There are recycle bins behind the Sainsburys in Forest Hill. In the car park.

I was told by Lewisham Council plastic bottles CAN go in the green recycling boxes / bins but that any other plastic containers CANNOT. The criteria is BOTTLE.

Lewisham council does a nice leaflet which outlines what you can and cant put in your bins. I believe if you go onto their web site there is also guidence.

I emailed the appropriate department at Lewisham to ask why only plastic bottles are allowed in recycling boxes (and not other types of plastic packaging) when it is the type of plastic that is crucial to their ability to recycle it. I didn't get a reply that answered the question, just a reiteration that only bottles can be recycled.

The plastic in bottle is usually catagry 1 or 2, plastic containers tend to be other grades i.e. 3,4 or 5 which are currently not being recycled. I dont know why but that is the case. Tetrapac and similiar milk and juice cartons are also not able to go in the home recycling.

A usefull link
http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/Environment/R...cleBin.htm

Thanks Londondrz, but that was my exact query to Lewisham, if my yoghurt pot, meat packet, etc is pure PETE (type 1) or HDPE (type 2) why cant it be included alongside my bottles of the same type. What is so special about a bottle? There are also quite a lot of plastic bottles which aren't PETE or HDPE too (those that contain cooking oil etc) so I asked how they are recycled.

My suspicion is that most LAs, rightly or wrongly, dont trust people to identify the plastic type correctly from the logos on the packaging and have calculated that the percentage of recyclable waste that is included if it is restricted to bottles is higher than if they stated you could recycle any plastic as long as it is PETE or HDPE. Again, I asked if this was the case.

It is just a shame Lewisham chose to ignore the text of my email and just sent out a standard reply which amounted to what's at the end of the link you posted.

I'm afraid, out of stubborness, I ignore the bottle advice and include any plastic packaging as long as it is PETE or HDPE.

Ah, sorry I see your point. I have to admit that if any item has a 1 or 2 on it it goes in the recycle bin. If they dont like it then tough, just doing my bit for the planet and all.....

I do as IWAF does and put Type 1 and 2 plastics in my green box too.

The answer is, of course, that they have to cater for the lowest common denomination and the patronising council plainly feel (I'll bet the "consulted extensively") that people wouldn't understand how to look for the little number in the triangle - or they can't be bothered to explain.

Similarly, they ban shredded paper, because, I suspect, it makes too much mess. If only people could be bothered, as we do, to bag it in another paper bag (shopping at Primark can be useful!), then no problemo!

Some months ago, when Lewisham decided to take only plastic bottles, a lady representing the council knocked at our door with a leaflet & sticker outlining the new guidelines.

I asked her why we could no longer recycle yogurt pots, etc, and her reply was, as IWereAbsolutelyFuming suspects, that people were having trouble understanding the guidance. She may have been misinformed, but it was the answer I got.

If I remember correctly - Lewisham (and other local authorities) contract their recycling to a MRF (materials recycling facility) which uses a variety of automated processes to separate out our combined recycling bins (the technical term is co-mingled!).

The issue with plastics is that the MRF can easily and automatically pick out plastic bottles because of their necks - other plastics are missed by this and are not economic to collect manually.

More info for recycling geeks on how a MRF operates at:
http://www.greenwich.gov.uk/Greenwich/Yo...ng/MRF.htm.

The previous answers are pretty much on the mark. Having spoken about this with various councillors, the problem is partially with the automatic sorting equipment and partially with the contract Lewisham negotiated.

The trouble is that if there is too much 'contamination' (i.e. plastics other than bottles, shredded paper, garden waste, black bags etc) then the whole load is rejected by Veolia and goes to SELCHP for incineration. So unfortunately, while you may feel that you are doing your bit by putting all type 1 and 2 plastics in, or by putting your shreddies in a Primark bag, your actions are actually resulting in lower recycling rates.

I understand that the recycling contract is up for renewal and would urge you to write to your councillors and Susan Wise (as Cabinet Member for Customer Services) urging them to increase the range of articles to the same as Southwark, who use the same facility. They can recycle shreddies, so we should be able to as well.

Southwark also have a useful page describing all article that can be recycled and how to recycle them.

I put my shredded paper in the compost heap with all the veggy stuff and it helps to stop the mixture getting too soggy.
But I do have concerns about the possible toxicity of the printing inks that could end up in the veg that I grow using such compost and then in me: anyone with the technical knowledge to answer this one? perhaps I shouldnt worry about such microgram quantities!

You might be interested in this article:

Not sure who this fellow is, but if you want to see what happens to your green bin, have a look at his blog and videos.

I was very pleased to see that this Lewisham resident had such a good report of the trips that he went on as part of our everyday service operations to the SELCHP and the MRF plants that are part of Lewisham Council's recycling and waste management in the borough. It is a shame that, whereas I always keep my posts apolitical, at the end of his article he chose to deliberately misrepresent some very important issues within my remit for a cheap political swipe at me.

Councillor Susan Wise
Cabinet Member for Customer Services

Councillor Wise,

it is not a cheap political swipe at all, but a consideration that I think has some merit.

Your remit is in fact two remits. You oversee both housing and environment, and these are two major and clearly distinct lines of actions of the Council.

I do believe that each of them deserves the full attention of at least one elected member and I also think that the mixed results of these two departments may have to do with the weakness of this arrangement.

May I ask you why you think that this consideration is not a legitimate one?

I feel an election coming on!

I might not have expressed that particularly well.

Dont worry Michael its not the size of your cross but what you do with it thas important