 Here's some good news!! You can now recycle clean, soft ‘scrunchable’ plastics at Pitlochry Co-op. What is scrunchable? Scrunch it up tight - if it pings back, it’s a useful indicator it's soft plastic. The instore collection point is near the front doors and they will accept soft plastics from any brand or retailer and includes:
Plastic carrier bags Lids from ready meals Yoghurt pots Chocolate, cake and biscuit wrappers, Fruit and vegetable clear wrappers Toilet roll wrappers Wine box inners. For the full list please check -https://www.coop.co.uk/environment/soft-plastics/packaging-list Carol Aitken -
This meeting was focused on a presentation by John Ferguson, director of Eco idea M and founder of PI Polymers Recycling who is working at Binn Eco Park with Zero Waste Scotland on Project Beacon, a project developing a facility that will up-cycle all types of plastics even the ones we think are non recyclable. It was a very interesting presentation and the discussion afterwards gave us a better insight into these recent advancements of processing the many different types of plastics we use so we can reuse them. "He has brought different businesses together to build something entirely new. Each business – Ferguson’s PI-Polymer Recycling along with Recycling Technologies Ltd and Impact Recycling Ltd – uses new unique cutting-edge plastic recycling technologies. Their co-location enables the development of an integrated system with the power to suck all types of plastics out of the waste environment. One of the big barriers to recycling progress is that people are confused about what they can recycle or not. Project Beacon will demonstrate a system that enables householders to recycle all household plastics at the kerbside." I have included a few links from the past few years explaining more about what he is trying to achieve. https://www.recyclingwasteworld.co.uk/in-depth-article/plastic-pioneers-black-packaging-recyclable/192642/ https://www.letsrecycle.com/news/latest-news/scottish-plastics-facility-funding/ https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/case-study/project-beacon This is from Donna Rigby of PKC regarding recycling bins... Thanks for inviting me on Friday – great to see such a fantastic turn out on a wet January evening. I have included images and some documentation of the recycling bins and signage I can offer to pilot recycling on the go at one location in Pitlochry as agreed.(some of this refer to mini-glass point but much of the information is relevant for recycling ‘on the go’ points)  Malcolm Reid is the community waste adviser for the Pitlochry area so he can work with you to agree a suitable location and will progress the internal consultation as details in the attached procedure. I would suggest that 3- 4 bin are appropriate capacity – as you can see from the signage, we found in Alyth that even that wasn’t sufficient as householders kept using it to dispose of excess household waste more than recycling litter as was the intended use. Depending on where you think is best to site the bins will depend on how frequently we are able to service them. I think if you suggest a general location Malcolm can help narrow down where is best to site the bins in consultation with our operations team. I have been considering the proposal you were discussing regarding getting businesses in Pitlochry to swap to compostable alternatives. I have included some article link below. While in a close loop system such as events like the street party compostables can be a greener alternative I would ask you to consider the whole life of the products from production through to disposal. My thoughts would be if the products are being consumed on site reuseables are by far the best alternative and if the products are being taken away then they will likely end up in litter bins or householders domestic bins where recycling of compostables is not an option. I was just questioning you asking the businesses to get a compostable waste collection and stock compostable cups - this comes at an expense to businesses and may not achieve what you hope. https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20180705-whats-the-real-price-of-getting-rid-of-plastic-packaging ……widespread use of biodegradable packaging. “It treats the symptoms, not the disease,” he says. “If the disease is our throw-away society, making packaging biodegradable only encourages people to throw more away.” To make the most impactful behavior change it would be better if customers were charged for any un-necessary packaging materials such as cups. https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/press-release/selling-throwaway-coffee-cups-separately-makes-far-more-consumers-ditch-damaging-0  Sculpture at Friarton Recycling Centre
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