Marine biologist Richard Lord on his collection of milk and juice cartons which are in his garage waiting for recycling to be introduced. (Picture by Alex Digard, 0613941)
ONE man will be happy when recycling of milk and juice cartons starts by the end of the year. Richard Lord, a marine biologist and active environmentalist, has gathered about 500 of them in his garage waiting for that day.
‘Late last year, there was an article in the Guernsey Press which stated that Tetrapak/Elopak recycling would begin early in 2008,’ he said. ‘This announcement was received with enthusiasm. Based on this news, some people began to clean and store their empty milk and juice cartons waiting for this recycling programme to begin.
‘I’m not the only one who has a lot of them. I know quite a few people who have been storing them up.’
He said the introduction of the scheme had been delayed several times. ‘I called in February and the recycling officer at the time told me that it would begin in May. In May I called and I was told it would begin in June. In June I was told it would start in July. I don’t know the latest date for it to start.’
Mr Lord said it was important that recycling be available soon to stop the cartons going to landfill needlessly.
‘I phoned the Dairy and was told it distributes about 10m. Elopaks per year,’ he said.
‘I don’t know how many juice cartons are sold in Guernsey but most are going into landfill.
‘They are quite bulky and I think if we can, we ought to be recycling them as soon as possible.’
* Public Services said yesterday that recycling could be available by the end of the year.
It would collect cartons from bring banks and deliver them to Mayside Reclamation, which would process them and send them to the UK for recycling.
Tetrapak, a global market leader in carton production, has agreed to provide the service to the island free of charge.
‘Tetrapak and Mayside are currently in discussions about the practicalities of the arrangement,’ a department spokesman said.
Article posted on 31st July, 2008 - 2.29pm
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