Recycling officer Tina Norman-Ross with Mayside owner Brian Perry as the first 600kg bale of newly-recyclable drinks cartons was prepared for export yesterday. (Picture by Tom Tardif, 0660523)
THE first bale of Tetra Pak cartons has been prepared for export after just one week of recycling.
The 600kg package included milk, juice and soup cartons and represented a great success in the move towards a greener island, according to States recycling officer Tina Norman-Ross.
‘When the truck pulled up with all the cartons people have contributed and they were released into the machine, it was like a river - I could not believe how many there were,’ she said.
That revealed to her the nature of the achievement. ‘Islanders should feel proud to know that such a body of material is being kept away from landfill and will instead be reused. It really was an impressive sight.’
Dedicated bins were placed at collection points around the island a week ago. ‘There has been a fantastic response to the initiative..
Mayside Recycling owner Brian Perry said the bale represented the success of teamwork between organisations.
‘It is the first result of a collaboration between the States, Ace UK and Mayside, with support from HSBC. It feels very good to see it finally come together,’ he said.
But he warned that one problem must be addressed right away.
‘This is a reusable material and not rubbish. It must not be contaminated by other materials. If people put in plastic or glass or tin cans with them, that could make the scheme unviable.
‘We are concerned that bits of other material are being put in to the bins and if this goes above about 1%, it will cause problems - we need to nip this in the bud right now.’
Mr Perry, managing director of Perrys Recycling, said that about 10m. cartons were going into landfill in Guernsey every year.
That was about 200 tonnes, he said.
‘Therefore, the scheme should make a significant difference.’
The bale of cartons is now ready to be transported to a processing plant in Sweden.
Article posted on 24th October, 2008 - 2.29pm
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