~ Plastics Recycling Guide in Devon

YOUR PLASTICS RECYCLING GUIDE

PLASTICS ACCEPTED AT DCC RECYCLING CENTRES
RIGID MIXED PLASTICS - PLEASE MAKE SURE EVERYTHING IS CLEAN All plastic drink bottles (squash and put lid back on)
Plastic milk bottles (squash and put lid back on)
All plastic household cleaning bottles
Pre formed biscuit or chocolate box trays
Plastic sandwich containers
Yogurt pots, margarine tubs, Ready meal containers etc
Plastic fruit containers (unless made from expanded polystyrene)
Plastic flower pots (must be clean)
Containers for hand and other skin creams (must be clean)
Shampoo bottles (must be rinsed clean)
Plastic bags are acceptable if several are bagged into one bag (except Deepmoor and Macklins Quarry)
Not acceptable: cling film type material, contaminated plastic, any other type of plastic
BULKY PLASTIC ITEMS NOW ACCEPTED AT RECYCLING CENTRES,
(PLEASE MAKE SURE EVERYTHING IS CLEAN)
Buckets, Bowls, Bins, Water Butts, Plastic Garden Furniture, Plant Pots, General Housewares, Plastic Children’s Toys (some metal inclusions are acceptable, Collapsible Crates, Clean Paint Pots NOT ACCEPTED IN THE BULKY PLASTICS CONTAINER Items not listed above are not accepted – such as:
Plastic Film, Plastic Bags, Builder Bags, PVC Doors, PVC Window Frames,
PVC Pipes and Guttering, Flexible Plastic (e.g. vinyl flooring and hosepipes), Video Tapes, Fibreglass (e.g. Bathtub) www.devon.gov.uk/bulky_plastics_acceptable_list_web.pdf
SOFT PLASTIC WRAP, FILM, BAGS etc SUITABLE FOR SUPERMARKET SHOP FRONT
PLASTIC RECYCLING BINS Plastic bags
Cereal packet plastic inners,
Frozen vegetable bags
CREDITON AND UFFCULME AREAS - contact local group directly
Uffculme Compost Magic - Contact email: compostmagic@hotmail.co.uk)
For Crediton area information see: www.sustainablecrediton.org.uk

~ D.I.Y. Clothes Swaps

Interested in running your own clothes swap? We’d like to help. Recycle Devon has put together a clothes swap event toolkit to enable members of the public to put on their own clothes swap a.k.a. a Swish. The kit includes a complete ‘How To…’ guide for each of the events and all of the equipment and materials that you might need such as coat hangers, hanging rails and a poster template. Additionally, Recycle Devon’s Re-Use Project Co-ordinator, Emma Croft, will be available to support and advise you throughout the process of setting up and running your event.

“Swishing is a great way to pass on clothes that we no longer need or want to someone else that can give them a new lease of life. Lots of communities

around Devon are holding their own events already and we want to encourage more towns and villages to swap not shop! Around 30% of clothes in our wardrobes haven’t been worn for more than a year which equates to about £1000 worth of clothes that could happily find a new home.” said Emma.

Sarah McDonald organises the Exeter Clothes Swap and her advice for anyone looking to organise something similar is “Just do it! If all of the organisation involved is what’s putting you off, then just rope in a few friends to help you. Either that or organise a small-scale swap in your front room with just your friends and family to make it simple. Clothes swapping is brilliant!” For further information, please contact:

Emma Croft, Reuse Project Co-ordinator at Devon County Council: emma.croft@devon.gov.uk or 07966 566435 or visit

