Still feels strange recycling non rigid plastic

Brid Hegarty

How come there were no specifications given with the changes late last year? Is it just a case of anything goes now?

has the world gone mad!!!

L1011

Much of it is being "recycled" by becoming fuel for Irish Cement in Platin.

Thorntons used to take it as green bin content for that purpose, until the single standard recycling list for all operators was published and barred it from green bins.

DaSchmo

Are they planning on burning over 70% of the soft plastic we put in the recycling as well?

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40694714.html

Ubbquittious

They are burning the feck out of it, before they were sending it to Choyna. No recycling happening at all

WesternZulu

It means I have to stand in and jump on the contents of the green bin every bin night as it's always full to the brim.

The black bin on the other hand is only ever a quarter full.

Gregor Samsa

I did find it odd that our bin company didn’t tell us about it at all.They’re very quick to send out a threatening letter to all houses when someone on the route puts dirty nappies in the recycling, but not a whisper when we’re suddenly allowed put crisp packets in it.

dxhound2005

How did you find out about it?

animalinside

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118477409#Comment_118477409

Yeah, mine as well. To honest, I seem to have noted it and then forgot all about it and just continued the way I was. It doesn't feel right just throwing all those soft plastics in as well.

There has been repeated instances of bin companies being caught just throwing the whole lot all in together, recycling and all.

I simply don't understand it. Hard cartons you can imagine that can be melted down and reused. Packets of crisps - it just seems ridiculous.

Esel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118478149#Comment_118478149

I simply don't understand it. Hard cartons you can imagine that can be melted down and reused. Packets of crisps - it just seems ridiculous.

Items are separated automatically in the depot. Enjoy the new policy, as it makes life that bit easier.

Brid Hegarty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118478149#Comment_118478149

Packets of crisps are usually laminated with metal, so no one was ever implying that that should be recycled as plastic.

Ger Roe

The miracle announcement that we are now 're-cycling' soft plastics was a PR stunt joke. Very little explanation given except to now place all soft plastics in your green bin.

Here in Wicklow, I don't have a green bin as I live close to a council re-cycle facility that I have been using for decades. They stopped taking soft plastics because there apparently was no way of re-cycling them anymore - this happened about two weeks before Ireland then became a sudden world leader in soft plastic rec-cycle technology. Even since the announcement that Thunderbirds are GO! for soft plastics, the council depots will still not take them back. The explanation given to me is that only commercial operators know the secret to managing soft plastics and they haven't shared it with the councils.

As for the widespread advice to put soft plastics in your green bin - the re-cycle bin in the midlands area of this country is BLUE. That colour confusion is managed by Bord Na Mona, a semi-state company.

The re-cycle 'industry' in this country is a hodge podge un-coordinatated mess of government departments, industry PR agencies and commercial operators, with no effort to tackle the problem under a centrally managed national policy.

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118478821#Comment_118478821

It turns out crisp packets are indeed acceptable:

What are soft plastics?

Any plastic you can scrunch up in your hand, including packaging pillows, bubble wrap and bread wrappers. Also plastic carrier bags, crisp packets, the kind of wrappers you find on everything from toilet rolls to new mattresses, breakfast cereal bags, dried fruit and nut bags, cheese wrappers, baked goods film, cracker wrappers, the outer packaging for wet wipes, and detergent or dishwasher tab bags, and even the wrapper on your garden compost bales can now all go into your recycling bin.

https://www.irishtimes.com/special-reports/sustainable-ireland/from-soft-plastic-to-pizza-boxes-how-to-recycle-everything-1.4696531

Brid Hegarty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118479095#Comment_118479095

No they aren't for the reason I explained. Use your head... the link you gave explains what soft plastics are; it doesn't specifically say that laminated crisp packets are recyclable.

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118479575#Comment_118479575

Sorry B, all the published guidance specifically say crisp packets are allowed in the recycling bin. Just a fact.

https://www.mywaste.ie/what-to-do-with/crisp-packet/

Brid Hegarty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118479605#Comment_118479605

Oh right. Well I guess that raises my suspicion as that they don't really recycle them. They just burn them. Either way they can't be recycled.

stopthevoting

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118478880#Comment_118478880

The term "Green Bin", or any other coloured bin, is not used in official advice. They are called "General Waste Bin" or "Recycling Bin" etc. If anyone is referring to a particular coloured bin, that is meaningless and very confusing, unless it refers to a specific company. My waste bin is green and recycling bin is blue, but there are also black and grey and even red bins in the area, and also some just have a different colour lid. Maybe the brown bin for food waste is the only one that can be correctly identified by its colour, but that is a smaller size anyway.

blackbox

Better to incinerate them than put them in landfill.

