Written by Sarah Birch
The second in our recycling series in conjunction
with the Eco-Park will look at the journey our plas-
tic recycling makes. We all know how bad plastic
is and the disastrous effects it is having on our en-
vironment and here at OTWO, we would primarily
urge everyone to reduce the amount of plastic they
buy and try and use less. Easy swaps are buying
items that are packaged in highly recyclable mate-
rials such as cans or glass.
The next option is reusing plastic whenever you can,
by opting for plastic that can be reused and not go
for single use items. But where you are unable to
reduce or reuse, recycling is the next best option.
We cannot find the figures for Gib, but in the UK it
is estimated that 295 billion pieces of plastic are
thrown away every year, that works out at a stagge-
ring 4,440 pieces of plastic per person. But with re-
cycling bins now all around Gib, it’s now easier than
ever to recycle rather than just throwing it away.
1. After your plastic items are left in the appropriate
recycling bins, it is collected [7-8 times] a day and
transported to the Eco Park.
2. Once it arrives at the Eco-Park, the waste is un-
loaded into a large pile. As plastic, tetra brick placed
in the same recycling bin, these are left together to
be transported and sorted later
3. After approximately 2 or 3 recycling bin collec-
tions the pile is full enough to transport and the
plastic is ready to load into trucks. Due to the con-
taminants left in a lot of plastic items the waste is
moved quickly as it can attract pests
4. Export permits and Annex VII (European Docu-
ment for the Exportation through a border
of non-hazardous waste) are applied
for at least 24 hours before the ma-
terials are due to be transported.
5. The following day the plastic is
then transported to the authorised
treatment facility in Estepona,
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6. Items are normally then sorted and separated into
different types of plastic and then shredded into
flakes or melt-processed to form pellets. These can
then be moulded into new products such as water
bottles.
DO’S
• Make sure plastic bottles, containers or anything
else that has contained food or other liquids are rin-
sed out before throwing it into recycling. Dirty items
are not recycled.
• Know which plastic items aren’t recyclable. A lot
of black microwave meal containers, crisp packets
and single use plastic bags aren’t
• Put shampoo and conditioner bottles and other
bathroom items into recycling. Often these items are
overlooked. But make sure to rinse them out first!
• Check the packaging to see if parts of the packa-
ging can be recycled (such as bottle lids and plastic
film) and remove them if they can’t.
DON’TS
• Throw plastic bottles or containers away that are
full of drink or food, empty them before putting them
into recycling
•Place plastic in to bags with other mixed recycling
items or put them into the wrong recycling bins. Sepa-
rating items is extremely important, as any bags with
mixed items will not be sorted, ending up in land fill.
• Throw bags with household waste, even if it
contains plastic, into recycling bins. Not only will
it not be recycled, but it can contaminate the rest
of the recycling.
OTWO 06 / JANUARY 2020
OTWO 06 / JANUARY 2020
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