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Originally Posted by Naillij
Someone told me once if you look at the bottom of plastic containers where there is the recycling symbol with a number inside, that it is only the 1's and 2's that can be added to our recycling bin, is this true?
thanks in advance!
Jill
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There are seven different types of plastic, and different recycling facilities accept different types. For instance, the ones you can put into the Dublin City Council green bin is different from the ones that can be accepted in the DCC Bring Centre closest to us, which again differs from the plastics accepted by Panda within DCC.
This link explains the different types of plastic. I think pretty much all of the seven types can be recycled in different places around Dublin, but I think driving around the city to do the recycling in seven places defeats the purpose in terms of petrol used.
This does bring me to a pet peev of mine, which is about labelling of packaging. Most plastics use one of the recycling symbols, but what about crisp packets, for instance: they're foil, coated in plastic. Are they recycled as plastic or as metal? They have the little symbol saying that they're recyclable, but without more information, we're (or at least, I am) at a loss as to
how to recycle it. Another example: I noticed in work that the 'paper' which surrounds reams of Xerox printing paper has the plastic code 7 on it. It's paper, coated with wax or plastic to make it stronger, which means you can't recycle it as paper. Just including that information means I was saved from contaminating a recycling stream. Wouldn't it be better if the Dept of Environment (or the EU, maybe) brought in a system whereby all packaging would include a code telling people what type of material it was made from, thereby telling people how to recycle it? It's not as if the info has to have a dominant position or anything.
I've been thinking of sending a letter to the Dept on this issue, but haven't quite got around to it yet. Maybe this thread will provide the push needed.