http://www.recycledevon.org/ content/clothes-swaps Exeter Clothes Swap Events

https://www.facebook.com/ groups/280855638719312/?fref=ts

~ Upcycling Meets High Fashion

Elvis & Kresse are two social entrepreneurs who have been reclaiming heroic materials ever since they first fell in love with London Fire Brigade’s decommissioned fire-hoses. After a distinguished career fighting fires the hoses were destined for landfill. They started to rescue it from waste in 2005 and never looked back. More materials soon followed, Kresse has always had an obsession with waste and likes nothing better than discovering and intercepting something new. The challenge is the same every time – ‘what can we do to prove value, change perception, and respect these resources.’ ‘We dream of a time without landfill, when everything is recycled or composted. Between now and then we know there are far too many incredible materials that will either languish under ground or suffer the indignity of incineration; when that happens we lose, we lose quality, narrative, and the opportunity to do something great. So we intercede, choosing story laden materials of incredible character, and do everything we can to ensure their second life is as long as possible.’ ‘We are constantly searching for more materials to grow our range of bags, belts and wallets, and have rescued over 200 tonnes so far.’ ‘Design traditionally begins with an idea, for Elvis & Kresse, design begins with a problem. It is the material and the scale of the problem which dictate what we will make and how we make it. In the case of the hose, we scrubbed away the soot and grease that builds up after 25 years of active duty and discovered a truly remarkable, truly green textile. We wanted to honour this tough, life saving material, hence our focus on quality craftsmanship and classic, timeless design. We build value into each piece and style them for use beyond single seasons. All Elvis & Kresse products are hand-made and unique.’ It would never be enough to give an old fire hose a somewhat useful life, we must transform it, make it desirable or useful in and of itself; something you would want even if it were not recycled, even without the ethics. E&K spent five years perfecting a billfold wallet - ensuring malleability, strength, and classic, practical styling. This same dedication is applied to everything we do, from how we collect and prepare our materials to how we finish and package the pieces. Our process emulates kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold. The refurbished pieces are worth significantly more than their new, undamaged counterparts. Our materials are shown this same level of care, they are cherished. Most traditional businesses are only able to measure their success in one way... the bottom line. At Elvis & Kresse we have 2 additional measures of success; how much waste we are able to divert from landfill and how much money we are able to give back to our charities, of which all 3 have equal importance to us. Elvis & Kresse re-distributes up to 50% of profits to projects and charities related to the unique materials we reclaim. www.elvisandkresse.com

~ Two Bike Projects In Devon

There are two community bike reuse projects currently happening in Exeter. Both the ‘Bike Bank’ and ‘Ride On’ aim to get more people cycling and provide affordable bikes. ‘Ride On’ charity offer basic bike maintenance sessions to help people develop skills and confidence. We also offer free rider confidence coaching, group rides with qualified ride leaders, and we sell reconditioned bikes. All our bikes are fully serviced, cleaned and ready to ride away. Our knowledgeable team can offer advice and guidance to make sure you choose the right bike for your needs. Come and visit us at our workshop here on the historic quayside in Exeter. We welcome volunteers from administration to fund raising or preparing our reconditioned bikes. Or can you donate a bike. Ride On workshop opens each Thursday 2pm to 8pm & each Saturday 11am to 5pm. Regular courses are held at Ride On, 61 Haven Rd, Exeter, Devon EX2 8DP, UK. See www.rideoncycling.org. Contact Adam on 07762 237916

Exeter Bike Bank project is a supportive workshop environment where vulnerable adults can learn practical skills in refurbishing bikes for the benefit of others, becoming trainee bike mechanics. They offer refurbished bikes to people on low incomes using a voucher system similar to that used by Food Banks. It’s a project of Exeter Community Initiatives. ‘We are currently open for two days a week in a shop in the Harlequins Centre and working on securing additional funds to enable us to operate for longer.’ The running of the project is supported by volunteer mechanics who mentor others to learn how to refurbish bikes. We also have salvaged bike parts that can be re-used for home repairs or for creative and technical projects. We will be offering drop in sessions where people can bring in their own bikes and learn some basic skills to help maintain them. www.facebook.com/BikeBankDevon, or contact Andy Richardson on: 07527 363938 or email: bikebank@eci.org.uk

~ New reuse, repair and upcycling project for Devon!

