Frequently Asked Questions
Below is a list of some of our most frequently received enquires and their answers.
General Questions (10)
Use your blue bin to recycle card, paper, plastic bottles and cans if you are not visiting other recycling banks. However separated recyclate has less chance of becoming contaminated and will essentially be of more value as there is not a an extra sorting process involved. Highland Council encourage people to make use of their recycling centres/points as much as possible and to take any extra materials to them.
The 'blue bin' materials are sorted into the 4 waste streams i.e paper, cans, cardboard, plastic bottles when they reach the MRF in the central belt. The separation process is done by machinery and by handpicking some of the recyclate and this is when paper and cardboard will be separated. The 4 materials are then sent of to different reprocessors to be recycled
At the present moment Highland Council only have facilities for recycling large lead acid car batteries at their recycling centres. However you can now take used batteries back to some big stores . Click here for more details.
The materials collected in the Highlands for recycling are sent to various reprocessors to be turned into new materials. Highland Council have received good feedback from all of their reprocessors about the quality of the materials they send to them. Depending on the market at the time, the reprocessors will find the best value option for recycling the different materials - this might be in the UK or overseas but it will be recycled. The only time a local authority will send materials collected for recycling to landfill is if the material is contaminated with another material which has made it difficult to recycle.
Glossy paper will take longer to break down and might release chemicals into your compost. It is probably better to pass magazines on to be reused by doctors surgeries, dentists etc or to family and friends before sending them for recycling.
A compost bin will benefit from introducing paper to the mix - a lot of people will add shredded paper, food contaminated paper etc. to their compost bins. For people with no access to paper recycling facilities or who live a long way from a paper bank then composting will be an ideal way to avoid putting the paper to landfill. It does however depend on the volume of paper, if you have large amounts of paper then it would be more practical to take it to a recycling bank or put it in with the kerbside collection. The quality of the paper collected in the Highlands is high and goes on to be turned into mainly newsprint and other paper products. As the recycled paper is turned back into newsprint then in essence it reduces the reliance on restarting the paper making process from scratch. So the answer depends on personal circumstance and the volume and type of paper. However it is good to compost paper which can't go into the recycling banks such as damp paper and paper towels.
Envelopes are not included in the paper recycling at the request of the paper merchants who take the paper for recycling. Highland Council have been informed that the adhesive gum on the envelopes in large quantities can cause problems for their equipment during the pulping process. Also, there is a contamination problem with plastic windows on envelopes. Because of this Highland Council have envelopes down under “no thank you” at the recycling banks.
Envelopes with plastic windows removed can be composted.
Plastic bottles must be clean and be type PET 1 or HDPE 2 plastic. This can include shampoo bottles, detergent bottles, drinks bottles etc. as long as they are of the types above.
The Highland Council requests householders not to put any bottle caps in the recycling bins. Although, some are the same type of plastic as some of the bottles that is collected, not all are and it would not be possible to easily distinguish the two. Also if caps were perrmitted some people might leave caps on the bottle which might mean that bottles weren't washed and squashed beforehand. A small amount of contamination is accepted by the processors so it is not necessary to remove the plastic ring from the bottlenecks for example.
Plastic bottle tops are collected by some charities and also Stornoway plastics.
Jar lids can be placed in the can recycling banks at recycling points and recycling centres across the Highlands.
This is to do with the quality of paper. The paper merchants want 70% newsprint type paper, which allows us a bit of capacity to place greeting cards, magazines etc mixed in with the paper. If we encourage people to place other cardboard items then it can affect the overall quality as people may put more of this material than the type we want. When the card is torn, any card showing white along the tear is OK but any card showing grey isn't. You can of course compost thin card such as cereal boxes easily, if you scrunch it up and add to your bin. See our A to Z for more on paper
