By Liz Wildman on behalf of SLH
This article was originally written for the August edition of Heatons Post, https://www.heatonspost.co.uk/
Co-op, Sainsburys, and Waitrose have recently launched a nationwide soft plastics recycling scheme, which means there’s now a place to take packaging, like crisp packets, chocolate wrappers, bread bags and fruit and veg bags, to be recycled in our community.
Currently, most councils – including those in Greater Manchester – don’t collect soft plastics at the kerbside as the sorting and recycling process is too expensive. But now, companies within in the food industry have come together to try and find a solution to this problem and are running their own collection schemes.
The retailers, backed by large manufacturing companies like Mars, Nestlé, and Pepsico, have been running trials over the last year to determine how to make flexible plastic recycling a valuable process. These trials have been a success and they are now rolling out collection points to thousands of stores.
This collaboration means that soft plastic recycling is available to people across the country, and the local collection point for our community is in the Co-op in Heaton Moor.
If you can scrunch it, squish it or stretch it, then you can return it. Let’s get recycling! To find out more about what can be recycled, location points, and what happens to the plastic, please visit https://flexibleplasticfund.org.uk