# Tetrapak recycling in Bristol



## JTG (Jan 26, 2007)

Just been reading Charlie Bolton's Southville blog and he briefly states that Bristol will be introducing tetrapak recycling banks this year sometime.

Also printer cartridges to be included in the door to door collections

Jolly good. Well done Bristol City Council


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## Crispy (Jan 26, 2007)

I didn't even think it was technically possible! Well done indeed.


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## JTG (Jan 26, 2007)

Crispy said:
			
		

> I didn't even think it was technically possible! Well done indeed.



oh yeah, I've been posting all mine off to the one tetrapak recycling plant in Fife for a while now.

Hopefully there shall be more soon 

Bristol is the best major city for domestic waste recycling in Britain now - near 40% now


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## trashpony (Jan 26, 2007)

JTG said:
			
		

> oh yeah, I've been posting all mine off to the one tetrapak recycling plant in Fife for a while now.
> 
> Hopefully there shall be more soon
> 
> Bristol is the best major city for domestic waste recycling in Britain now - near 40% now



Don't suppose you could post the address of the fife one? I hate throwing the bloody things away


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## JTG (Jan 26, 2007)

http://www.tetrapakrecycling.co.uk/


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## trashpony (Jan 26, 2007)

JTG said:
			
		

> http://www.tetrapakrecycling.co.uk/



cheers  

I didn't know it was possible either


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## JTG (Jan 26, 2007)

It's not exactly well promoted is it?


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## JTG (Jan 26, 2007)

I'm also pleased that our flats now have a bin for random plastic - polythene, shrink wrap, polystyrene etc.

What with all the other stuff they collect and the plastic bottle banks multiplying around the city, I'm fucked if I know what's gonna end up in our black bin bags now


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## trashpony (Jan 26, 2007)

JTG said:
			
		

> It's not exactly well promoted is it?



No it isn't


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## JTG (Jan 26, 2007)

> We are committed to increasing the level of carton recycling in the UK with the aim of reaching a 10% post-consumer recycling rate and widespread collection across the country via a number of different collection schemes e.g. kerbside or bring-bank collection, by 2008.



Looks like it's getting a bit more promotion now though


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## trashpony (Jan 26, 2007)

JTG said:
			
		

> I'm also pleased that our flats now have a bin for random plastic - polythene, shrink wrap, polystyrene etc.
> 
> What with all the other stuff they collect and the plastic bottle banks multiplying around the city, I'm fucked if I know what's gonna end up in our black bin bags now



They collect plastic bags but not polystyrene here. We recycle so much in our building that we need to swap the bins round really - the big rubbish bins are half empty and the little recycling boxes are overflowing


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## JTG (Jan 26, 2007)

Anyone down your way do food waste collections yet? If not, be prepared for lots of daily mail-esque ranting and hand wringing when it comes in


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## trashpony (Jan 26, 2007)

JTG said:
			
		

> Anyone down your way do food waste collections yet? If not, be prepared for lots of daily mail-esque ranting and hand wringing when it comes in



No 

But I've heard about it from my bristolian mates. It's really brave - I'm dead impressed. I can imagine it would go down like a lead balloon in Camden - especially now we've been taken over by the namby pamby libdems


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## gentlegreen (Jan 26, 2007)

I reckon food waste bins are partly to shame people into better habits 

I waste loads of food,  but I'm lucky enough to have a compost bin out the front so it doesn't feel quite so bad ....

I've noticed loads of domestic flytipping recently


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## JTG (Jan 26, 2007)

Just in case anyone wants to know how it's done and can't be arsed to look at the website - carton recycling widespread across the EU but virtually unknown here. Quelle surprise.



> *  Paperboard (typically 70-90%)
> * Low-density polyethylene (typically 10-25%)
> * Aluminium foil (about 5%, only in long life or aseptic packages)
> 
> ...


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## JTG (Jan 26, 2007)

trashpony said:
			
		

> No
> 
> But I've heard about it from my bristolian mates. It's really brave - I'm dead impressed. I can imagine it would go down like a lead balloon in Camden - especially now we've been taken over by the namby pamby libdems



It was the namby pamby LibDems who introduced it here 

Lots of horror stories when it started (many of them true I'm sure) but it seems to be working OK and they collect the food every week so it's not kept hanging around any longer than it used to be anyway.

