Public service announcement: Recycling Green Dot Symbol

DB_SamX

DB_SamX

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I was watching BBC Watchdog earlier and learnt that the recycling green dot symbol does not mean the packaging is necessarily recyclable. https://www.valpak.co.uk/beyond-compliance/green-dot-licence
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/SnyYNX98JK1NhXp0HnqXX0/green-dot
I was shocked, especially given that I am a keen recycler, as were other people I shared that info with (yes, I am that committed/sad).

The good news is that Watchdog contacted several big brands who said they would remove it from their packaging.

This of course means that people have been putting anything with that logo in their recycling bins when they shouldn't. The best advice I can give is to follow the guidelines of your local council's recycling team as to what can or can't be collected from doorstep recycling.

An alternative to recycling plastics not collected by your local council is Terracycle's proprietary schemes, which I have been promoting locally, especially at work, but that's for another thread of its own. https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/brigades/
 
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Django x2

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My rule of thumb is, if I'm not sure, it goes in the recycling. I have this intrinsic believe that someone somewhere is being paid to perform a validity check on my household recycling when it gets processed. In reality, I naively ignore the fact that it all still goes to a posher landfill (as evidenced recently by some councils).
 

Kenai

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DB_SamX said:
The best advice I can give is to follow the guidelines of your local council's recycling team as to what can or can't be collected from doorstep recycling.
Click to expand...
This.

I was surprised how much recyclable stuff my local council seemingly can't recycle.
 

Nasher

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Doesn't most of it just get dumped in landfill of an incinerator anyway?

I've watched the binmen arrive at work and unload both bin types in to the same truck. After that I just didn't see the point.
 
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drunkenmaster

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Keep in mind a lot of stuff tells you what parts of the packaging is recyclable. ALmost all ready meals will say along the lines of the film isn't recyclable (it rarely is) but the main plastic and the label (often cardboard so obviously) is recyclable. Also definitely double check black coloured plastic because stupidly most if it uses a substance to colour it black which makes it non recyclable.

https://inews.co.uk/news/environment/black-plastic-hard-recycle-waitrose-pledged-stop-using/

Waitrose pledging to stop it and actually I noticed a month or two back that mac and cheese they do moved from black plastic which stated it wasn't recyclable to white/yellow stuff which is recyclable.

It's completely absurd that black plastic wasn't recyclable but almost everyone makes food to use it while white stuff is recyclable and almost no one used it. Absolutely no one anywhere on earth goes mac and cheese... well if the plastic it came in was black I'd totally buy that but white plastic, not for me.

How many millions of plastic tubs haven't been recycled because they use a colouring that no one ever needed to use?

Recycling is nuts, so many truly absurd decisions. Same goes with sandwiches and things. Often the plastic window isn't recyclable while the rest is. I'd happily buy sandwiches with the name but no window. 99/100 times they'll be fine, 1/100 times you'll open it and the sandwich will be bad, take it back, get a new one, big deal. We should all be capable of some common sense changes to the way we do things that make the world a better place. If everyone decides they can live with the tiny chance the sandwich they bought has an issue with it, then we can do away with a bit more plastic usage, etc.
 

NoobCannon

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Everything made of plastic or metal i.e tins goes in my recycling i haven't got time to read the label on it. Everything else goes in the normal
Bin

I pay the council £160 A month to collect my rubbish and sort it out for me
 

Nitefly

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It’s great that people are being more conscious of waste / recycling but there is never going to be enormous change unless it’s top down - or in other words from governments / by law prohibiting unnecessary waste. With laws and regulations, businesses will adopt. Without them, they will do what they can to be cut costs.

I’m not an expert in the subject but you will hopefully see what I mean.
 

FoxEye

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I love how all Sainsburys plastic is black, and how our council will not recycle anything coloured black.

And how Sainsburys claims to be making efforts to be environmental, but uses black plastic because "customers demand it".

People are so pathetic and so is business. Nobody really cares so long as they're not losing money, so Sainsburys won't change to recyclable plastic because they don't have to.

And who the heck is "demanding" black plastic containers? Nobody, I'd imagine.

Nitefly said:
It’s great that people are being more conscious of waste / recycling
Click to expand...
From most people it's nothing more than a token effort, and they cba to learn what's recyclable and what isn't, because it's effort. Aint nobody got time for that; Judge Judy is on TV.

Our species and indeed our planet are doomed because we're lazy and most of us are irredeemably thick. Also 95% of us just don't care. About anything beyond taking the dogs for a walk and getting our hair done nicely.
 
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Marky

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DB_SamX said:
I was watching BBC Watchdog earlier and learnt that the recycling green dot symbol does mean the packaging is necessarily recyclable. https://www.valpak.co.uk/beyond-compliance/green-dot-licence
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/SnyYNX98JK1NhXp0HnqXX0/green-dot
I was shocked, especially given that I am a keen recycler, as were other people I shared that info with (yes, I am that committed/sad).

The good news is that Watchdog contacted several big brands who said they would remove it from their packaging.

This of course means that people have been putting anything with that logo in their recycling bins when they shouldn't. The best advice I can give is to follow the guidelines of your local council's recycling team as to what can or can't be collected from doorstep recycling.

An alternative to recycling plastics not collected by your local council is Terracycle's proprietary schemes, which I have been promoting locally, especially at work, but that's for another thread of its own. https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/brigades/
Click to expand...

I’m confused... did you mean that packaging with the logo on is not recyclable now? Because it says in your post that it is recyclable?

I try and recycle wherever possible - my recycle bin is almost always so much more full than my standard rubbish bin
 

d_brennen

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I wasn't aware and the advice card that the council sent through the letter box last year details "plastic bottles" with a picture of various bottles, with lids, as items to go into recycling.

My method when sorting is, if it looks like it should be recyclable, it goes in the recycling.

Companies really need to be forced into using recyclables materials or not sell the product. I don't have the time or will to research material sciences and second guess what my local council mean with their pictograms
 
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