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Can plastic be recycled or not?

  • 21-08-2018 2:07pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 537 ✭✭✭


    Can plastic be recycled or not. I used to work in a food processing factory and they say they can't recycle any of their plastics so they all go to landfill. You'd see tons of plastics bags and plastic wrapping going to the dump. Anything plastic just goes to landfill.
    But then at our local recycling centre there is a compartment for plastics and every kind of plastic is accepted from cartons, plastic bags, wrappers to cling film and lots of other hard/soft plastics are thrown in together. Anything that is plastic everyone throws in. I thought there are some plastics that you can't recycle but the recycling centre accepts any kind of plastic and they are all together?


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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 15,919 ✭✭✭✭Loafing Oaf


    zeebre12 wrote: »
    Can plastic be recycled or not. I used to work in a food processing factory and they say they can't recycle any of their plastics so they all go to landfill. You'd see tons of plastics bags and plastic wrapping going to the dump. Anything plastic just goes to landfill.
    But then at our local recycling centre there is a compartment for plastics and every kind of plastic is accepted from cartons, plastic bags, wrappers to cling film and lots of other hard/soft plastics are thrown in together. Anything that is plastic everyone throws in. I thought there are some plastics that you can't recycle but the recycling centre accepts any kind of plastic and they are all together?

    I'm wondering about this too. The writer seems definite soft plastics can't be recycled, and you'd imagine she'd know her stuff.
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/ireland/a-waste-free-week-was-my-pet-project-0hbhzxxp5
    However, like you zeebre12, my local recycling centre has a section for plastic bags, wrapping etc.:confused: What gives?


  • Registered Users Posts: 112 ✭✭chite


    https://recyclinglistireland.ie/

    In a nutshell...
    Soft plastics = not recyclable (crisp bags, breakfast cereal bag, etc.)
    "Hard, rigid" plastics = recyclable (they usually have the symbol HDPE, PET, LDPE or PP on them)

    Are you saying that the factory didn't recycle their plastics because they're contaminated (from dirty residue like food)? Or because they're soft plastics, or for another reason?

    We don't have the facilities to recycle soft plastics in Ireland, hence the no recycle rule, though that would be different in another country like Germany/Sweden...though I doubt much is recycled as they have incinerators which creates electricity from burning.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 40,061 ✭✭✭✭Harry Palmr


    What I want to know about is the many items of black rigid plastic that meat and fish tend to be sold on. Is black plastic non scanning as said and therefore best put in the general waste?


  • Site Banned Posts: 386 ✭✭Jimmy.


    It burns very quickly.


  • Registered Users Posts: 112 ✭✭chite


    What I want to know about is the many items of black rigid plastic that meat and fish tend to be sold on. Is black plastic non scanning as said and therefore best put in the general waste?

    It's technically recyclable, but as you said yourself optical sorting equipment at recovery facilities can't pick up on them so most likely it goes to landfill but nothing to stop from putting it into recycling as it may be recycled into lower value materials where polymer sorting is not required. I'd go with the mantra of "can I buy this meat/fish loose instead?"
    Jimmy. wrote: »
    It burns very quickly.

    Ah.....no, just no.
    Here's a better idea - dump your soft plastics at the supermarket where you got them from, no seriously this is a thing that happened this year as a campaign back in April by Friends of the Earth in Dublin, and VOICE Ireland.
    https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/people-are-clearly-sick-of-plastic--shoppers-plan-to-ditch-unwanted-plastic-at-supermarkets-tomorrow-838320.html

    An even better idea would be to refuse the soft plastics in the first place, opting for loose fruit and veg, buy dried good from bulk food stores etc. (if feasible)


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  • Site Banned Posts: 386 ✭✭Jimmy.


    I’m a working person, I haven’t the time to be refusing soft plastics. The buck lies with the supermarkets. They need to wake up.


