AS THE Christmas decorations start to come down a recycling centre is urging residents to check before disposing to avoid contamination.
Sherbourne Recycling is calling on residents to follow best practice guidance on how to get rid of their used packaging and Christmas decorations.
Insight from the Coventry-based recycling facility, which processes waste collected from more than 1.5million residents across the region, suggests that contamination levels soar during the festive period.
From food waste and nappies to vapes, batteries and even Christmas trees, the site experiences an influx of problematic, non-recyclable and often dangerous items placed in kerbside recycling collections.
Top of the naughty list at Christmas are fairy lights.
As the festive season comes to an end, households are encouraged to visit their local council website to check what can and can’t be placed in kerbside collections. Here, residents can also access information about how to correctly dispose of items that cause recycling facilities like Sherbourne problems.
Anthony Hornsby, partnerships and communications manager at Sherbourne Recycling, said: “The amount of recycling we receive increases substantially.
“While our state-of-the-art recycling facility incorporates the latest AI and robotics technology to accurately sort different materials, we need to make sure that contamination levels are as low as possible, and dangerous items such as fairy lights and vapes are not included in recycling bins.
“That’s why we’re asking residents to think carefully about which bin they put their waste in.
“Last Christmas we had a fire on site causing four days of issues due to a vape being disposed of in a recycling bin, and we also had to stop the facility for hours to untangle fairy lights from the recycling equipment, which had caused blockages.
“By visiting your local council website, it’s easy to find and follow best practice recycling guidance that is key to minimising contamination and maximising the value for your Council from material sent for recycling.”
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