Earlier this year, I asked Somerset Waste Partnership and Tetrapak, to get together and sort out drinks carton recycling in Frome.  And now they have done!  From early June 2011, I am told, drinks cartons can be recycled at Frome Recycling Centre.

I and others in Sustainable Frome’s Waste Group (including Michael Dunk) were concerned about the lack of any recycling of drinks cartons in Frome.  Drinks cartons like Tetrapaks are hard to recycle as they are made from many layers of paperboard, plastic and sometimes aluminium, so they need to go to Sweden for recycling, so should not be recycled with cardboard.  Cartons are not currently collected for recycling in Mendip, and although 49 tonnes of them were collected from recycling centres in other Somerset towns, the recycling centre in Frome lacked space to host a carton recycling bank.  Tetrapak agreed to provide a skip for Frome, if a site could be found, so I asked SWP to see if a space could indeed be found at Frome recycling centre. 

Now, after its revamp, Somerset Waste Partnership have just announced that space has indeed been found at Frome Recycling Centre for a carton bank, funded by Tetrapak, from 2nd June 2011. 

Remember that the recycling centre is now closed every Tuesdays and Wednesdays, something we would like to reverse! 

It is nice to know that a little gentle badgering, talking to the right people and identifying an opportunity to get something done, can pay off.  Big thanks to SWP staff and to Tetrapak for sorting it out and helping us all recycle a little bit more!

See links below for more on this story and recycling in general:

http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/whereyoulive/northsomerset/Quench-thirst-recycling-reusing-old-drinks-cartons/article-3594810-detail/article.html

http://www.somersetwaste.gov.uk/

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