Recycle Week, a national campaign running from 12 to 18 September, focuses this year on ‘The Unusual Suspects’, items which are often overlooked when it comes to recycling around the home.
The Unusual Suspects includes items such as: Food and drink cartons (Tetrapak), aerosol cans, foil and foil trays, and food waste – including tea bags and mouldy food.
One council lending its support to the campaign is Stockport Council, which hopes to raise its recycling rate from the current level of 60.7%. It has become routine to recycle certain items from the kitchen, but ‘The Unusual Suspects’ might be in other areas of the household; items such shampoo bottles, deodorant and shaving foam aerosols, which can all be recycled too.
Residents are also reminded about items to keep out of their recycling bins; plastic pots, tubs and trays such as margarine tubs, yoghurt pots and food trays cannot be recycled. The only type of plastic that should go in the recycling bin are plastic bottles, such as milk and soft drink bottles and also bleach and shower gel bottles.
Councillor Nigel Murphy, Chair of the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA) said: “Recycle Week is a great way of reminding people to think about all those items that often get forgotten about when recycling at home. Whether it’s a cardboard soup carton or a teabag – it’s important to recycle as much as we can so our recycling can be turned into another useful resource. It’s also just as important to keep out items that cannot be recycled as they can contaminate the other recycling in your bin.”
Cllr Sheila Bailey, Stockport Council’s Executive Member for Communities and Housing said: “As a borough, we really do lead by example when it comes to recycling. Unfortunately, there are still a few items that are not recycled as much as they could be, such as cartons (blue bin) foil and aerosols (both brown bin). If all of these items were recycled more it really would make a huge difference to the amount of waste we put in the black bin, so please remember to put the right thing in the right bin.”
To find out more about The Unusual Suspects visit http://www.recycleforgreatermanchester.com/recycleweek or follow Recycle for Greater Manchester on Facebook and Twitter @recycle4gm.
