Friday 21 October 2022

NEWS Report

The other week, Bob and I went with a small group of people from our village [mostly Parish Councillors and spouses] to look at the Norse Environmental Waste Services [aka NEWS]  plant on the edge of Norwich. It was a really interesting tour, and I learned loads about this state-of-the-art facility which has been open almost 20 years.
Recycling bin lorries deposit their contents onto a series of moving belts which travel round the huge building, and the various recyclables [card, paper, glass, certain plastics] are removed at different points.
At an early stage, there us a lot of hand sorting when stuff which really should not have been put in the recycling bins has to be weeded out and discarded. I was horrified to hear what the staff have to deal with.
Things like
disposable nappies
dead pets
bags of animal faeces
medical waste including 'sharps'
gas cylinders
ammunition 
lithium batteries
These things are all dangerous- some can pass on infection, others [batteries, ammunition and gas cylinders can explode or catch fire] Before we started we were given instructions in case of fire, and dressed in PPE. Here's a helpful video of what goes on

Much of the stuff which arrives is not recyclable. Dangerous items are removed and disposed of safely. Other stuff goes off to be incinerated. For every 15 tonnes like this that providesd the same fuel at 10 tonnes of imported coal. 
All the card goes out to the Far East - because they need to make new boxes for their manufactured goods. Sadly the price of used paper has fallen - recycled paper is made into cheaper stuff like newsprint and fewer people read a newspaper now [most read online] 
Glass is an issue - the Norwich Plant would prefer not to deal with it, and until recently we were told not to put it in our domestic bins, but to take it to communal bottle banks. This pre-sorted glass is much easier to process. [One half full wine bottle which breaks can ruin the whole bin load] But the glass which goes to NEWS is sorted, washed and sent on to make new glass.. 

Plastic drinks bottles and regular translucent milk bottles can be sold for food grade recyclables. Cans, aluminium and steel, are sorted and sent on too.
The council says we can put Tetrapaks in our bins - but they are hard to recycle, so they are sorted and sent to regular waste. Ditto some heavily coloured plastics [even if they have the recycle symbol on the bottom] Our guide said he loathes plastic flowerpots and Cravendale milk bottles
It is so important to check your labels [see hereThere is a helpful page of recycling myths hereWe had loads of questions. And got really surprising answers
What about shredded paper ? No thank you  Not even tied in a bag? Staff do not have time to sort tied bags, and they may contain contaminants- all tied bags and sealed boxes are left closed and sent straight to waste!
Why can't we have food waste bins like they do in other places [Like Leicestershire, and Dorset] We do not have facilities to deal with it. No 'bio digester' locally
Is it helpful to crush cans, squash bottles and flatten boxes? NO!!! Many of the machines sort by shape - they can 'recognise' a can, a milk bottle etc. Crushing slows up that process.

One member of the group spoke about living in Germany where everyone had 'domestic' bins, but there were lots of communal bins for different recycling easily available in the towns, and people used them, it was considered antisocial to do otherwise. Our guide said that in many countries, people understand their personal responsibility in this - but in the UK, people say "I'll put it in the bin, and somebody else will sort it for me" We all need to learn to sort it for ourselves and put rubbish in the appropriate bin [and where possible avoid using some things in the first place] Refuse, reduce, reuse, repair and rethink come before recycle in the sustainability scheme
So I encourage you to look at how you recycle - and PLEASE - remember every area is different, do check your local provision and instructions. [Our guide was Very Cross with the Government for not having a standardised national recycling policy!!]
He said the two really busy times of the year were the holiday season [and many of the people who visit our lovely county sadly leave a lot of ill-managed rubbish behind] and Christmas [when people are too busy having fun to think about responsible recycling]
So please think about what you use to wrap your gifts - avoid foil and glitter, and keep sticky tape to a minimum.
"🎵Brown paper packages, tied up with strings, 
these are the best for recycling things...🎵"





22 comments:

  1. Never visited a site but had talks about our Suffolk facility at WI. Horrifying tales of what they find here too.
    We've never been able to put glass in bins in Suffolk - always in village glass banks - every village has one

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And I find flinging bottles into the banks is a very satisfying activity !!