The Devon Reuse project aims to promote and stimulate more reuse, repair and upcycling in the community, in small businesses, charities and social enterprise, and will run throughout 2015. The project will establish a Reuse Forum, an online Reuse and Repair Directory, provide workshops and practical skills training events, and make community reuse kits available for loan to people wanting to host events such as clothes swaps and ‘give and take days’. Emma Croft is the new Devon reuse project officer, now based at DCC, and she has experience of running reuse and repair events in Wiltshire alongside other waste prevention initiatives, while working at the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust who ran community waste programmes for the Council. Emma said: “‘I’m excited by the potential of this project to reduce waste and increase the amount of goods and materials that are reused and repaired. The first series of bike repair events has already been organised in Exeter at Pinbrook Recycling Centre.” (Please see other article for workshop details and dates) Work will include identifying and establishing a network of people, small businesses and organisations in Devon interested or active in reusing, repairing, re-making, or re-purposing any item, as part of the Reuse Forum. The Forum will enable people to network, share know-how, and explore potential partnerships. Are you an individual maker who needs specific materials or do you have an idea for a reuse enterprise but need some help? Are you interested in ‘repair cafes’? Are you a business that has reusable materials in your waste that you would like to see reused? Are you a charity or social enterprise that could benefit from marketing and promotion, or anything strategic? Do you want to revive jumble sales in your area? There will be different interest groups with different goals, but it is hoped that all interests can derive benefit in one way or another. The online reuse/repair directory will enable the public to easily find and connect with useful contacts, such as repair services, in their locality. Reuse enterprises, upcyclers and repairers will be able to market their services through inclusion in the directory. Do you know a repair enterprise that should be included? If so, please send us the contact details. The online reuse directory will be based on the market town areas of Devon. Different reuse and repair initiatives will be broken down into 6 categories: buy, sell, repair, hire, donate, and swap. The workshops and skills training events will hopefully inspire people to undertake more ‘reuse, repair, and New reuse, repair and upcycling project for Devon! upcycling’ in their lifestyles, and the whole project aims to act as a catalyst for stimulating higher levels of reuse in the community. Training sessions will include furniture, bike repair, creative clothing, transform your textiles, and repair cafes for more general items. 12 skills based workshops will be held, initially at Pinbrook Recycling Centre in Exeter, and also elsewhere in the community. Community Reuse kits will be available on loan to enable clothes swaps events and ‘give and take days’ to happen more easily. Clothes swap kits will include mirrors, clothes rails, sack truck, hangers, screens for changing, and guidance notes. Give and take event kits will include press release and poster templates, weighing scales to record items, table labels, signs, and other items. There are lots of ideas being discussed, such as organising a ‘Devon Reuse Week’ to promote reuse. How can we identify businesses with suitable resources in their waste and connect them with makers who want those resources? Do small makers/repairers need help with a premises hub, or to kickstart their idea, or an online selling platform for their creations? The project is being funded by WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme), Devon County Council and supported by DCRN and Sita, who run Devon’s Recycling Centres. If you want to be included in any way please get in touch, either as an individual, business, community group, charity or social enterprise, whether as part of the reuse/repair directory, the forum network, or are just interested in any of the training events, either participating or offering skills. Please contact Emma Croft via email: emma.croft@devon.gov.uk or phone 07966 566435, or join the free DCRN email list for regular email info about local events and news. Richard Gomme at info@dcrn.org.uk

~ Pop up ‘give and take’ reuse shop for Crediton

The community group Sustainable Crediton have run a completely free, give and take reuse pop up shop in Crediton High St during February. Charles Mossman of the waste action group said “our Pop Up Give and Take Shop …was hard work but a phenomenal success with over 7,700 people coming through our doors in the 14 days we were open and over 7,000kg of household items finding good new homes!! Many people have asked us when we will be doing it again but for now we are taking a break and going back to our normal lives which have been very much put on hold for the past two weeks. However, it won’t be long before we pop up again with a new or related project!! Watch this space.” ‘People could bring unwanted household items including toys, clothes, garden equipment, kitchen equipment, household linens, ornaments, and furnishings, books, CD’s and DVD’s. For big items such as beds, tables, wardrobes etc. people were asked to bring a description/picture plus contact details. These were displayed on a special board in the shop. As predicted, there really was something for everyone. The only items not acceptable were paint and household chemicals, opened toiletries, baby car seats and old style computer equipment and TV’s.’ Paula Mossman of the Waste Action Group explained how it works.’ People can take away up to 5 items completely free, they don’t have to bring anything, but we hope people will take the opportunity of clearing out unwanted items at home. We anticipate that fresh goods will be arriving daily, so there will be new items on display regularly to browse through. Our group has been working on waste related issues in the town for over 7 years now and our regular waste plastics collections have become very popular. Our main aim with this is to keep the perfectly re-usable goods that many people have at home, but no longer need, out of landfill. One person’s junk is often another person’s treasure and so we hope as many people as possible will pop into the shop regularly throughout the fortnight.’ Follow Sustainable Crediton at www.facebook.com/ groups/27626965377/ or see the website www.sustainablecrediton.org.uk

~ Upcycling, Recycling & Useful links

This article focuses on reuse and upcycling, and illustrates lots of examples happening around the country, reflecting the great re-skilling, inspiration, enterprise and lifestyle changes required to reduce waste; from repair cafes to workspace provision, from high-end upcycling fashion to everyday reuse. I am pleased to report that upcycling is thriving all over the world, often in places one would not expect, as innovative artists, designers, crafts people and enthusiasts redefine the consumer throwaway age; and of course those in developing countries have been upcycling for years since ‘waste’ first originated.

