Contamination of recycling

MORE than 2,500 dirty nappies are pulled out of bins full of recycling across Leicestershire every day.

Along with dirty jars and tins, textiles and non-recyclable packaging, they are the worst offenders when it comes to contaminating recyclable waste.

Last year, 4,200 tonnes of recyclable waste was rejected because of contamination.

A spokesperson for Leicestershire County Council said: “Very dirty items such as used nappies or packaging that still contains food or drink can spoil a lorry load of good material and prevent it from being recycled.”

Recyclable waste is collected at the kerbside and taken to a recycling facility called Casepak in Leicester for processing.

Recycling from North West Leicestershire is sorted separately at a recycling facility in Coalville.

The spokesperson added: “The plants can only accept and sort certain materials suitable for recycling, so any incorrect items have to be removed, often by hand.

“This is time-consuming, unpleasant and can even be dangerous for the workers and ultimately it is costly to the taxpayer.”

Of the 250,000 tonnes of household waste collected from residents at the kerbside, around 60,000 tonnes was dry recyclables like paper, cardboard, glass and plastic bottles.

There was also another 54,000 tonnes of green garden waste collected for composting.

Residents can also visit www.lesswaste.org. uk/recycle/kerbsidecollections for more information about their recycling collections.