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Print articleThe unusual day out was organised by Islington Council as an environmental competition prize in June. The trip to the Materials Recycling Facility in Greenwich showed residents how their recycling is sorted into separate materials before being sent to be reprocessed.
Cllr Lucy Watt, Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Environment Islington Council, said:
?There are a lot of myths about mixed recycling collections not being recycled - so I am really pleased that residents were able to see for themselves - as I have - how and where it gets separated.
?And it's good to know residents are so interested in where their recycling goes - it shows the interest in environmental issues which people in Islington share with us.
?Recycling a plastic drinks bottle instead of throwing it in the rubbish saves enough energy to power a 60 watt bulb for six hours. With the climate debate we are now all having it's clear that recycling can decrease our carbon emissions.?
Highbury resident Robin Small said:
?I enjoyed the whole experience. I couldn't imagine how everything was separated before. I used to think it was magic, now I know it's done with pretty clever technology.?
The mixed materials go into a huge spinning drum, where small items like bottles and cans drop through holes, leaving behind mostly paper and card. Then, the recycling moves along a series of conveyor belts, where magnets are used to separate steel cans from aluminium ones and high-pressure jets of air separate plastic bottles.
The sorted recycling falls off the end of the conveyor belt into bays ready to be reprocessed.
The recycling is baled and sent off for reprocessing. For example, bottles and jars are melted to make new glass products or crushed to make sand for building roads.
Recycling facts: Recycling one kilogram of aluminium can save up to eight kilos of bauxite (the raw ingredient of aluminium), four kilos of chemicals and 14 kilowatts of electricity. In the 1850s aluminium was a precious metal with a price higher than gold or platinum. The statue of Eros in London's Piccadilly Circus was cast from aluminium in 1893.
