Recycling plastic bottles makes sense

In the discussion about reducing the environmental impact of the plastic bottles used for soft drinks, some people might want to switch to a home system for refilling bottles, but we should not forget the importance of recycling.  No-one likes the fact that so many bottles end up in landfill, and but it doesn’t make sense to act as though there is nothing anyone can do about it.

The latest figures from RECOUP show that 46 per cent of all plastic bottles used in the home are recycled, compared with only 13 per cent five years previously.  The proportion grows because the household collection of waste for recycling is improving, and there are also more and more points for collection for recycling on the go (many sponsored by soft drinks companies).

But recycling is also growing because an increasing number of people are making the conscious decision that recycling the packaging in their home is the right thing to do, for them and their families.

Don’t think of an empty bottle as waste,treat it as a valuable resource in its own right.  The material it contains can be reused in another bottle, saving 70 per cent of the energy that would otherwise be needed to make a new one.  (The bottles themselves have been redesigned so that they contain less plastic – a typical bottle now contains 30 per cent less plastic than it did 15 years ago.)

Make sure that you recycle the packaging in your home, so that your family can reduce its environmental impact while still continuing to enjoy its favourite soft drinks.