Council and democracy

Foil recycling on your doorstep

People can now put clean foil, food trays and milk bottle tops into their green boxes for kerbside collection, or into the mixed recycling bins at flats or the green bins at the council's 27 neighbourhood recycling centres.
 
It is important that only clean foil be put out for recycling though, as too much contamination from food can cause it to be rejected at the sorting stage.
 
This all goes to the processing plant at Rainham, where it will be separated from other recoverable materials, and could then find it's way back into your next Chinese takeaway tray or anything else made of aluminium - potentially saving 95% of the energy it would have cost to mine fresh ore for new metal, and with no loss of quality.
 
Cabinet member for environment and highways, Councillor Phil Thomas, said: "When we recently asked people about the improvements they wanted from their recycling service one of the biggest requests was that we collect more materials - so this is definitely another step in the right direction for Croydon." 
 
All that glitters is not foil though, so it is important to remember that things like crisp packets are actually made of plastic coated in a thin metallic film. The easiest way to check is the 'scrunch test' - if you scrunch something in your hand and it springs back into shape it is not aluminium.