The Daily Telegraph - 01.08.2019

4 **^ Thursday 1 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph

Lithium battery:

used in phones,

cameras. Recycle

at a specialist

recycling centre

TV cases, coffee

makers, phones,

most computer

plastic. Specialist

recycling only

DVDs, sun-

glasses, large

water bottles.

Not easily

recyclable

Nylon used in

toothbrush

bristles and

stockings. Not

usually accepted

Alkaline battery:

used in TV

remote controls,

torches – recycle

at supermarkets

Silver-oxide

battery: used in

watches, toys.

Recycle at waste

centres

Nickel metal

hydride battery:

rechargeable

• recycled at
  special centres

Packaging that

is collected by 75

per cent or more

of local authori-

ties across UK

Widely recycled

but can be

flattened to save

space, while

leaving the lid on

Widely recycled,

but the lid

should be left on

to avoid clogging

up machinery

Widely recycled

but must be

rinsed first

to avoid

contamination

Indicates that

the bottle can be

recycled but the

sleeve must be

removed first

Lead-acid

battery: used in

cars. Collected at

garages,

recycling centres

Can be taken by

councils but

often require a

trip to a recy-

cling point

Used for milk,

butter and

yogurt. Accepted

by most

collections

Carpet cleaner,

plastic wraps,

frozen food

wrap. Mostly not

recycled

Easy to recycle,

largely used for

soft drinks

bottles and food

containers

Window cleaner,

detergent,

cooking oil and

shampoo bottles.

Rarely recycled

Disposable cups,

CD cases, meat

trays. Generally

too difficult to

recycle

This symbol

indicates that

the item is made

from recyclable

aluminium

Waste electri-

cals: do not place

the electrical

item in the

general waste

Logo identifies

wood-based

products from

well managed

forests

This symbol asks

that you recycle

a glass con-

tainer, usually at

a bottle bank

The producer is

pro-recycling,

but the product

itself might not

be recyclable

This indicates

that an object is

capable of being

recycled, but not

in all systems

Packaging that

is collected by

20-75 per cent of

local authorities

across the UK

Label when less

than 20 per cent

of local authori-

ties collect it, eg

crisp packets

Often used for

plastic films and

carrier bags

collected at

supermarkets

Some items, like

paint cans, can

be recycled at

recycling

centres

What does that

symbol mean? An

exhaustive guide

to recycling

Medicine

bottles, bottle

caps, ketchup

bottles. Widely

recycled

Silver mixed/

silver backed

glass: used in

mirrors. Not

recyclable

Copper mixed

glass: used in

electronics,

clocks. Recycle

at waste centres

Used in liquid

storage contain-

ers, juice boxes.

Very difficult to

recycle

Paper & plastic:

pet food bags,

grocery bags,

coffee cups. Hard

to recycle

Often confused

to mean recycle,

this simply asks

you to Keep

Britain Tidy

Gold mixed/gold

backed glass:

used for table

surfaces. Hard to

recycle

Plastics and

aluminium: used

in toothpaste

tubes, and hard

to recycle

Special occasion

cards, advertis-

ing fliers. Mostly

cannot be

recycled

Compostable

plastics: can be

recycled along

with your

garden waste

Recyclable steel:

all local

authorities

collect steel cans

for recycling

Plastic and

tin-plate: used in

packaging and

difficult to

recycle

This means that

the product is

suitable to

be home

composted

Brown glass –

used in beer and

medicine

bottles, it is

easily recyclable

Jute – for

clothing and

bags. Can be

recycled at

specialist centres

Non-corrugated

fibreboard

(paperboard)

• cereal boxes,
  widely recycled

Paper –

newspapers,

books, wrapping

paper. Widely

recycled

Steel – widely

recycled by

scrap metal

dealers and local

recycling plants

Wood – used in

furniture. Easily

recyclable by

specialist firms

Cotton – towels,

T-shirts. Largely

unrecycled,

except for some

specialist plants

Aluminium

• drinks cans, tin
  foil (clean first).
  Some plants will
  not take it

Corrugated

fibreboard

(cardboard)

• used in boxes,
  widely recycled

Cork – used in

bottle stoppers

and place mats.

Can put in home

compost bin

Green glass –

used in wine

bottles and easy

to recycle.

Green glass –

used in wine

bottles and easy

to recycle

Clear glass –

used in drinks

glasses and

bottles, easy to

recycle

Leaded glass

• used in older
  TVs and
  ashtrays. Use
  specialist centres

Light leaded

glass – used in

TV screens. Use

specialist waste

centres

Light sort glass

• lighter glass
  (but not clear),
  widely recycled

Dark sort glass

• other dark
  coloured
  glassware, easily
  recyclable

Telegraph campaign

‘Simplify symbols to recyclable or not’

Continued from Page 1
Britain Tidy, warning people not to
drop litter. A similar symbol showing a
man putting a bottle in a bin shows it is
glass that can be recycled.
The “mobius loop” of circling arrows
merely shows an object is capable of
being recycled but does not confirm if
it will always be accepted. Even seem-

ingly simple symbols can be mislead-

ing, such as the “Not Yet Recycled”

sign, applied when under 20 per cent

of local authorities collect it, yet it still

may be recyclable.

