WHEN IT comes to recycling the difference is clear: you no longer need to sort the colours out.
Recycling firm re3, which manages the borough’s waste collections, says bottle banks for glass now take every colour under the rainbow, making it easier for residents.
And there are benefits for collection schedules and containers, helping to reduce costs, carbon footprints and, hopefully, end the problem of bottles being left by overflowing bins.
From now on, glass bottles and jars placed in the banks are sent to a state-of-the-art glass recycling facility operated by the UK’s leading glass recycler URM. Using colour sorting technology, the plant accepts all glass bottles and jars for processing, sorting it into individual colours.
The recycled material is then transformed into a high-quality finished product for the food, beverage and pharmaceuticals industries, achieving the same results as when supplied with pre-sorted colour glass material.
In a joint statement, Cllr Dorothy Hayes from Bracknell Forest Council, Cllr Adele Barnett-Ward from Reading Borough Council, and Cllr Parry Batth from Wokingham Borough Council, said: “Glass can be endlessly recycled without any loss of quality.
“The most popular approach is to remelt it to produce more bottles and jars – the true meaning of closed-loop recycling.
“We are fortunate to be able to send glass bottles and jars to this impressive facility, which uses advanced equipment and technology, so there is no need for the public to colour separate their glass anymore.”
They added: “Mixed glass recycling is going to be of great benefit to the public and re3 Councils. It makes recycling glass much quicker and easier and it should improve the efficiency of collecting the material, meaning we will no longer see one bank full to overflowing and another next to it partly empty.
“We also hope to see a reduction in the public leaving their glass on the floor next to the glass banks due to one particular colour bank being full.”
The new system is in place now, and stickers will be added to bank collars at each site.
The banks cannot accept Pyrex, window glass, sheet glass etc are not accepted at the glass banks.
For more details, log on to https://re3.fccenvironment.co.uk/recycling-banks/
