Plastic-fantastic as the recycling bins overflow (From Tewkesbury Admag)

Plastic-fantastic as the recycling bins overflow

COTSWOLDS residents have ensured that the district's new recycling scheme for plastics is off to a fantastic start.

In just two months since the scheme was launched, householders have deposited five tonnes of plastic bottles in recycling banks, including the ones at Moreton, Chipping Campden, Stow and Bourton.

Since June 4, plastic equivalent to 100,000 bottles or 111 recycling banks full, has been recycled.

Recycling just one plastic bottle saves enough energy to power a 60 watt lightbulb for six hours, so the bottles recycled so far would keep a light on in the home of every household in the district for 16 hours or a single lightbulb going constantly for almost 68 and a half years.

The banks are located at 12 sites across the district all of which are being filled almost to capacity each week.

Councillor Lynden Stowe, Cotswold district councillor responsible for the environment, said: "The public support for this new scheme has been fantastic. We hope that this will continue and that this will help us towards our target of recycling 40 per cent of household waste by 2006".

Council waste and sustainability manager Dr Amelia Mullins added: "All the plastic collected has been sent to a reprocessor in the North of England where it will be recycled into new products such as fleece clothing, plastic drainpipes and park benches. In this way, plastic that would have sat in a landfill site for hundreds of years will find another use."

The sites with plastics recycling banks include Rissington Road car park, Bourton; Back Ends, Chipping Campden; Station Road car park, Moreton; and Maugersbury Road car park, Stow.

l Government figures released last week showing recycling is up across the country, prompted Gloucestershire County Council's cabinet member responsible for the environment, Bob Eccles, to remind residents of the county that there is no room for complacency.

Coun Eccles said: "Gloucestershire people currently recycle 25 per cent of their rubbish. The Government has set ambitious recycling and composting targets and by 2005/06 we need to up our county figure to 36 per cent. If we fail to do this, we will face fines and this will ultimately have an effect on local council tax bills."