RECYCLE THIS...

Colin McFarlin is a Volunteer Waste Prevention Advisor with WSCC.

Thank you for all your individual enquiries about your recycling. By the time you read this I will have replied individually to all your emails to the Editor on recycling. Do keep the questions coming...

Compostable bag - Not taken in garden waste

Compostable bags

My mailbag has been busy this month with correspondence from readers who have received mail through the post in ‘Compostable Bags’.

With the outcry against plastic many organisations, such as National Trust and WI, have quickly moved away from plastic wrappers for their mailings and moved to biodegradable wrappers.

The information they put on the wrapper is not
accurate. They suggest putting them into your
home compost bin. However, not everyone has
a home compost bin, also they will not compost in a home compost bin as your bin will not reach a sufficient temperature for the wrapper to break own. There are going to be lots of disappointed National Trust and WI members emptying their compost bins in a year’s time and finding this wrapper intact! Councils will not accept this in their garden waste bin, and we, along with many other councils do not have a food waste collection service.

So where can you put it? You are left with your black top rubbish bin.

This new idea is in fact a lot worse than the original plastic wrapper; that can be recycled in major supermarkets with plastic carrier bags.

Put it in your black top rubbish bin and I do hope you will write to anyone who sends you correspondence in a Compostable Bag and point out the problems they are causing in West Sussex - and other counties!

Would you like me to give a talk to your local group on recycling? Do you have an individual question on specific items you are not sure how to recycle? One email to the Editor at editor@hurstlife.co.uk, with a picture if possible, and I can let you know.

Looking forward to hearing from you. Keep recycling!