  • Registered Users Posts: 112 ✭✭chite


    Yep, absolutely like so many people. Next time you go out food shopping, bring the soft plastics from a previous shop with you and dump them at their bins. Some people even put them on the packing shelf in Lidl/Aidl or the till, but I'd feel too sorry for the till assistant :o

    Refusing plastics doesn't take up more time than the alternative... for eg. how is putting loose veg in a cotton bag time consuming?


  • Registered Users Posts: 28,703 ✭✭✭✭Wanderer78


    More pressure needs to be put onto our production supply chains to reduce our overall materials creation, this isnt the sole problem of the end user, although the end user plays a critical role in aiding this.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 40,061 ✭✭✭✭Harry Palmr


    Exactly, this should not be a recycling issue at all.


  • Registered Users Posts: 15,919 ✭✭✭✭Loafing Oaf


    chite wrote: »
    https://recyclinglistireland.ie/

    In a nutshell...
    Soft plastics = not recyclable (crisp bags, breakfast cereal bag, etc.)

    Then why are some recycling centres collecting them?:confused: To make recycling obsessives feel better?


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  • Registered Users Posts: 112 ✭✭chite


    Then why are some recycling centres collecting them?:confused: To make recycling obsessives feel better?

    They still need to be collected by someone to put into landfill


  • Registered Users Posts: 28,006 ✭✭✭✭AndrewJRenko


    Jimmy. wrote: »
    I’m a working person, I haven’t the time to be refusing soft plastics. The buck lies with the supermarkets. They need to wake up.
    They will wake up when you make it their problem


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,378 ✭✭✭CeilingFly


    Black plastic food trays are technically recyclable, but as the optical sensors can't distinguish them they would have to be sorted by hand - and that's expensive.


  • Registered Users Posts: 15,919 ✭✭✭✭Loafing Oaf


    chite wrote: »
    They still need to be collected by someone to put into landfill

    Staff at my local recycling centre have told me that soft plastic are taken from them for recycling. I reckon all I can do is take them at their word...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 9,764 ✭✭✭my3cents


    Lidl are dreadful for this! Much of their plastic packaging says something like "Currently not recyclable". Yet they have notices at the checkouts stating how environmentally friendly they are and that they recycle all their own waste. Thats great but it doesn't mention all the unrecylable plastic that goes home with their customers.


  • Registered Users Posts: 28,703 ✭✭✭✭Wanderer78


    my3cents wrote:
    Lidl are dreadful for this! Much of their plastic packaging says something like "Currently not recyclable". Yet they have notices at the checkouts stating how environmentally friendly they are and that they recycle all their own waste. Thats great but it doesn't mention all the unrecylable plastic that goes home with their customers.


    Unfortunately corporate propaganda is rife in the recycling business, underneath it all, very few retailers truly care about environmental issues, but this issue is very complex, sadly our economic systems and processes are designed so, we need to change this urgently, our environmental issues are everyone's problem, equally, including our production and distribution systems


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,237 ✭✭✭MrCostington


    I was about to start a thread in this but saw this one. Reading it, there seems to bee no clear procedure.

    So, I've been putting my food packaging and bottles in storage for a bit, so what to do with them now? There is no recycling near me that takes plastic (apart from one, where you have to pay, not doing that), and, of course driving a long distance to recycle is a no no.

    I live in an apartment, we have green bins, but they get filled with general rubbish once the black ones are full.

    Is it going to go to landfill (in China perhaps) regardless of what I do?

    Regards,
    Cynical
    In Dublin


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,859 ✭✭✭donspeekinglesh


    How far are you from Coolmine? That's where I take my soft plastics and plastic bottles. Doesn't cost anything.

    I bag them up in the shed and drop them off every few weeks


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,237 ✭✭✭MrCostington


    How far are you from Coolmine?

    Thanks, just checked, 18km


  • Registered Users Posts: 24,647 ✭✭✭✭punisher5112


    Council run centres do not charge for recyclable items.

    They even take cling film, wrapping film and anything with the recycling symbol and the number 4 inside the symbol.

    Is there no recycling bin at the apartment complex as anything rigid such as cartons and plastic bottles should be placed in these bins.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 9,764 ✭✭✭my3cents


    Council run centres do not charge for recyclable items.

