Have your say on region’s plastic waste recycling
Date published: 06 April 2019
39% of those surveyed in the north west say they have made steps towards eliminating plastics
Recycle for Greater Manchester, which works with local councils across the region, including Rochdale, want to hear your views on plastic waste and recycling.
A consultation is currently underway across Greater Manchester, to find out your attitudes, knowledge and behaviour in relation to the recycling and disposal of your plastics.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service recently revealed people in Greater Manchester will have to continue throwing away most of their plastic because bosses say there isn’t a market to recycle more.
In the Rochdale borough, a plastic bottle without a lid is the only type plastic you can recycle in the mixed waste bin or one of the recycle bins through the centre. Any other form of plastic, be it a yoghurt pot, fruit punnet, tub or tube is not accepted at all.
Bottle caps cannot be recycled at a local level as they are made of a different kind of plastic to their containers.
If you live in Whitworth, bins are collected by Rossendale Council and have different criteria. Read more about recycling plastic in Whitworth and the Rochdale borough here:
After Blue Planet II aired on BBC in 2017, a public backlash arose against single-use plastics, leading to many people eliminating the versatile material, as recycling plastic isn’t as straightforward as it seems due to conflicting local authority guidance and packaging advice.
Some 39% of those surveyed in the north west say they have made steps towards eliminating plastics, a recent survey found, with small battles taking place nationally: compostable carrier bags in Greater Manchester, a national 5p plastic carrier bag charge, a UK-wide ban on microplastic beads in cosmetics, bring-your-own containers for meat counters and paper bags for fruit and veg.
Since the 1950s, approximately 8.3 billion metric tonnes of plastic have been produced with the majority having been thrown away (79%). Just 9% ever produced has been recycled and the rest incinerated.
Estimated to take anywhere up to 1,000 years to decompose in landfill, vast amounts of plastic waste end up in waterways and oceans, accumulating worldwide due to its slow rate of decomposition.
Doug Robertson, co-founder of SeaStraw, a Manchester-based volunteer-run campaign founded by divers and underwater sea photographers who have witnessed plastic pollution first-hand, said: "This consultation by GMCA is really an information and PR campaign to encourage residents to put plastic packaging waste, with the exception of bottles, into their regular non-recycling bin. GMCA does not have facilities for recycling plastic such as yoghurt pots or bottle tops.
"This mixed domestic waste is sent for incineration and energy recovery at the GMCA incinerator in Bolton, which can burn 20 tonnes of household waste per hour and can generate up to 11 MW of electricity. It's important for households to follow the guidance from their council and GMCA to prevent contamination of the plastic bottles collected for recycling.
"However this is not a long term solution: plastic which could be recycled is instead being burnt with the loss of that precious material forever. Burning waste is encouraging an inefficient and unsustainable one-way system where supermarkets make plastic packaging from virgin oil then, after just a short time on the shelf and in our homes, this packaging is burnt as a cheap fuel source producing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.
"We have just 12 years to stop emitting carbon dioxide to keep the rise in global temperatures within 1.5 degrees C and prevent catastrophic environmental destruction.
"We need to end the plastic tide and stop using incineration as an excuse for inaction. We need government to fix this system, and require supermarkets to make packing from sustainable or recycled materials to encourage a market for recycling.
"We must move away from a linear use of precious resources and urgently create an efficient circular economy without waste for the benefit of people and the planet."
A spokesperson for The Greater Manchester Combined Authority said: "The GMCA is not the only authority which cannot recycle low grade plastics: this is an issue across the UK. We would like to recycle more, however there isn’t a sustainable plastic recycling market in the UK that can deal with the wide variety of plastic packaging on the market.
"The government is currently consulting on bringing about changes in producer responsibility to encourage producers to design plastic packaging that can be recycled and to look at using producer funding to invest in better collection and disposal systems for packaging waste.
"The consultation is seeking views on introducing a plastic packaging tax to put a greater demand on using recycled plastic in new products which it is hoped would stimulate investment in the facilities needed to recycle all the types of lower grade plastic.
"By simplifying plastic packaging so that it’s made out of two or three types of plastic, it is hoped that this will help to stimulate the change needed. If the market for plastics changes, we will review our policy.
"Sending waste that cannot be recycled to energy recovery facilities is a UK Government strategy. Diversion of waste from landfill saves millions of tonnes of C02 and CH4. The process at the energy from waste facilities is highly regulated by the environment agency and there are many pollution controls in place.
"As England’s largest Waste Disposal Authority, we will do everything we can to save resources, ensuring that as much waste as possible is recycled, composted or used for energy recovery. We have a duty to dispose of the waste produced from one million households in Greater Manchester.
"Once we have sorted and recycled the plastic bottles, glass bottles and jars, food and drink cans, aerosols and foil, paper, cardboard and composted food and garden waste, the rest of the material is sent by train to a combined heat and power plant in Runcorn which generates electricity and steam which is used in the operation of the neighbouring plant.
"Supplying electricity to the national grid from waste replaces the need for burning fossil fuels such as coal or gas and therefore contributes to the UK's energy security
"GMCA recognises the need to act on climate change which is why we launched the five year environment plan at the recent Green Summit (March 25). One of the priorities focusses on reducing waste and working with businesses, local authorities, residents and community groups to bring about changing in production and consumption habits."
The consultation closes on 15 April 2019.
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