In article ,
rbel writes:
On Sat, 20 Dec 2014 13:31:32 +0000 (UTC),
(Andrew Gabriel) wrote:


Some councils did kerbside sorting by trained staff.
I think that's all gone now - the quality of the sorted results were
good, but the labour cost was prohibitive and almost certainly outweighed
any additional value of the separated recyclables.

Like I said, automated sorting can separate out most of the plastic
types nowadays, although that may not yet be operating in all areas.

Our recycling uses a hybrid arrangement. Householders sort into 4
bins -
paper, plastic packaging and tins;
glass, cardboard, foil and drink cartons;
food waste;
all non-recyclable waste.

That's quite a common arrangement, although food waste and/or garden waste
vary quite a bit. Garden waste is sometimes charged extra, although
councils which offered it when this government came to power are not
allowed to increase the charge (or to start charging if they didn't
do so beforehand).

Some councils tried even more separation, but found it causes recyling
percentages to drop. In one area I visit regularly which has the separate
food waste, I noticed almost no one uses it. It doesn't exist in my area.

Battery collection is sometimes separate, because they are not supposed
to allow that to go into landfill anymore. OTOH, all shops which sell
batteries also have to take back old ones now, and even before that,
many companies provided battery recycling bins for their workers.

Then there is a kerbside check by the collection crew - a driver and 2
operatives.

--
Andrew Gabriel
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