Wright Recycling - Waste Separation

Wash & Squash Fantastic Plastic We've been using it for 65 years and between water and soft drinks, shampoo and bleach, and olive oil to garden fertiliser, we get through a staggering 15 million of them every day in the UK alone¹. The humble plastic bottle has never been so much in demand, and now, thanks to the upcoming summer of sport and celebration, demand is set to soar further. 2012 is set to be a bumper year for plastic bottles. But with less than 50 per cent of them currently making the recycling bin, national Recycle Week wants to turn it into a bumper year for collecting them too. The now-annual recycling push, running from 18-24 June this year, reminds us all of the value of recycling and just how easily we can do it. For 2012, it wants us to think twice before jettisoning our plastic bottles into the rubbish bag - because now, thanks to technology, it's possible to recycle ALL shapes and sizes of bottle. Milk, shampoo, bleach, shower gel, and even plastic bottles used outside in the garden or kept in the shed. You name it; all you have to do is wash 'em and squash 'em. So what happens to bottles during recycling? They're first separated by colour, cleaned, melted down and then turned into plastic pellets. These are used to make fences, bags, flooring, window frames, fleeces, fibre fillings… or even more bottles! The good news is that technology is already in place in the Ards Borough Council area, at the Wright Recycling depot on the Movilla Road, a wider range of plastics than that currently collected by the local "blue bin" can be recycled. See the list below:

Plastic Bottles

Margarine Tubs

Yoghurt Pots

Newspapers

Magazines

Cardboard

Light Card

Envelopes

Shredded paper

Pizza Boxes

Wrapping paper

Wallpaper

Steel Cans

Biscuit Tins

Aluminium Cans Why Recycle? • 15 million plastic bottles are used in the UK alone every day. • If the 15 million bottles used each day were recycled it would be the equivalent of taking 73,000 cars off the road annually • 1 tonne of plastic bottles saves 1.5 tonnes of carbon being released into the atmosphere. • Currently, only 48% of plastic bottles are recycled. • Recycling just one plastic bottle saves enough energy to power a 60W light bulb for six hours. (Source: Recoup). • If all of us in the UK recycled just one extra plastic bottle during Recycle Week, this would save enough energy to power over 71,000 plasma screen TVs for a year. How to? Before recycling please rinse your bottles out, squash them and put the top back on. (Bottle tops can be recycled too (when put back on the bottle).) You don't need to remove the labels as this is done as part of the recycling. Do your bit in helping to save our planet by bringing your recyclables to the Wright Recycling facility on the Movilla Road and while you are here, fill out an entry form at our reception desk for a chance to win the tickets. There’s no limit to how many time you can enter this way! Click here to find out more >>