Lewisham Council is launching a new beverage carton recycling scheme throughout the borough to give residents the opportunity to recycle even more of their household rubbish.
Each year, UK beverage carton manufacturers produce approximately 55,000 tonnes of paper-based cartons for milk, juice, sauces and other liquid foods/drinks. This equates to around 2.3kg of cartons per household which could be recycled instead of thrown in the rubbish bin.
In response, Lewisham Council, in conjunction with Tetra Pak Ltd and the carton industry body ACE UK (Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment), has established carton collection points at key locations around the borough for residents to take their empty cartons to be recycled.
Even though cartons can still not be placed into household recycling bins in Lewisham, the new project means that used cartons, such as milk or fruit juice cartons, can now be recycled through special collection bins at:
- Sainsbury, New Cross Gate
- Sainsbury, Forest Hill
- Laurence House car park, Catford
- Grove Park Bus Garage, Baring Road
- Tesco, Lewisham.
Once collected they can be taken away to be baled and transported to a recycling mill. They can be recycled into a number of different products, ranging from plasterboard liner to high-strength paper bags and envelopes.
Councillor Susan Wise, Cabinet Member for Customer Services, said: “The residents of Lewisham have always responded well to the different recycling schemes we’ve implemented across the borough, but we’ve still got some tough targets to meet, both as a borough and across the country. We’re delighted that Tetra Pak and the carton industry is supporting us to help increase the number of cartons recycled in the borough.”
Richard Hands, Environment Manager at Tetra Pak Ltd and Chairman of ACE UK, added: “Whilst cartons have been successfully recycled in large volumes for many years throughout Europe, the UK has a long way to go. It’s therefore fantastic news that Lewisham Council is taking a lead by adding cartons to the list of materials collected for recycling and we very much hope that the initiative is successful.
"We and our industry partners are committed to increasing the level of carton recycling in the UK with the aim of reaching a national network of carton collection by the end of 2008. Our work with Lewisham Council takes us and households in the area one step closer to achieving that.”
For more information on recycling in Lewisham, visit our recycling section.