Recycling and plastics

Sir, – I have been recycling household material into a single green bin for many years. I have heard about how recycling waste is being contaminated by non-recyclable materials being placed in the green bin. While on the Camino in Spain recently, I noticed the widespread use of community based drop-off points for recyclable materials split in to bins for paper, plastics, bottles and so on.

So I recently began a trial of separating recycling household waste into separate bins. I then bring the bins to our local civic amenity site and place the materials in the separate disposal points. The motive for doing this is that the process of separating waste increases the capture of usable recycled materials. My aim is to encourage others to do the same and ultimately achieve greater availability of recycling drop-off locations.

In separating plastic packaging, I am shocked at how much of this material is not recyclable. Some plastics have no information on whether they are recyclable. It is well known that there is a growing global plastics pollution issue. So how is it in 2018 that food manufacturers are allowed to use plastic packaging that cannot be recycled? – Yours, etc,

MARK FOX,

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Shankill,

Dublin 18.