Plastic fantastic

From Monday October 3 Banbridge Community Recycling Centre will provide a service for recycling hard plastics.

Council’s Waste and Environmental Manager Barry Patience said, “Around 150 tonnes of hard plastic could potentially be diverted from landfill each year through this new service. The hard plastic waste we collect will be sent to Re-Gen Waste Ltd in Newry where it will be sorted and sent to different manufacturers to be made into other products.

“Plastic is one of the most widely used and popular materials of modern times due to its durability and flexibility. With the cost of virgin plastic directly related to the price of oil, manufacturers of industrial and consumer goods are turning more to recycled material for their products. So there’s a viable end market for this stream of recycled waste.

“It is estimated that 4 per cent of the world’s annual oil production is used as a feedstock for plastics production and an additional 3 to 4% during manufacture. By comparison, only 7 per cent of total plastic waste is currently being recycled.

“The production and use of plastics has a range of environmental impacts. Firstly, plastics production requires significant quantities of resources, primarily fossil fuels, both as a raw material and to deliver energy for the manufacturing process.”

For further details, contact the Council’s Technical Services Department on 4066 0604.