Plastic bottles in the bin and rats in the machinery: life on the front line of recycling
Claire Newell Sophie Barnes Callum Adams Ben Rumsby 26 JUNE 2019 • 10:14PM
telegraph.co.uk
Standing in a sweltering factory, the men and women wiped sweat from their foreheads as they leant towards the conveyor belt to pull off waste. It was only May, but the smell from the bags of rubbish was strong as the food inside started to rot in the warmth.
Black bin liners, nappies, food – all items which could contaminate a batch of otherwise recyclable waste – needed to be separated from the recycling and put in the bins marked “general waste”.
Tasked with removing 35 pieces of rubbish a minute from the line, it was sometimes hard for staff to keep up, and it appeared several workers may have felt pressured to “grab” any items – including plastic bottles, cardboard and unopened sacks containing recycling – and discard them in the bins.
When the undercover reporter asked what happened to the items put in the bins, they were told: “If it goes to the bin? Well then it goes to the incinerator.”
The comments may come as a surprise to residents who believe their waste is being recycled and are likely to prompt questions about what more households can do. The Western Riverside Waste Authority (WRWA) in south London is operated by a company called Cory. Both organisations say that 99 per cent of the recyclable waste they are sent is ultimately recycled – a cheering figure for the hundreds of thousands of residents who live in these areas.
However, the findings of an investigation by The Daily Telegraph and Unearthed are likely to call into question how much of the waste is processed appropriately and whether more can be done by the firms doing so, as well as households.
WRWA is responsible for managing waste produced by four London councils – Hammersmith and Fulham, Lambeth, Wandsworth, and Kensington and Chelsea.
Between 2017 and 2018, 10 million tons of household waste were recycled in England – almost half of the 22.2 million tons produced.
After sources raised concerns about processes and high levels of contamination, an undercover reporter signed up for a job at the Material Recovery Facility in Wandsworth.
Last year, The Telegraph and Unearthed found plastic recycling sacks showing the logo for both Hammersmith and Fulham, and Kensington and Chelsea councils at an abandoned rudimentary factory next to an illegal waste dump in Malaysia.
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