What is Waste?

 

Waste is anything we do not want anymore and want to get rid of .

 

Waste can be:

-                     old toys that may or may not be broken, or

-                     empty tins or bottles or drinks cans, or

-                     old clothes, or

-                     left over bits of food, or

-                     old washing machines or broken televisions, or

-         plastic bags, or packaging

 

How much waste do we make each year?

Every house on the Island makes about 1000kg of waste each year [that's about the weight of a car] and each year we're making more and more waste!

 

What happens to our waste?

At the moment most of the things we want to get rid of end up in our wheelie bin or bin bag. From here the things that can be burned (combustible) are taken to the new Energy from Waste Plant where they are burned at high temperatures. The heat is used to produce electricity. Waste that cannot be burned is still sent to the landfill site at the Point of Ayre where it is tipped and buried.

 

 

What could we do with our waste?

There are lots of things we could do with the things we want to get rid of, rather than put them in the bin. We could:

-                     give them to someone else who may use them

-                     use them for something else

-                     fix them if they are broken

-                     recycle or compost them

 

Can you think of any examples for these ideas?

 

We could recycle more than 55% or over half of all our waste. Recycling means that we use materials such as aluminium, or wood over and over again, reducing the need to dig more minerals out of the earth or cut more trees down. Once a bottle or can or paper is landfilled that resource is lost for ever.

 

Recycling isn't rocket science... all you have to do is

 

Keep your cans, glass bottles, jars, paper and magazines etc. out of your waste bin & take them to a recycling bin instead. We have 50 places on the Island where you can recycle glass, paper and aluminium cans in the recycling bins.

 

Glass

you can recycle all types and colours of glass bottles and jars in these bins. We recycle about 17 tonnes of glass a week. All the glass is used on the Island by crushing it to make blocks for paving paths and driveways.

 

Aluminium Cans

Aluminium cans collected in the recycling bins are sent off the Island to Alcan in Warrington to be recycled into more cans. Although we recycle about 2 tonnes of cans a month, this is only about 13% of what could be recovered for recycling. Aluminium can be recycled over and over and over and over again...

 

Paper all sorts of paper can be recycled in the paper bins: newspapers, magazines, comics, writing paper, A4 paper, junk mail, telephone directories. We collect about 25 tonnes of paper a week. The paper collected is sent to the UK to be recycled into more paper!

 

As well as paper, cans and glass, we recycle lots of green (garden ) waste, steel, textiles (clothing), car batteries, waste oil and fridges. We are also planning to recycle batteries and fluorescent tubes and light bulbs.

 

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For more information contact the Waste Minimisation and Recycling Section, 686534/686533 or  e-mail stephanie.gray@dlge.gov.im or Joanne.hetherington@dlge.gov,im or check out our web site www.gov.im/dlge/waste