The downside is they haven't got round to building a composting plant at Avonmouth yet so it all gets sent to Dorset  There is a composting plant in Avonmouth but it belongs to South Gloucestershire council so they can do their waste.


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## cesare (Jan 26, 2007)

I've stopped buying tetrapaks cos of the difficulties in recycling. Well done Brizzle and JTG


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## JTG (Jan 26, 2007)

gentlegreen said:
			
		

> I reckon food waste bins are partly to shame people into better habits
> 
> I waste loads of food,  but I'm lucky enough to have a compost bin out the front so it doesn't feel quite so bad ....
> 
> I've noticed loads of domestic flytipping recently



Yeah, we definitely throw less away now.

And flytipping is on the increase. Fucking wankers.


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## trashpony (Jan 26, 2007)

JTG said:
			
		

> It was the namby pamby LibDems who introduced it here
> 
> Lots of horror stories when it started (many of them true I'm sure) but it seems to be working OK and they collect the food every week so it's not kept hanging around any longer than it used to be anyway.
> 
> The downside is they haven't got round to building a composting plant at Avonmouth yet so it all gets sent to Dorset  There is a composting plant in Avonmouth but it belongs to South Gloucestershire council so they can do their waste.



I take it all back then   

Perhaps I'll lobby my local councillor - who goes by the snappy moniker of Flick


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## JTG (Jan 26, 2007)

trashpony said:
			
		

> my local councillor - who goes by the snappy moniker of Flick



It's grim up north London


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## trashpony (Jan 26, 2007)

JTG said:
			
		

> It's grim up north London


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## xenon (Jan 27, 2007)

Excuse my ignorance. What exactly are tetrapaks? I've heard them mentioned a lot but aren't sure what they are.


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## xenon (Jan 27, 2007)

Cartons. Like milk cartons. Can the juice ones with the plastic lids be recycled?


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## strung out (Jan 27, 2007)

this kind of stuff


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## gentlegreen (Jan 27, 2007)

xenon_2 said:
			
		

> Excuse my ignorance. What exactly are tetrapaks? I've heard them mentioned a lot but aren't sure what they are.


Just about the most unrecyclable material imaginable :-

Cardboard, plus aluminium plus plastic fillm, all laminated together.


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## boskysquelch (Jan 27, 2007)

*I don't like paper...or recyling come to that. *

erm..._don't believe the hype_...

I made par of my living cutting pulp for papermills through the 90s and it's a very powerful industry.



> The carton recycling process is essentially quite simple. Baled cartons are dropped into a pulper, similar to a giant domestic food mixer, filled with water, and pulped for around 20 minutes. This delaminates the packaging, breaking down the package to produce a grey-brown slurry. The aluminium foil and polyethylene are separated from the fibre, which is recovered to make new paper products.



Go buy a pint of milk...put the carton in the sink and hammer it for 20 mins and tell me what happens?


The use of wood-pulp in this country, by and large, is environmentally criminal; has in time incrementally worsened, and I believe in the long run will demonstratively never reach the level at which there will not a greater _debt_ than benefit for it.

I believe the two brothers that own Tetrapak fell out over this very topic and the one I knew,albeit briefly in the 90's when I was given the chance to discuss it with him, has since pulled out of the company.

Wonder what happened to his project of the disposable mobile phone?


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## Gerry1time (Jan 27, 2007)

People may battle the lib dems in bristol for not doing (or doing) various things since they got into power, but the evangelical way they've banged on with the recycling thing despite lots of opposition is pretty cool.


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## Tank Girl (Mar 21, 2007)

thought I'd bump this thread, just been looking on my local council website about recycling and found this



> Unfortunately, Smith and Anderson, the Fife based company which was able to process cartons (e.g. Tetra paks) ready for recycling, has closed down. There is currently nowhere in the UK which is able to accept cartons for drinks, soup, fabric conditioner etc for recycling.


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