Why ARE so many household staples a nightmare to recycle? ...FROM COFFEE CUPS AND SARNIE WRAPPERS TO CRISP PACKETS AND EVEN BROKEN WINE GLASSES

AT fIRST glance, the bottle of Lucozade energy drink looks exactly like the sort of item I ought to be chucking into the recycling bin when I’m done. After all, the symbols on the back tell me that the bottle is made of plastic which is ‘widely recycled’, though I should ‘check local recycling’ when it comes to the cap.

Other symbols also hint at its green credentials, including a triangle of chasing arrows (called a mobius loop) which explain it is made from recyclable PET plastic.

What the bottle doesn’t tell me is that the glossy printed ‘sleeve’ that snugly encases it is made from polymer film. This may make the drinks stand out on the supermarket shelf, but it renders the bottles impossible to recycle properly.

Every day, millions of us drop a plastic bottle or cardboard container into the recycling bin — and we feel we’re doing our bit for the environment.

But what we may not realise is that many of our empties never get recycled at all, often ending up in landfill or incineration depots instead.

Last week, a Government committee told the British plastics industry and drinks manufacturers to clean up their act, warning that new regulations could soon be brought in to ban packaging that cannot be recycled easily.

Of 30 billion plastic bottles used by UK households each year, only 57 per cent are recycled. It means that around 700,000 plastic bottles a day end up as litter, the Environmental Audit Committee heard.

Lucozade and Ribena were picked out as particular offenders by Mary Creagh MP, chairman of the committee, for their practice of covering recyclable plastic bottles in hard-to-recycle polymer film.

Currently, there is just one plant that can recycle plastic film, Mary Creagh said. And as sleeve and bottle can’t be easily separated, it affects the recyclability of the entire packaging.

Manufacturers Lucozade Ribena Suntory say they are now collaborating with recycling plants to adapt their packaging.

NOR

are such bottles the only offenders. ‘Pringles tins, black plastic ready-meal trays and cleaning spray bottles are just a few of the other everyday items that are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to recycle,’ says Simon Ellin, chief executive of The Recycling Association.

Often the problem is that packaging is made up of several different types of recyclable material — such as a cardboard cup laminated in plastic to make it watertight — meaning it can’t be easily stripped to its component parts for recycling.

But with UK landfill increasing by a staggering 84 per cent over the past four years, recycling is more vital than ever.

So what does happen once the binmen pick up your bag of ‘recyclables’?

The process varies depending on your local council. Some use kerbside sorting, where recyclable items are separated by the householder before collection, but most simply pick up bags or bins full of mixed recyclables which are then dropped off at materials recovery centres.

Here, packaging is first sorted roughly by hand and then by machines. Anything dirty or crusted with old food will be sorted out at this stage — although the old rumour that one sticky jam jar can contaminate your whole bag of recycling isn’t true. However, if there are too many dirty items, the resulting sludge can cause mechanical problems for the sorting equipment.

Next, the recyclables are poured into huge drums with different-sized holes in them which rotate to sort the items by size. Conveyor belts then take them past a series of weighing scales, magnets, air jets, vibrating surfaces and optical sensors to recognise and separate the metals, plastic, glass, paper etc.

At the end of the process, any materials that can’t be recycled easily are sent to landfill (40 per cent) or incinerated to create electricity (60 per cent).

Sorted, recyclable items become valuable commodities. A percentage will be sent to processing plants in the UK but the rest is loaded on to huge cargo ships and sent overseas. China currently imports huge quantities of our recyclables which they use to drive their manufacturing industries.

TAKEAWAY SANDWICH CONTAINERS

PRINGLES CANS ACCORDING to expert Simon Ellin, Pringles cans are one of the recycling plants’ worst nightmares. Made from five different materials, they are far too complex in construction to recycle easily. LIKE coffee cups, these triangular boxes are often made...

BLACK FOOD TRAYS MOST black trays used for ready meals, meat and fruit end up in incinerators or landfill. The colour makes them invisible to the infra-red sorting systems in recycling plants. Even when they can be recycled, the plastic is low value as it can’t be...

ANTIFREEZE BOTTLES GLASS or plastic bottles that have contained chemicals that could be hazardous to recycling staff, such as paint, antifreeze, white spirit or stripper, should not be recycled (check the label for the best way to dispose of it). Bleach and toilet...

FOIL POUCHES AIR and liquidtight bags for things such as pet food and baby food are made using plastic-coated foil. They usually have to go in the regular waste as the elements are too difficult to separate.

COTTON WOOL COTTON wool, cotton wool pads and cotton buds are not currently recyclable. Put them in your regular rubbish bin. NEVER try to flush them away — they can expand and cause plumbing blockages.