Sonia Jackson of Plastic Free Faversham came to talk to members recently. She gave a very informative presentation about plastics, both globally and locally, and the challenges of recycling them. Here is her summary:
”Since starting our Zerowaste™ recycling boxes with Terracycle in April 2023, we are now on our fourth Oral Care box and our third All In One box, boosted with the funding from Faversham Rotary Club.
We think the boxes have been very successful even though we’ve only advertised on our Facebook page. But people have discovered the boxes through word of mouth, too, so more people are bringing along those hard to recycle items, such as CDs, old cassettes and videos, clothes hangers, crisp packets, old gardening equipment, etc.
Their location in the Swale Visitor Centre in Faversham Market Place has been convenient for people to access. It also seems to have encouraged the Environment Committee at Faversham Town Council to add to the collection by launching their own Zerowaste™ Crisp Packets and Sweet Wrappers box! The more the merrier, we say!
Click on the links below to find out about how Terracycle works and the video which shows how waste is recycled into new products:
u https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/#@54.39586446195522:2.83447377734376zoom:5
u https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/pages/journey-of-waste
We are now discussing whether to expand the boxes into some of the satellite villages, such as Boughton Under Blean and Oare.
We know that we can’t recycle our way out of the plastic and waste crisis. We need to move to a circular economy where waste is designed out of the system altogether. But Zerowaste boxes are part of current solution whereby raising the profile of recycling means that people become more and more accustomed to regarding waste as, well … wasteful!”