Kokova Magazine

Consider the humble plastic bottle... it pipped the Queen to the post by celebrating its diamond jubilee five years ago and now - from water to soft drinks, shampoo to bleach and olive oil to garden fertilizer - we use a staggering 15 million of them every day, in the UK alone.

Going back to our Queen's own Jubilee celebrations this summer… Street parties, barbecues and all the associated merriment, you can expect to double or even treble the number of bottles we'll be using on those days.

Not to mention the small matter of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics Games: spectating will be thirsty work for the nine million ticket-holders and estimated 38 million TV viewers over the 30 days of competition.

And we've not even touched on keeping cool while watching Wimbledon from Murray Mount, Euro 2012 on giant outdoor screens or the usual festival circuit.

In short, 2012 is set to be a bumper year for plastic bottles. But with less than 50 per cent of them currently making the recycling bin, national Recycle Week wants to turn it into a bumper year for collecting them too.

Don't bin the bottle
The now-annual recycling push, running from 18th - 24th June this year, reminds us all of the value of recycling and just how easily we can do it. For 2012, it wants us to think twice before jettisoning our plastic bottles into the rubbish bag - because now, thanks to technology, it's possible to recycle ALL shapes and sizes of bottle.

Milk, shampoo, bleach, shower gel, and even plastic bottles used outside in the garden or kept in the shed. You name it, all you have to do is wash 'em and squash 'em.

Even better, over 90 per cent of all UK local authorities now offer collection facilities for plastic bottles, either from a kerbside scheme or at recycling centres; by visiting the Recycle Now website you can find out what service is offered in your area.

What difference does it make?
UK households dispose of around 4.9 million tonnes of packaging every year, but recycling just one tonne of plastic bottles - produced in a town the size of Eastbourne daily - saves 1.5 tonnes of CO2 being released into the atmosphere. So recycling our 15 million bottles a day will be the equivalent of taking 73,000 cars off the road annually - that's over half the number of cars entering London on any week day. Recycling also benefits the environment by significantly reducing air and water pollutants.

The science bit
So what happens to bottles during recycling? They're first separated by colour, cleaned, melted down and then turned into plastic pellets. These are used to make fences, bags, flooring, window frames, fleeces, fibre fillings.…or even more bottles! The good news is the technology that's helping us do this is also helping us increase recycling rates of a number of other plastic items, such as yoghurt pots, plastic trays, tubs and films so soon we'll be able to recycle these items at home too.

Recycling on the go
It's also getting easier to recycle your plastic bottle when out and about with a number of Recycle Zones being set up across the country; these provide designated areas where special units will help you recycle a whole range of items.

You can find them in airport departure lounges, sporting venues, theme parks, shopping centres…and even on the local high street. Why not look out for them when you're away from home.

Eight summer music festivals were activated as recycle zones in 2010, with over 92,000 bottles swapped for 9,000 limited edition festival essential items. Some 156 volunteers worked hard to encourage festival-goers to 'Rock your Rubbish', and a total of 21 tonnes of PET bottles and aluminium cans were collected!

This year, global giant Coca Cola Enterprises is playing a major part in the initiative with a commitment to recycle all clear plastic bottles at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Estimates suggest that this translates to one fifth of the consumer waste likely to be produced at London 2012 venues.

So, as recycling plastic bottles is now easier than ever, let's start washing, squashing and recycling all our plastic bottles. And there's no need to wait until Recycle Week…we can make a difference now.

Recycling by numbers

• Plastic bottles were first used commercially in 1947
• 15 million plastic bottles are used in the UK alone every day
• 92% of all UK local authorities now offer collection facilities for plastic bottles either from your kerbside collection scheme or at recycling centres
• 1 tonne of plastic bottles saves 1.5 tonnes of carbon being released into the atmosphere
• It only takes 25-two litre plastic bottles to make an adult-sized fleece

Remember

• Before recycling please rinse your bottles out, squash them and put the top back on
• Bottle tops can be recycled too (when put back on the bottle)
• You don’t need to remove the labels as this is done as part of the recycling

Recycle Now and Recycle Week are initiatives from WRAP, which works with businesses and individuals to help them reap the benefits of reducing waste.

Recently, WRAP has produced a whole series of guidelines to support local authorities, waste processors and businesses in increasing recycling rates for plastic bottles.

For more information go to www.wrap.org.uk.