main content Recycling counts in Bromley

Media reports that some of Britain’s recycled materials are being illegally dumped abroad has prompted the Council’s recycling team to reassure residents. With record levels of recycling taking place across the Borough, residents recycling efforts are not being wasted.

“Residents can be reassured that what they recycle is indeed recycled. We are one of London's top recycling performers and that is down to our enthusiastic residents. They obviously recognise the real environmental and financial benefits of recycling. But, we do need to buy more recycled products when we can - this would encourage businesses to invest in more recycled paper processing mills - which we are short of” said John Woodruff, Waste Services Manager.

The television programme which prompted the concerns showed ‘co-mingled’ recyclate. Many councils tend to collect all recyclables together (normally paper, plastics, cans and textiles, sometimes glass as well) to be put into one container. The Council then collects this mixed recyclable material. The materials are then sorted at Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs).
In their fortnightly recycling collection, Bromley residents are asked to keep their paper separate. It is collected in a separate vehicle and at no stage is it mixed with other materials. This ensures the paper is a valuable raw material for paper mills. The majority of this paper is sent to a paper mill in Sittingbourne, Kent, where it is recycled into cardboard packaging.

Glass is also separated, in one side of residents green recycling box. Again, this is collected separately (the collection vehicle has two separate compartments); depending on its condition, it is either sent to glass furnaces to be re-made into new glass products, or crushed into sand to be used as a road aggregate. Cans and plastics are collected together and then easily sorted at a MRF. Steel cans are taken out by magnet, aluminium cans by an ‘eddy-current separator’, leaving mixed plastic bottles, for which there are UK processors.

In a small proportion of cases, ‘recyclate’ is collected together (because of blocked access or vehicle breakdown) and this material does need to be sorted. However, this only applies to relatively small tonnages (42 tonnes last year out of 34,700 tonnes of recycling) and the Council is planning to develop its own sorting facility to ensure this is controlled.

ENDS

• For media enquiries, please contact Andrew Rogers, Communications Advisor, on 020 8461 7670 or John Woodruff, Waste Services Manager, on 020 313 4910 or email Andrew.rogers@bromley.gov.uk