There are dozens of European Resin

Identification Codes (RIC) – the famil-

iar triangle of arrows with a number

inside to identify the material. Though

they appear to suggest recyclable prod-

ucts, many are difficult to process and

few councils have the resources.

Retailers will often leave the process

entirely to the consumer, stamping

“check locally” on products. Helen

Bird, of the recycling charity Wrap,

said: “There are currently lots of differ-

ent labels, many of which are meaning-

less and confusing to UK citizens.

“Wrap believes that recycling/cor-

rect disposal information should be

mandatory on all packaging and the

message needs to be simplified – to re-

cycle it, or not. One of the difficulties in

doing this is the inconsistency in the

types of materials collected by local au-

thorities. The Government intends to

resolve this by ensuring all local au-

thorities collect a standard set of mate-

rials, including plastic packaging.” Last

month The Telegraph launched a Zero

Waste campaign, calling on the Gov-

ernment and firms to simplify recy-

cling and make it more consistent.

To add to the current confusion, a

survey by Which?, the consumer watch-

dog, found many supermarkets were

mislabelling products. When research-

ers bought 46 popular own-brand items

they found Iceland, Marks & Spencer

and Waitrose wrongly labelled more

than half. Even Asda, which emerged

top, mislabelled one in five of its own-

brand products. The average for correct

labelling across the 11 major supermar-

kets was just 58.16 per cent.

Which? said the inaccurate labelling

made “an already confusing system

trickier to navigate.”

Sian Sutherland, founder of A Plastic

Planet, said: “Industry is desperate to

keep pumping up the smokescreen of

recycling as it enables them to con-

tinue to use plastic as the default mate-

rial for almost everything.

“No one understands all the symbols

on the back of a pack and now we real-

ise that they are pretty meaningless

anyway.

“Recycling is the fig leaf of consum-

erism, appeasing our guilt as we take,

make and throw away.”

A Plastic Planet has recently

launched a Plastic Free Trust Mark

which guarantees the packaging does

not contain plastic.

First plastic-free lunch discount as M&S

rewards customers using reusable boxes

By Jessica Carpani

MARKS & Spencer has launched a dis-
count for customers who bring their
own lunchboxes into stores.
The new scheme will incentivise
customers to bring their own reusable
containers to M&S’s Market Place
counters by offering a 25p discount off
each meal.
Customers can fill their containers
with a variety of hot and cold lunch-to-
go options, including rotisserie chicken
and freshly prepared salads.
M&S is the first of the major retailers

to introduce the scheme. However,

Waitrose also announced yesterday

that it would extend its trial of

unpackaged products after sales of

items not in wrappers overtook sales of

equivalent packaged items.

The “unpacked” scheme was tested

in Oxford, with a dedicated refill zone

with dispensers for more than 200

products from pasta to wine, will now

continue after its original end date of

Aug 18, with the concept rolled out for

testing in three more stores.

M&S’s Market Place is available in 23

city centre stores including London

Pantheon on Oxford Street, Newcastle

upon Tyne, Norwich and Manchester.

Up to 70,000 customers buy lunches

from Market Place each week.

Sales of single-use plastic bags at the

seven biggest retailers in England have

plummeted by 90 per cent since the 5p

charge was introduced in 2015, Gov-

ernment figures have shown.

Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons,

Co-op, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer

sold 549 million single-use plastic car-

rier bags in England in the year 2018-19,

down from 1 billion over the previous 12

months, a reduction of 490 million.

Stop rinsing greasy pans in the sink, Defra

says as it launches campaign to save water

By Helena Horton

RINSING greasy pans in the kitchen

sink is one of the bad habits we need to

break if we want to avoid a water short-

age in 25 years time, the Government

has warned.

One litre of oil poured down the sink

can pollute one million litres of water

• so people are being urged to wipe out
  grease and oil left in trays with kitchen
  roll before washing.
  The advice has been issued by the
  Department for Environment, Food
  and Rural Affairs (Defra) which has

launched the Love Water campaign to

raise awareness of the small changes

we can make to achieve a big difference.

Defra fears England could run short

of water in future if we carry on using it

at current rates. At the moment the av-

erage British person uses 141 litres of

water per day – a figure that does not

account for the water footprint of prod-

ucts and services they use.

The UK water industry spends

£100 million each year on clearing

blockages caused by the wrong things

going down sinks and lavatories.

Defra has said that grease poured

into drains can pollute rivers and cause

damage to wildlife, and oil and fat can

also harden in pipes and form fatbergs

which cause blockages.

Experts advise people to pour lefto-

ver fat from roasting trays into a heat

resistant container, then reuse, recy-

cle, or bin it once cooled.

The Food Standards Agency said: “As

long as utensils are washed appropri-

ately after scraping out the oil, there is

no health-and-safety issue.”

The campaign will also target water

companies and other regulators to cut

down on wastage.

50pc

The Government 2020 target for recycling

rates, which it now admits it cannot reach

in time because of the ‘bewildering system’

Zero Wa s t e

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