NEWS RELEASES
New beverage carton recycling scheme
1st August 2007
HORSHAM District Council, in conjunction with Tetra Pak Ltd and the carton industry body ACE UK (Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment), is launching a new beverage carton recycling scheme at selected sites across the Horsham District this week to give residents the opportunity to recycle even more of their household waste.
Each year, UK beverage carton manufacturers produce approximately 55,000 tonnes of paper based cartons for milk, juice, sauces and other liquid foods/drinks.
This equates to around 2.3kg of cartons per household which could be recycled instead of thrown in the rubbish bin.
In response, Horsham District Council is working with the carton industry to establish carton collection points at key Recycling Centres for residents to take their empty cartons to be recycled.
Even though cartons can still not be placed into household recycling baskets, the new project means that used cartons can now be recycled through special collection bins at: Library Car Park, Mill Lane, Billingshurst; Library Car Park, High Street, Henfield; Oak Tree Way, Horsham; Fletchers Croft Car Park, Church Street, Steyning; Library Car Park, North Street, Storrington.
Once collected they can be taken away to be baled, transported to a recycling mill. They can be recycled into a number of different products, ranging from plasterboard liner to high strength paper bags and envelopes.
The new service will be monitored closely and the Council will continue to extend residents’ opportunities to reduce waste to landfill and recycle more.
Councillor Robert Nye, Cabinet Member for the Envioronment and Sustainability at Horsham District Council, said:
“Our residents have always responded well to the different recycling schemes we’ve implemented across the District, but we’ve still got some tough targets to meet, both as a District and as a nation.
“With plans afoot to improve our kerbside services to make use of a new facility currently being built and expand the range of materials we can collect, we’re delighted that Tetra Pak and the carton industry are able to step in and support us in the meantime by providing a service at some of our community recycling points.”
Richard Hands, Environment Manager at Tetra Pak Ltd and Chairman of ACE UK, added:
“Whilst cartons are successfully recycled in large volumes for many years throughout Europe, the UK has a long way to go.
“It’s therefore fantastic news that Horsham District Council is taking a lead by adding cartons to the list of materials collected for recycling and we very much hope that the initiative is successful.
“We and our industry partners are committed to increasing the level of carton recycling in the UK with the aim of reaching a national network of carton collection by the end of 2008.
“Our work with Horsham District Council takes us and households in the area one step closer to achieving that.”
Since April last year, the UK carton industry has made £1.5million available to help local authorities interested in starting up carton collection schemes in their area. There are already approximately 100 district areas collecting cartons, which will result in a national network of coverage during the next 18 months. The carton industry continues to work with new paper mills to trial carton recycling to ensure the industry can cater for this increase in carton recycling, as more areas come on board.
For more information about recycling in the Horsham District call 01403 733144 or visit Horsham District Council’s website.
For more information on beverage carton recycling, visit the Tetrapack website.
Ends
For Further Information:
Tetra Pak
Nicola Conron/Michael Osborne, Fishburn Hedges, 020 7839 4321
CONTACT: Richard Morris, Communications Manager
Email: richard.morris@horsham.gov.uk