Now Devon has its own Reuse Project to run during 2015 to stimulate reuse and upcycling around the county with workshops and skill sharing events on upcycling furniture, bike repair, creative clothing, and transform your textiles, with repair cafes also to be held for general repair and electrical items. There will be community reuse event kits for loan to make hosting events easier, and a reuse forum set up to network individuals, small businesses, and others involved in reuse.  I have selected different working examples from around the country which may be of interest. There is also the website www.repaircafe.org full of tips to help people set up their own events. I am amazed by the ingenuity and creativity, there are a lot of inspiring upcycling photos from around the world on Pinterest. I have assembled an upcycling selection at www.pinterest. com/richardgomme. Some that standout out for me are large scale public space sculptures, such as the tin can street pavilion in Israel, the plastic bottle Christmas tree in Lithuania made from 40,000 waste bottles that lights up and is 30ft tall, the plastic bottle giant fish on the beach in Rio, Brazil, the Russian pensioners building décor made from thousands of plastic bottle tops. There is Katie Thomson in South Africa, at www.recreate.za.net. For an online shop featuring upcycled handmade items see www.etsy.com. www.upcyclethat.com is a natty website full of upcycling ideas and inspiration, some of which are 25 looking for kickstarter funding on www.kickstarter.com. If you have a worthy enterprise that needs funding to get it going do consider kickstarter. Other innovative uses include top end fashion belts, bags and other items made from old fire brigade firehoses by Elvis and Kresse, www.elvisandkresse. com. There are flip flop shoe soles from car tyre treads, see www.tireflops.com. Volunteer groups and social enterprises are innovating with upcycling and repair too, such as Tivertons’ Repair café. www.facebook.com/ tivertonrepaircafe. Refurnish Devon’s ReStore is at Dartington Shops, which is hosting regular drop-in Repair Cafes on the last Saturday of each month from 10.00am- 1.30pm, starting 31st January. The shop has a range of restored and recreated items for sale. www.facebook.com/ ReStoreDartington. Exeter’s‘The Bike Bank’ bike repair and training project includes re-skilling disadvantaged people in bike repair and refurbishment, providing bikes for low income people. www.facebook. com/BikeBankDevon. ‘Out of the Dark’ is in High Wycombe, it restores and revamps salvaged furniture as a means to train, educate and employ young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and steer them away from crime, with an ethos of being an extended family. www.outofthedark.org.uk The ‘Goldfinger Factory’ in West London is an up-cycling production and learning hub for the training, support and inspiration of London’s most disadvantaged residents to create desirable furnishings and fit-outs for London’s trendsetters with a social conscience. www.goldfingerfactory.com ‘The Remakery’ is a new project in London to provide affordable workspace, tools and access to reclaimed materials destined for landfill for makers to reuse. The aim is for Remakers – local residents, makers, artists and businesses – to reuse materials to create products, enterprises, jobs and opportunities and develop new skills. Any profit is used to subsidise the Remakery social programmes and help those at a disadvantage in the community. www.remakery.org ‘The Restart’ project encourages and empowers people to use their electronics for longer, by sharing repair and maintenance skills. The project helps people learn to repair their own electronics in community events and in workplaces. www.therestartproject.org   For community events the Repair Café Foundation says: “Really the most important thing is to have a team of dependable and enthusiastic volunteers who are willing to give up their free time and offer their skills and tools to help others learn how to repair their things. If you have that, your repair cafe will soon grow. It is a fun, social way to combat the general frustration with wasted materials, resources and a loss of skills… it’s a community, a space for empowerment and the site of transformation where people’s relationships with their things shift from consumer to owner.”

