is collected and graded and baled before being sold to paper mills across the UK , Europe and Asia . The paper can then be recycled into writing paper, tissues, newsprint and packaging and the cardboard into cardboard boxes, packaging, animal bedding and office supplies.

Glass, plastic bottles and cans are also stored at the Operational Services Depot before they are collected and separated into four parts- glass, plastic bottles, aluminium cans and steel cans.

The glass is remelted to make new glass bottles and jars and plastic bottles are recycled to make bins, crates, traffic codes, CD cases, fleeces and garden furniture.

Aluminium cans are used to make trains, wheelchairs, windows and walking frames where as steel cans make train tracks, bicycle frames, pipes and ship's hulls.

Recycling in Pendle has taken a huge step forward in the past few months and with the arrival of the brown bin and the promise of a new food bin, there has never been a better time to go green.

-  Philippa West (Nelson Leader)