Plastic recycling
How does the CWS of Westminster City Council handle plastic recycling?
Westminster City Council Commercial Waste Services’ plastics management process has undergone rigorous inspection, is totally open, and can be audited in its entirety.
We collect all types of recyclables and then sort them in a facility in Southwark. This includes plastics. After sorting, plastics are sent to facilities equipped to recycle them.
Veolia Rainham, for instance, receives stiff plastics for further classification into their respective plastic classes. After being cleaned and sorted, milk bottles are sent to Veolia’s recycling plant in Dagenham, where they are processed into pellets for use in future packaging.
In mainland Europe, recycling centres like CEDO in the Netherlands transform film plastic into trash can liners.
But imagination is also required when recycling plastic trash. Take a look at our project from the holiday season of the previous year, in which we collaborated with Veolia and the Heart of London Business Alliance.
How can garbage be handled more efficiently overall?
The amount of plastic bought, used, and discarded is entirely under the control of businesses and individuals alike. Modifying your routine in even the aforementioned ways can help the environment by decreasing plastic waste.
Still, larger-scale recycling sorting operations are subject to the same regulations. When plastic is recycled in a batch, it should be easier to track its final destination.
When it comes to trash, respect and potential future resource utilization hinge on responsibility, traceability, and transparency.
Supermarkets and other large corporations have a similar need to modify their packaging accordingly. Recently, a grocery store in north London became the first in the UK to implement plastic-free zones. This comes after the pioneering plastic-free aisle debuted in an Amsterdam supermarket the year before.
Realities of plastic trash
Scientists were taken aback in 2017 to learn that of the 6.9 billion tons of plastic produced worldwide, 6.3 billion tons were never recycled. Also, that number isn’t the only one we should be worried about:
So far this year, over two million tons of plastic trash have been poured into the world’s oceans. In the North Pacific, there is six times as much plastic as plankton. The global plastics industry has generated 8.3 billion tonnes since the 1950s. Only 9% of the 8.3 billion tonnes have been recycled thus far. Kenya outright outlawed the use and sale of plastic bags in 2017; many other countries have since followed suit. Nonetheless, 2 million plastic bags are being used every minute around the world. Over 1.1 million marine birds and animals are killed by plastic every year.
Bringing attention to the issue of plastic waste
Bringing attention to the problems of plastic waste and pollution is essential.
The issue of plastic garbage has been brought to the forefront because of documentaries and television series like the BBC’s Blue Planet II, presented by David Attenborough. Yet, given the pervasiveness of the ‘disposable’ mentality in our society, there is still much to be accomplished in the quest to alter people’s perceptions and habits regarding plastic.
One of the various ways Westminster City Council Commercial Waste Services is bringing attention to recycling in London is through a holiday-themed program in collaboration with Veolia and the Heart of London Business Alliance.