    They even take cling film, wrapping film and anything with the recycling symbol and the number 4 inside the symbol.

    Is there no recycling bin at the apartment complex as anything rigid such as cartons and plastic bottles should be placed in these bins.

    Some council run centers do charge. I have to pay in Waterford http://www.waterfordcouncil.ie/media/environment/Dungarvan%20Amenity%20Site%20Charges%20Sign.pdf .


  • Registered Users Posts: 24,647 ✭✭✭✭punisher5112


    my3cents wrote: »
    Some council run centers do charge. I have to pay in Waterford http://www.waterfordcouncil.ie/media/environment/Dungarvan%20Amenity%20Site%20Charges%20Sign.pdf .

    Not in Dublin or Wexford and others.

    That's a pity they do so where you are as that puts people off.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 9,764 ✭✭✭my3cents


    Not in Dublin or Wexford and others.

    That's a pity they do so where you are as that puts people off.

    I just take a car full of rubbish for €20 every couple of months. I still separate out the recyclable bags and as I normally have about 8-10 bags of recyclable stuff and at least 5 black bin sacks it works out much cheaper than paying for a bin service. Do have to remember to keep the receipts in case the council start checking up.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,237 ✭✭✭MrCostington


    Council run centres do not charge for recyclable items.

    They even take cling film, wrapping film and anything with the recycling symbol and the number 4 inside the symbol.

    Is there no recycling bin at the apartment complex as anything rigid such as cartons and plastic bottles should be placed in these bins.

    Thanks, I'll double check with them again. As I said in my OP, yes we have a green bin, but I'd say by the time they are emptied, it's full of 80% general waste. Does it get sorted somewhere?

    EDIT my local center "The following charges apply for the disposal of green waste – €2 per 80 litre bag & €16 per 1m ³ skip bag"

    I live in an apartment, can't be waiting to fill and store 80 liters of waste. Don't make it easy eh?


  • Registered Users Posts: 24,647 ✭✭✭✭punisher5112


    Thanks, I'll double check with them again. As I said in my OP, yes we have a green bin, but I'd say by the time they are emptied, it's full of 80% general waste. Does it get sorted somewhere?

    The bin companies do sort it yes.

    It's in their own interests as to save money.

    Contact management company and complain about the abuse of the bins.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 455 ✭✭jasper100


    If it cant be recycled it should be illegal to supply it, with exceptions.

    Such as silage wrap, not sure if its recycleable or not. But that sort of thing should be allowed.


  • Registered Users Posts: 18,812 ✭✭✭✭Del2005


    chite wrote: »
    Yep, absolutely like so many people. Next time you go out food shopping, bring the soft plastics from a previous shop with you and dump them at their bins. Some people even put them on the packing shelf in Lidl/Aidl or the till, but I'd feel too sorry for the till assistant :o

    Refusing plastics doesn't take up more time than the alternative... for eg. how is putting loose veg in a cotton bag time consuming?

    Since all retailers are members of REPAK you can't do this. Apparently REPAK already pays towards the recycling so you can't dump the packaging at the shop, so my charges for recycling must be a figment of my imagination.


  • Registered Users Posts: 18,812 ✭✭✭✭Del2005


    The bin companies do sort it yes.

    It's in their own interests as to save money.

    Contact management company and complain about the abuse of the bins.

    What is the management company supposed to do when people don't care? I've seen people open the bin shed door and throw the rubbish in.

    In the end the cost goes back to the owners because the bin company will have to landfill all the bins and charge the OMC, but people still won't segregate and then complain when their management fees go up.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,183 ✭✭✭99nsr125


    Silage wrap is recycled
    jasper100 wrote: »
    If it cant be recycled it should be illegal to supply it, with exceptions.

    Such as silage wrap, not sure if its recycleable or not. But that sort of thing should be allowed.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 4,315 ✭✭✭Pkiernan


    It's ironic that burning plastic is less harmful to wildlife than the so called recycling of it.


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