YOUR WASTE: Drinks Cartons

Residents of Wiltshire can take their cartons to any of the eleven household recycling centres (HRCs) in the county along with the two dozen other items they can already recycle there.

Every year, UK beverage carton manufacturers produce approximately 55,000 tonnes of paper-based cartons for milk and juices, and increasingly even chopped tomatoes and wine. This equates to around 2.3kg of cartons per household which could be recycled instead of being thrown in the rubbish bin. It is estimated that 54 cartons are used per person per annum in the UK, representing over 200 cartons a year for a typical family of four.

In response, Wiltshire Council is working with the carton industry and has set up carton collection points at the HRCs for residents to take their empty cartons to be recycled.

This project means that used cartons can now be recycled through special collection bins (taking paper-based cartons only) at each of the HRCs. They can be recycled into a number of different products, ranging from plasterboard liner to high-strength paper bags and envelopes.

Andy Conn, waste services manager at Wiltshire County Council, said: “People in Wiltshire are always looking at how they can recycle more and I’m delighted that we can give them these facilities.

“We looked at how we could introduce a service that would be effective and also financially viable and it was clear that using our household recycling centres was the best answer.

“On top of our expanded kerbside recycling scheme, our longer opening hours at the recycling centres and the promotion of food waste digesters it’s another example of how the council is working with residents to recycle more.”

The service will be monitored to check that bins are emptied often enough and the right cartons are being left there.

The cartons will be taken to a regional hub until there is enough for them to go to the paper mill for pulping.

At the moment paper mills in the UK cannot cope with the volume of Tetra Pak cartons so they are shipped to Sweden. Trials are ongoing to establish a UK destination but in the meantime Tetra Pak carbon offsets its sea trips.

Richard Hands, Environment Manager at Tetra Pak Ltd and chairman of ACE UK, added: “Whilst cartons are successfully recycled in large volumes for many years throughout Europe, the UK has a long way to go. It’s therefore fantastic news that Wiltshire is taking a lead by adding cartons to the list of materials collected for recycling and we very much hope that the initiative is successful. We and our industry partners are committed to increasing the level of carton recycling in the UK with the aim of reaching a national network of carton collection by the end of 2008. Our work with Wiltshire County Council and Hills Waste Solutions takes us and households in the area one step closer to achieving that.”

For more details on Tetra Pak and their recycling policies see www.tetrapakrecycling.co.uk.

Please remember: wash and squash your carton before recycling and only put paper-based liquid food and drinks cartons in the recycling bins, unless otherwise specified on the bin. No plastic, card, cans, glass, plastic bags or foil.