Wolverhampton Council not interested in plastic recycling

9.14.00am GMT Fri 8th Feb 2008

Park candidate Claire Darke campaigns for plastic recycling

Over-use of plastic packaging is a problem that manufacturers and retailers are failing to deal with leaving Wolverhampton council with the problem of what to do with up to 90 tonnes per week of plastics. Wolverhampton's Labour controlled council currently incinerates all plastic waste, doing little to reduce, re-use or recycle any of it.

In November and December a privately organised trial of kerbside mixed plastics collection took place in the Dovecotes area of Wolverhampton. Residents separated their plastics and had then it collected for re-use and recycling for a period of six weeks. The results were astonishing. Households that took part in the experiment saw a reduction in volume of their bins of up to 66%. The collected plastic waste was reprocessed into fencing posts and outdoor furniture such as benches. A report prepared by Encapsulated Waste Solutions, the company that carried out the experiment, suggested that with full participation across the city 90 tonnes of mixed plastic per week could be saved from landfill or incineration by adopting a kerbside collection system.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Robin Lawrence said "Many residents of the City are doing their bit by trying to avoid products that are over-packaged however there is still a big problem with what to do with the plastic waste that we can't avoid. The Labour-controlled council appears to be uninterested in finding workable solutions to the plastic epidemic.

A PDF copy of the report can be found at http://www.wolverhamptonlibdems.org.uk/resources/index/Misc%20documents