Mythbusters

  • Food waste ends up in landfill

    Food waste can be recycled in:
    Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council
    Eastleigh Borough Council
    Fareham Borough Council
    Hart District Council
    New Forest District Council
    Portsmouth Borough Council
    Rushmoor Borough Council
    Southampton City Council
    Test Valley Borough Council
    Winchester City Council

  • It’s ok to send food waste to landfill because food breaks down naturally

    In the UK we throw away 6.5 million tonnes of food and drink every year, 4.5million of which is edible. If this amount was sent to landfill it will produce the harmful greenhouse gas methane. This is because food waste needs oxygen to biodegrade naturally but when it is all squashed into landfill no air can get to it.

    That's why in Hampshire we send food waste to our Energy Recovery Facilities (ERFs) so this can be transferred into electricity to power local homes.

  • Paper is burnt/ landfilled when it gets to China

    A full audit trail is maintained at all times meaning that Veolia UK and the Waste Disposal Authorities can be confident that the material is being processed by suitable outlets who comply with all relevant legislative, licensing and planning requirements. Chinese reprocessors have some of the most stringent input quality requirements in the world.

  • Paper should be recycled locally to provide electricity

    Hampshire already generates electricity through incineration of residual waste.

    All kerbside waste not collected for recycling or composting is sent to one of the three Energy Recovery Facilities (ERFs) we have in Hampshire where the waste is incinerated and then the energy created is utilised to make electricity for local homes. The three sites together are able to process over 420,000 tonnes of waste each year, whilst simultaneously generating enough electricity to power 53,000 homes. It would be a waste of a recyclable material to send paper here when we are utilising empty spaces on vessels to China where it can be recycled.

  • Recycled glass is worse quality than other glass

    Glass can be recycled endlessly without any loss of quality.

  • Recycling is pointless because it doesn’t make a difference anyway

    It really does make a difference.

    By recycling we are saving hundreds of thousands of tonnes of rubbish going to landfill or incineration because recyclable materials are reprocessed into new products. Recycling also reduces the need for mining, quarrying and logging when refining and processing raw materials; all of these create significant air and water pollution. As recycling saves energy it therefore reduces greenhouse gas emissions which helps to tackle climate change.

    It is estimated that currently the UK saves more than 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year; the equivalent to taking 5 million cars off the road.

  • Rinsing out recyclables uses up more energy than the item being recycled

    Washing up water is perfectly adequate for this so no additional water is needed.

  • Recycling metal uses more energy than extracting the raw material in the first place

    Recycling aluminium cans saves up to 95% of the energy needed to make new cans from fresh raw material. The energy saved in not having to make just one aluminium can from scratch is enough to power a TV for three hours.

    Every tonne of new aluminium made creates four tonnes of waste, whereas a tonne of recycled aluminium creates no waste.

  • Recycling uses more energy than it saves

    Using recycled materials to make new products consumes substantially less energy than using raw materials – even when taking into account associated costs, such as transport.

    More energy is required to extract, refine, transport and process raw materials ready for industry compared with providing industry-ready materials meaning there are extra energy savings.

  • Sending material to China for recycling is a waste of money and energy

    This is untrue.

    Because of the imbalance in trade between the UK and China, exporting recyclable material to China utilises space on cargo ships that may not otherwise be utilised. As a result of this, CO2 emissions associated with transporting recovered materials to China are below 10 per cent of the carbon savings that arise from recycling the material.

     

  • There are lots of places that take cartons to be recycled in the UK

    There is only one facility in the UK capable of recycling them, in Yorkshire, and that facility is not yet able to recycle 100% of a carton. For this reason, we ask that they are placed with your general waste. This gets delivered to an Energy Recovery Facility where it is burned to create electricity.

  • Do I have to wash cans and bottles before recycling

    All we ask is, if possible to please rinse out your cans and bottles which can be done in left over washing up water. In some countries like Sweden residents have to remove labels!

  • Why do we send material abroad for recycling, there is adequate UK provision for paper recycling

    In the UK, eight million tonnes of paper are recovered for recycling every year, when there is only capacity to recycle three million tonnes. There has recently been a further reduction in UK news and pams recycling capacity.

    In February 2015, Aylesford Newsprint mill in Kent went into administration. It was this mill that was, at that point, receiving Hampshire's high quality newspaper stream (known as "news and pams"), and it led to a reduction of 800,000 tonnes of processing capacity per year.

    These events led to significant market fluctuation and instability, and have consequently resulted in a need for many Local Authorities in the UK to identify and secure alternative markets to continue to recycle this material. In line with the waste disposal contract, in Hampshire, this is done by Veolia on behalf of the local authorities in Project Integra.

  • You can only recycle paper a few times

    The fibres in paper start to break down after they have been recycled five or six times, however the material can still be used to make egg cartons, packaging, loft insulation, paints and even new road surfaces.