      Delete
  2. This sounds so interesting!! People are awful sometimes! Why would you think a nappy is recyclable, let alone any other stuff. They call it Wishcycling in some cases but in this one, it's pure laziness.
    I agree about wishing for a National recycling policy like Der grun Punkt in Germany.
    Kezzie x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Now I have to research Der Grun Punky. What a great name

      Delete
  3. This is really interesting. Can I just empathize to all readers what you just said, that all need to check their local waste instructions for recycling or they can cause more cost than benefit. Also check it regularly to stay up to date with available recycling opportunities. They do change quite regularly and as UK has little (none?) energy recovery from its waste, people are important links in the recycling chain.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NEWS is one system that DOES get energy recovery - but as you say, we must all keep up to date as systems are constantly changing. (Like the occupants of #10!)

      Delete
  4. What an interesting visit and we are very careful about sorting out our waste. We do have four bins however which is quite a lot to store in the garden. I have visited the textile recycling where we send things from R:evolve. I was speechless when I saw the brand new clothes and textiles that come from the clothing bank bins. The most expensive things I saw were a pair of designer jeans with £99 sale ticket hanging off them. Those things get rescued and sold on to market traders. Catriona

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I noticed a pair of men's Y-fronts travelling up the belt at the centre! But how sad that people throw away things so casually (if you can afford £99 jeans, you can afford to pass them on to a CS, not just bin them)

      Delete
  5. There are so many rules and different ways of doing the recycling aren't there. Wouldn't it be easier if all the councils got together and made a definitive list. We had to alter a lot of our sorting of recycling when we moved from Wales to England and from southern England to north.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Our guide was of the opinion that central government should organise it. I just wish domestic bins were uniform. I've spray painted recycling symbols on my black bin - too many of my visitors from other parts of the country try to be helpful but in their area black bin=regular waste, green = recycle, so we end up tipping out and reloading before the bin lorry comes!!

      Delete
  6. This must have been interesting. And it was interesting to hear about waste management and recycling in the UK, or at least where you live. This recycling facility sounded advanced. Do you have one bin for all recyclables and one for trash? In Norway we have one for paper, one for plastic, one for glass and metal and one for the rest of the rubbish. In some places there is also one for food waste. It is so important to follow the local instructions and do what we can reduce the rubbish.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Food waste" bins are common in some areas but sadly not everywhere. Most places now have regular and recycling (with optional garden waste bins) Some areas have different bins for glass/plastic/paper as you do. But there is no coherent national strategy. Mind you , this week it feels there is no coherent national strategy about anything our government does!! Please pray for our nation 🙏

      Delete
  7. We have a blue recycling bin goes out one week and a yellow one for paper and cardboard the other week. We have detailed instructions on the back of a calendar given out in the mail, showing which days are which for the bins. There is still a lot of frustration over items which are not clearly indicated, but on the whole there is no excuse for people putting in window glass or pots and pans. I would hope our local people don't find any of the horrors you have described. We don't have bottle banks, but can return alcohol bottles and cans to the beer store for refunds. Others go in our blue bins. We are currently about to phase out all plastic bags for groceries, etc. Not a big deal for those of us who have been taking our own bags for years!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In my childhood you could return bottles for a refund

      Delete
  8. Thank you for your continued support of OPRL- it’s the project I’m most proud of and they’re so committed to helping the public know how to recycle effectively! We advised on all those labels!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Steph - I must do a post all about https://oprl.org.uk/ - you DID do a terrific project for them. On Pack Recycling Labels are so important to help us all understand how to better recycle stuff 👍❤️ I'm very proud of you

      Delete
  9. Curious about the shredded paper. On the sign it's listed under Yes Please, but then you were told No thank you. Here it's a definite No. I wonder why.

    ReplyDelete
  10. It's good to read about all the recycling efforts people are making. :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. It is such a shame that there is no countrywide standard for recycling. We can put out textiles, batteries, small electricals, food waste (all separated, of course) as well as the usual glass, plastics and metals for kerbside collection, but I have no idea how much of this is actually recycled.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In Leicestershire we had a bag for batteries which we could leave on top of the ♻️ bin. But many people do not want to make an effort)(or are unable) to take ♻️ to the council site /bottle bank/wherever. If they can't recycle in their own bins, it doesn't happen

      Delete

Always glad to hear from you - thanks for stopping by!
I am blocking anonymous comments now, due to excessive spam!