More ways to recycle in Carlisle

Date of Issue: 6 September 2010

Carlisle residents can now recycle even more of their household rubbish.

Carlisle City Council and Cumbria Waste Recycling, in conjunction with Tetra Pak Ltd and the carton industry body ACE UK (Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment), is launching a new beverage carton recycling scheme at three main recycling centres.

Every year, UK beverage carton manufacturers produce approximately 57,000 tonnes of paper-based cartons for milk and juices, and increasingly even chopped tomatoes and wine. This equates to around 2.3kg of cartons per household which could be recycled instead of being thrown in the rubbish bin. In response, Carlisle City Council and Cumbria Waste Recycling are working with the carton industry to establish carton collection points at key recycling centres for residents to take their empty cartons to be recycled.

The new project means that used cartons can now be recycled through special collection bins (taking paper-based cartons only – please don’t put plastics in these bins) at the following locations:

• Asda, Carlisle;
• Morrisons, Carlisle; and
• Tesco’s (Rosehill, Carlisle).

Once collected they are taken away to be baled and transported to a recycling mill. They can be recycled into a number of different products, ranging from plasterboard liner to high-strength paper bags and envelopes.

Carlisle City Councillor Ray Bloxham, Portfolio holder for Local Environment, said:

“The residents of Carlisle have always responded well to the different recycling schemes we’ve introduced across the city. We’re delighted that Tetra Pak and the carton industry is supporting us to help increase the number of cartons recycled in our district and if the trial is successful, we’d like to see the project rolled out further.”

Richard Hands, Chairman of ACE UK, added:

“Whilst cartons have been successfully recycled in large volumes for many years throughout Europe, the UK has a long way to go. It’s therefore fantastic news that Carlisle City Council is taking a lead by adding cartons to the list of materials collected for recycling and we very much hope that the initiative is successful. We and our industry partners are committed to increasing the level of carton recycling in the UK and our work with Carlisle City Council takes us and households in the area one step closer to achieving that.”

The UK carton industry has made millions of pounds available to help local authorities interested in starting up carton collection schemes in their area. Since the introduction of carton recycling schemes across the nation by Tetra Pak and the Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (ACE UK), cartons can now be recycled in over 86% of Local Authorities in the UK and Guernsey, and 26% of Local Authorities now collect cartons at the kerbside. The carton industry continues to work with new paper mills to trial carton recycling to ensure the industry can cater for this increase in carton recycling, as more areas come on board.

For more information about recycling in Carlisle, telephone 01228 817200 or visit Carlisle City Council web site 

For more information on beverage carton recycling, visit tetrapak recycling.

Please remember: squash your carton before recycling and only put paper-based liquid food and drinks cartons in the recycling bins, unless otherwise specified on the bin.