Thousands of plastic bottles found in the Thames

By 2017, the government had hoped that three quarters of plastic bottles would be recycled. However, based on council rubbish and public bin collections reports, the actual figure is less than 60 per cent. To put this into perspective, the UK uses 35 million plastic bottles every day. Of these, only 19 million are recycled, leaving 16 million bottles being assigned to landfills and litter.

Bottles that are sent to landfill are burned and take hundreds of years to degrade. Different kinds of plastic can degrade over different lengths of time, but on average take about 450 years to completely degrade.

Deposit protection scheme

Calls have previously been made to re-introduce a deposit return scheme in the UK to solve the problem. The idea has been backed by Prince Charles and Caroline Lucas, Co-Leader of the Green Party. The scheme would involve customers paying a small cash deposit when buying a drink in a can or bottle. They would then get this back upon return of the packaging for recycling.

Recycle rates declining

Research performed by letsrecycle.com shows that overall recycling rates in the top ten collection authorities in England ranged from 58.6 per cent to 66.5 per cent in 2016. This was a decline on 2015 which saw rates of between 60.1 per cent and 67.3 per cent. All but one local authority in the top ten have noted a decline in rates this year.

Plastic bottles are 100 per cent recyclable so there is no reason why they should end up at landfill sites. The general public is aware of the benefits of recycling but just need encouragement and reminding at the stage that they dispose of the waste. One way of improving these rates is to have more recycling bins on the streets to encourage on-the-go recycling.

Amberol make it easier for people to recycle and for local authorities to meet recycling targets by providing a wide range of both indoor and outdoor public bins. Our Olympic Dual Recycling Bin has specially shaped apertures for bottles and paper to encourage recycling. One of our most popular bins, it can be found on some of the busiest streets in the UK.

To find out more about the range of bins available and how we can help you, call 01773 830 930 or email sales@amberol.co.uk.