20 June 2006
New life beckons for old plastics
The first load of baled plastics left Wealden’s Bellbrook Materials Reclamation Facility in Uckfield this week, bound for a new life…as street signs, guttering, benches and other useful items.
“It’s great news,” said Councillor Mrs Rowena Moore, Wealden’s Sustainability Champion. “Instead of having to use even more of the world’s oil to create new plastics, we are re-using the resources we already have, and in doing so, reducing the amount of energy and carbon emissions needed to create these products.
“I would like to thank everyone in Uckfield who has got behind our new plastic kerbside recycling scheme. I know the recycling habit can take an extra effort to begin with, but it is something we need to start now. Not just to make our own lives more pleasant in the future, but for those future generations yet to come.”
The introduction of kerbside plastic recycling in Uckfield follows its earlier introduction to Willingdon and Polegate. In the next phase, Stone Cross, Westham, Pevensey and Pevensey Bay are expected to start receiving kerbside plastic collections in July this year.
“As local councillors, we take the aim of creating a Greener, Cleaner, Brighter Wealden very seriously. My role as Sustainability Champion will be to challenge and improve the performance of Wealden District Council in the area of sustainability. This covers so much of what we do, ranging from conservation to eco-building, recycling and reuse, biofuels and the viability of the local economy,” explained Councillor Mrs Moore.
“There are many exciting ideas already being put forward in the district, and it would be great if Wealden became recognised nationally as a leader in the wide spectrum of sustainability.”
Plastics, including milk containers, fizzy drink bottles, cooking oil containers and shampoo bottles are compacted into bales at Bellbrook Materials Reclamation Facility and then collected by Recoup Services Limited, a not-for-profit organisation working to maximising the efficient recycling of plastics. The plastic is then reprocessed into plastic flakes which is sold to manufacturers to make new products.
