Need for Plastic Bottle Recycling Bins in Birmingham City Centre

• May. 30 by Katie Wood (0)

Birmingham City Centre is in need for plastic bottle recycling bins according to a local recycling activist.

Leanne Carter, a student at Birmingham University, believes that Birmingham can benefit with plastic bottle recycling bins next to the normal litter bins situated in the city centre.

Leanne states that, “almost every person that goes into Birmingham for the day shopping buys a bottle drink of some sort. This means thousands of plastic bottles get thrown away in the general rubbish bins. But if people had the opportunity to recycle their plastic bottles, by just recycling one plastic bottle it will save enough energy to power a low energy 11watt light bulb for over 32 hours”.

On average the UK produces 3 million tonnes of plastic waste each year. Approximately 85% of that plastic goes into a landfill, 8% of it is incinerated and only 7% of plastic is recycled.

In general it is apparent that local authorities have been quick to jump on the recycling bandwagon with 92% of all UK local authorities now offer collection facilities for plastic bottles either from the kerbside collection scheme or at local recycling centres.

This is apparent in Birmingham with kerbside collection schemes and 5 recycling centres run by the council, by adding these extra plastic bottle recycling bins will improve things further.

Leanne says, “By adding these bins it will be a huge help in conserving the environment. We as a nation use about 20 times more plastic than we did 50 years ago!”

“If we reduced the amount of plastic bottles that we throw in to the general waste bins, we can recycle old plastic bottles into new ones, reducing the need to make new plastic bottles. Therefore we will be conserving non-renewable fossil fuels, reduce the amount of energy used, reduce the amount of solid waste going into landfills and reduces the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere”.

For more information on where you’re nearest recycling centre by visiting the Birmingham’s City Council website.