Killing Us Softly

atest press release from Wicklow County Council, issued on Thursday, June 3rd 2021…

Wicklow County Council wishes to advise that Bray Recycling Centre will no longer accept the following materials from 8th June 2021.

· Soft plastic eg carrier bags, plastic film, pasta bags, cereal liners etc. These contain a mix of types of plastics with blended materials common. High rates of contamination are found due to food residues and the mix of content.

· Large hard plastic items eg. childrens toys, plastic bins , laundry baskets. These plastics cannot be handled by our baling equipment and often contain plastics types for which there is no market for recycling.

This material should be placed in your general waste (black) bin for disposal, larger items can be put in a skip or skip bag and collected by a licenced waste collector.

This decision has been taken as currently soft plastic is not a material that can be recycled and there is no outlet for large plastic items.

The matter will be kept under constant review, should viable recycling markets be developed for accepting soft plastics.

All other Wicklow recycling centres had taken this decision years ago. In the meantime, Tesco in Greystones will take small, domestic soft plastic at the self-scan checkouts.