MRF VISIT
Trip to the Materials Recycling Facility in Bodmin, 26th October 2009
Transition Lostwithiel organised a group visit to the MRF in Bodmin during half term week. Laura kindly showed us round the site and answered a lot of questions.
First we learnt about the 4 Rs of sustainable waste management: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Recover. Then we had an introduction to Sita, what they do now and what they are planning for the future - including the waste incinerator at St Dennis. We found out that landfill space in Cornwall is critically low and without action, we might need to export our waste out of the county after 2014 because there will be no more landfill sites available.
After a short promotional video about Sita, we put on headphones so we could continue hear Laura in the noisy warehouse.
In the warehouse we could see where recycling arrives after being collected from our doorstep, how it is processed and where it ends up. The recycling in the Bodmin MRF is from east Cornwall. Each area has its own coloured recycling bags - Lostwithiel has clear for paper and blue for textiles while North Cornwall have blue for paper and red for textiles.
We all learnt a lot about what could and couldn't be recycled currently in Cornwall. Only plastic bottles can be recycled - usually PET and HDPE (plastics type 1 and 2). All other types of plastics - margarine tubs, yoghurt pots etc. - cannot be recycled and get put into landfill.
The workers on the conveyor belt pull out milk bottles (they're worth more) then remove as much incorrect plastic as they can. The photo shows how much incorrect plastic is put out with recycling.
The sacks containing plastic and metal are ripped open by machine, but people on the production line have to rip open the sacks for paper. They remove a lot of magazines as recycled paper can't have too much glossy paper in it.
The paper, cardboard and cans are compressed into bales before being transported to companies all over the UK for reprocessing.
The sacks used to collect doorstep recycling cannot be recycled, with the exception of the blue sacks that North Cornwall recycle paper in. Which means the more we can squash and crush our tins and plastic bottles, the fewer sacks we need to use.
It was an extremely informative visit, and everyone learnt something new - even those of us who thought we were well informed about recycling! You can read the answers to Sita's FAQs about the MRF here.
Anyone can book a visit to the MRF in Bodmin, or go to one of their open days. For details ring their help desk on 08456 300 300. It's also possible to attend Landfill Open Days which are held during August - contact the Sita Helpdesk for details.
Transition Lostwithiel has installed a battery recycling tube to help people in Lostwithiel recycle batteries and we introduced a Compost Cup in the Lostwithiel Annual Produce show to encourage home composting.
We're keen to work on other waste reduction or recycling projects.
If you've got any questions about our MRF visit or if you've got ideas to share, please get in contact.