Plastic recycling made clear

When it comes to recycling plastic, are you confused about what you can and can’t recycle?

The Council is trying to make things easier by launching a special focus on plastic bottle recycling.

So what exactly can and can’t be recycled?

When it comes to plastic recycling, any plastic bottle can be recycled. This includes any kind of plastic bottle that has been used to contain liquid, so you can recycle milk bottles, sauce bottles, shampoo bottles, bleach bottles and any other plastic bottle you can think of.

But the Council currently cannot easily recycle any other kinds of plastic, so please do not include other items such as yoghurt pots, margarine tubs, meat trays, plastic bags or anything else that isn’t a plastic bottle in the recycling box.

According to the new Tory run Council, “Bath & North East Somerset Council can recycle plastic bottles because they are easy to separate and we have readily accessible markets to sell them to. Other kinds of plastic are much more difficult to separate and so our only other option would be to recycle them as mixed plastics. If we collected mixed plastics, it would be a lot more expensive to collect and the markets are much less reliable.”

The plastic bottles that the Council collects are all processed by JFC Plastics Ltd in Merseyside.

They are recycled into a range of products such as drainage pipes, and polyester fibre which can be made into clothing or insulation for duvets and coats and car bonnets.

If you would like to find out more about recycling your plastic bottles, please contact Council Connect on 01225 39 40 41 or email councilconnect@bathnes.gov.uk