However I can't imagine it is impossible to put crisps in a bag that can be recycled.

Brid Hegarty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118480215#Comment_118480215

If they changed the bag, yes. But current laminated bags.. there will never be incentive enough to do that even if it is possible!

animalinside

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118480575#Comment_118480575

God forbid they would demand the creators of Mr. Tayto etc. to just make bags not laminated with metal. (Not that I believe soft plastics are actually recylcled in a meaningful way anyway, but just going by their own logic.)

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118480575#Comment_118480575

I’m not sure whether you know absolutely loads about plastic recycling, and are speaking from a position of authority, or absolutely nothing and are just assuming stuff. But either way, TerraCycle claim to have a program with both Tayto (NI) and Walkers where they collect crisp packets specifically for recycling.

Their promotional poster for the program says:

Waste that is NOT accepted:

• Popcorn bags
• Crisp tubes
• Pretzel bags
• Meat snack bags

Waste that is accepted:

• Any brand of crisp packets

(apologies, I’m on my phone and can’t format things correctly)

The page explaining what happens says:

Once collected, the crisp packets are separated by plastic type, cleaned, and extruded into plastic pellets to make new recycled products. Click here to learn more about the recycling process

https://www.terracycle.com/en-IE/brigades/crisppacket-ireland

I know this is a specialist recycling company and not your average bin crowd, so I’m not saying this necessarily applies to crisp packets you put in your domestic recycling bin, but the very specific claim they are making is that they can recycle any crisp packets, and they don’t exclude laminated ones.

893bet

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118480215#Comment_118480215

Is burning them better for the environment than landfill?

cnocbui

Recycling in Ireland shows we are still world leaders in all things green, like green washing.

Nigel Fairservice

I remember an item on the news about recycling soft plastics a few months ago but I don't think my waste company contacted me to make me aware of the changes. I thought it was a bit strange they didn't.

Brid Hegarty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118481409#Comment_118481409

I guess it depends on how well contained the landfill is long term.

Brid Hegarty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118481381#Comment_118481381

Surprised to hear that. I'm not an expert. It doesn't explain anything in that about how they separate the foil from the plastic.

embraer170

Most of the plastic foil wrappers on goods in shops still say cannot be recycled.

animalinside

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118482171#Comment_118482171

I'm guessing they go into a magical recycling machine known as an "incinerator".

Etc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118481862#Comment_118481862

They don’t separate the foil, it’s metalised film, the film goes through a vacuum chamber where a metal foil is vaporised and adheres to the polymer film. It’s different to a laminated foil which is made from discreet material layers which are adhered together. Metalised film contains far less aluminium than laminate so is easier to recycle.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118482171#Comment_118482171

Usually they say "not widely recycled, check local facilities" or similar rather than no. Because you do get schemes such as the burning-is-actually-recycling-really like here.

Ger Roe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118479814#Comment_118479814

Point taken... but my broader argument is that it is an indication of the lack of coordination in the whole re-cycle 'industry'. It should be treated as a national priority, organised and managed on a national level, with the same facilities, resources and communications issued to all. There are too many self interest bit players in the setup at the moment. It needs to be reigned in and centrally managed.

embraer170

Waste management should be a state/local authority run activity (or tendered to a private company by region with regulated pricing and performance goals) rather than the free for all you see in Ireland today.

stopthevoting

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118483464#Comment_118483464

Maybe so, but I am not sure what you mean by that national co-ordination. If it was to involve official nationwide bin colours for each type of waste or recycling, then I would not agree with that. Replacement of bins just because of the colour would cause enormous waste and expense. They last for decades and should be used as long as possible. Maybe it could be introduced for new customers though, but it should not be retrospective.

gozunda

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118483916#Comment_118483916

Old unused wheelie bins make for great worm based decomposters - you just need to add drainage holes in the base.

Ger Roe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118483916#Comment_118483916

Don't get too hung up on the bin colour aspect. It was an example I used to show how uncoordinated and unplanned the whole process is. There are other bigger issues, the different colour designation of bins and the communication problems that it causes is just one simple example of the mess that our re-cycle process is. If it was a national policy, we would all be simply using the same colour bin for each designation. We rushed into unleashing commercial potential on the recycle aspect, without planning - and it evolved into the shambles we have today.

We have a whole 'industry' of commercial operators, local councils, retail PR agencies, government departments and NGO companies, all with little bits of vested interests in something that would be much simpler, more accountable and more effective to manage on a central national basis. In fact, the declarations that we are in a climate emergency and the role the recycling can play in it, would suggest that it needs to be looked at as a national emergency measure, and not a badly fragmented industry of commercial opportunity where the facilities that you have available to you and their cost, are a postcode lottery, based on commerical viability.