WIREDGOV

Building homes from nappies, running tracks from old shoes and sleeping bags from garden furniture could soon be widespread practices as councils across the country trial a range of recycling innovations.

Over the last decade the amount of tin cans, glass bottles and waste paper recycled in the UK has more than tripled. Joining this list of recyclables are now disposable nappies, old mattresses and even old cassette tapes.

Thanks largely to the efforts of residents taking the time to sort through their rubbish, the UK recycled 43 per cent of household waste in 2011/12, compared to 13 per cent in 2001/2.

From the estimated seven million tonnes of recyclable material collected from households, councils generated £198 million in revenue in 2012/13, which can be used to fund other services such as libraries and leisure centres.

Councils are constantly looking for ways to help residents recycle even more, and so to mark the 10th annual National Recycling Week (17 to 23 June), the Local Government Association has pulled together a list of 10 common but previously unrecyclable household items which we could all easily be recycling over the next decade thanks to new council-run initiatives.

• Cooking oil – can be collected and turned into bio-diesel or motor oil.
• Disposable nappies – we throw away about eight million nappies a day in this country and they account for about 2 to 3 per cent of the waste sent to landfill, but a couple of pilot projects are now recycling nappies and other sanitary waste into building materials.
• Garden furniture and children's toys – hard plastics can now be broken up into granules and turned into carrier bags, drain pipes, fleece jackets, sleeping bags, even more garden furniture.
• Paint – left-over paint can be collected and if suitable re-used or remixed and sold or donated to community projects in need of cheap paint. Once processed the metal paint containers can then also be recycled.
• Shoes – the soles can be ground down to create rubber flooring for gyms and running tracks.
• Old carpet – man-made carpets are largely made of plastics such as nylon and polyester which can be recycled to make new carpet.
• Mattresses – we throw away almost a quarter of a million tonnes of mattresses every year in the UK but these can now be separated into their cotton, nylon, metal and foam components and recycled into all sorts products.
• Cassette tapes – the magnetic tape can be removed, reconditioned and sold, while the plastics can be melted down.
• Wine corks – can be turned into tiles for walls and ceilings.
• Spectacles – rather than being recycled these are collected and redistributed through charities like Vision Aid Overseas, which aims to help the 670 million people worldwide who are affected by visual impairment. 

Recycling services for all of the items listed above are currently being trialled by a variety of leading local authorities. But with the right investment in the nation's waste and recycling infrastructure, could be offered by councils all over the country.

Cllr Clyde Loakes, Vice-Chair of the LGA's Environment and Housing Board, said:

"Councils have worked hard to make it easier to recycle but ultimately it is our residents who have put the effort in, sorting through their rubbish and in many cases making trips to the tip for big items like fridges and washing machines. Without them, the huge leap the country has made over the last decade would have been impossible.

"It's therefore massively disappointing that successive Chancellors have continued to put up the landfill levy by an inflation busting average of 11 per cent every year since 2007, which will land local taxpayers with a bill of £610 million this year alone."

Collecting the bins is one of the most visible council services with local authorities regularly picking up rubbish from more than 23 million homes across the UK, nine out of every 10 of which report that they are satisfied or very satisfied with the service they receive.

By continuing to work together to recycle more and improve the quality of the material we recycle, the LGA believes £1 billion of extra revenue could be generated between now and 2020 which could be used to offset the impact of Government cuts on other council services such as filling pot holes and caring for the elderly.

But in order to make this happen government must stop penalising councils, and local taxpayers, and immediately freeze the landfill tax rate and look to reinvest the proceeds in developing the new technology and new facilities needed to boost the recycling sector.

This is just one of a number of suggestions outlined in the LGA's review of the waste industry, entitled ‘Wealth from Waste', which was published earlier this month.

Speaking on the findings of the report, Cllr Loakes, added:

"Landfill tax was introduced to encourage us all to recycle more but it's clearly served its purpose. Rather than penalising the public, we have been urging the Government to use the Spending Round as an opportunity to cap the landfill levy and reinvest the money to develop the growth of the UK's booming waste economy.

"Because the country lacks the necessary waste and recycling infrastructure, the type of material each council can recycle in order to generate revenue varies massively from one to the next. But with extra investment we could start to really deal with this and help everyone across the country recycle more. People can check their council website to see what they can recycle in their area."

Notes to editors 

1. The LGA Local Waste Review was published in June 2013

For queries about research and analysis found within the report, please contact research@local.gov.uk

Contact

Jacob Lant, Senior Media Relations Officer
Local Government Association
Local Government House, Smith Square, London SW1P 3HZ
Telephone: 020 7664 3282 
Mobile: 07766 115182 
Email: jacob.lant@local.gov.uk  
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