New recycling plant proposed for Birmingham
Birmingham City Council has announced that they are proposing to find a new recycling processing plant near Birmingham.
Currently glass, cans and plastic bottles travel 154 miles to a processing plant in Essex whereas paper and card goes to the Tamworth branch of Smurfit Kappa and is made into cardboard boxes.
The council wish to replicate the ties with the cardboard and paper recycling plant Smurfit Kappa by opening a new plant for glass, cans and plastic bottles and therefore decrease Birmingham’s carbon footprint as well as creating local employment opportunities.
The motivation behind this new proposal is that there are few recycling facilities that sort mixed materials and the Essex plant is the most efficient and accessible.
Birmingham City council says that “sorting materials at the kerbside is costly and time consuming”.
They also stated that by having a plant closer to Birmingham they will be supporting The European Commission’s Covenant of Mayors on CO2 Emissions and Sustainable Energy. Deputy leader of Birmingham City Council Paul Tilsley said: “we take the issue of climate change very seriously, so much so that we already have an ambitious target to cut the city’s CO2 emissions by 60 per cent by 2026.”
Currently residents of Birmingham produce 550,000 tons of domestic rubbish per year. This means that every 60 minutes enough rubbish is produced to fill a swimming pool.
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Georgie Campbell says:
They used to take everything but paper to Essex? Surely there must have been somewhere closer?
Feb. 25 at 9:04 pmGlad to see Birmingham is cleaning up after itself properly.. And I take it that this will mean recycling land/buildings?
When is the plant due to open?
Does anyone know if there are any plans in the pipeline to deal with plastic bags?
DC says:
With a little more jounalistic investigation you would have discovered that Birmingham’s paper and cardboard goes to the Smurfit Kappa SSK mill in Nechells, not to the Tamworth depot as stated.
Mar. 10 at 9:40 amPodcast Episode 1: Waste & Recycling : Birmingham Recycled says:
[...] have recently seen plans for a new nappy recycling plant as well as other plants around the city. Is Birmingham doing enough for recycling and where can we [...]
Apr. 1 at 6:03 pm