THE NEW recycling sacks were questioned at the borough council executive meeting this evening.
Resident Alan Winter asked Cllr Parry Batth, executive member for environment why the council had used the word hessian to describe the new sacks.
Mr Winter said: “You’ve described the proposed new recycling sacks as being made of hessian. Can you reassure residents who are concerned about the environment impact and guarantee that the hessian bags will be made of natural, recyclable material and not actually made of plastic?”
But Cllr Batth said the sacks would not be made of natural materials, and that the word hessian would be removed from future publicity for them.
He said: “These types of sacks have been generically called hessian but in fact are made from woven polypropylene fibre with a light plastic coating to ensure resistance to moisture.
“They are reusable and can last up to five years so not a single-use plastic. We will be investigating the possibility of having them recycled when they’re no longer usable.”
But Mr Winter questioned the choice of plastic sacks, stating: “The continued use of plastic sacks is very disappointing given last week’s council meeting to reduce the use of plastic.”
Cllr Batth defended the decision. He said: “These bags are not really plastic, they are polypropylene.
“I’m advised we will look into recycling them when they are no longer usable.”