Richard Gomme

~Most Wasted Household Foodstuff

“Cutting food waste in the home needs to be one of the UK’s biggest environmental priorities” - British Retail Consortium. A recent report on food waste by WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) has identified that UK households are chucking out the equivalent of 24 meals a month, amounting to 4.2m tonnes of food and drink every year, including 86 million chickens. The top three discarded foods are bread, potatoes and milk. The equivalent of 24m slices of bread, 5.8m potatoes and 5.9m glasses of milk are being wasted daily, while even cakes and pastries make it into the top 10 most wasted items.
Supermarkets To Provide Data on Tonnages of Food Waste
The big supermarkets, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrison’s, M&S, Waitrose and Co-op, under pressure from food waste campaigners, will regularly publish tonnages of food thrown out by stores from 2015, in an effort to cut down on the millions of tonnes wasted each year. The situation was highlighted recently when Tesco admitted it generated 28,500 tonnes of food waste at its stores and distribution centres in the first six months of last year alone. The chain said approx. two-thirds of bagged salad was thrown out, either in-store or by shoppers, and 40% of apples were likewise wasted. Supermarkets have been moving to divert their food waste from landfill, mostly sending it to anaerobic digestion. Just 6% of food waste went to landfill in 2013 compared with 47% in 2005, and they are now committed to sending just 1% of food waste to landfill by 2020. However, with the rise of food poverty and food banks in the UK, the spotlight is on retailers to work with food charities like Fareshare, to enable unsold food to be re-distributed to people in need.
Andrew Opie, director of food sustainability at the BRC (British Retail Consortium), said he believed the new reporting regime would help drive change as part of a broader effort to make retailers more sustainable. He criticised the government’s focus on “marginal waste issues” such as plastic bags, where there are plans to introduce a tax in England in line with systems in place in Wales and Northern Ireland. Opie said “That has been a bit of a distraction from bigger issues on waste”. “Once the issue around carrier bags is over we can really concentrate on the areas which will make the  most difference.” Opie said it was important to look at the whole life-cycle of products, from production to selling, use and disposal, to help cut down on waste and create a “circular economy” in which resources could be re-used.
Friends of the Earth said: “Food waste has been growing over the last few decades because of the way supermarkets have driven consumption. (Supermarket food waste data)… will indicate how over- purchasing and other poor buying practices are occurring, but retailers need to really examine whether their marketing strategies are fit for purpose in today’s resource-confined world. Supermarkets will also commit to cutting absolute carbon emissions by 25%, based on 2005 levels, by 2020. Between 2005 and 2013 retailers have cut total emissions from their stores by just 8% because more outlets have opened, offsetting an average 30%  cut in the amount of carbon emitted  per store.

~The more I read about food waste.....

The more I read about food waste the angrier I get really. Ideas like the ‘Pig Idea’ (feeding food waste to pigs) and using food waste to generate energy, I feel we are all missing the point a bit! Are we not looking at the wrong end of the pipe line? Surely we need to really look at why so much food is being wasted in the first place and cut that down before we start thinking it is ‘sustainable’ to do creative things with wasted food. Huge investment will be needed in waste food treatment infrastructure and collection. And then to read about the Freegans, (people that liberate food thrown away by supermarkets) threatened with prosecution in the public interest! 
Of course, the food waste hierarchy should be: prevent food waste first, divert surplus food to be eaten by people, compost food waste at home where possible, unavoidable food waste to be used as animal feed after appropriate treatment, then send remaining food waste to anaerobic digestion/composting to recover energy and nutrients, ensuring no food waste goes to landfill. During farming processes not only is there a lot of wastage due to weather and crops damaged by pests and diseases but also because of the power of supermarkets to reject crops, which they do, in huge quantities. This could be because the crops are not, in their eyes, cosmetically up to scratch, or the supermarkets could just be using that as an excuse because they suddenly have an oversupply in that area. Crops are then graded, with top notch quality fruit and veg commanding higher prices, with ‘grade outs,’ often sold on street markets at a lower price.  Add into this mix the fact that food (and fibre) crops now compete on a world market controlled by transnational corporations at every stage of the supply chain, with the pursuit of profit the bottom line. We also have become used to spending a lower percentage of our income on food, food has become cheaper and so we waste more, but we are learning that there is no such thing as a free (or cheap) lunch and actually there are many hidden costs in food production that we are paying the price for, such as cleaning agri chemicals from our water, health costs from spray drift and much more. Professor Jules Pretty at East Anglia University has extensively researched and written on this subject (e.g. ‘The Living Land' 1998 published by Earthscan). We also, through our water flushing sewage systems, waste valuable nutrients such as phosphorus, which is a finite mined resource from Morocco and China, but now phosphorus is being recovered from sewage – see article on  pages 14-15. On the other hand we have a huge rise in food poverty. So, whilst we are ploughing in cosmetically unacceptable crops, and grading out at the harvesting and packing stage, then throwing away perfectly edible food from the back of supermarkets. We are simultaneously asking for food donations to give to those who are living below the poverty line through Food Banks and Fareshare.  Of course, the waste doesn’t end at the back of the supermarket. Of three bags of shopping, one is effectively thrown straight in the bin at home. We are confused by ‘sell by’, ‘best by’ and ‘consume by’ dates and throw away an astonishing amount of perfectly good food. We are bad at using up leftovers and cooking generally and the UK is the largest consumer of ready meals in Europe. A new initiative Growing Devon Schools Partnership (see www. growingdevonschools.org) is helping schools engage in the whole food  cycle in schools to help redress  this situation.

~Nicky Scott

~Stop Food Waste

A new study, Vision 2020: UK Roadmap to Zero Food Waste to Landfill sets the framework for a food waste-free UK by 2020, and is backed by local authorities and industry experts.  The ambition is to save the UK economy over £17bn a year through the reduction of food wasted by households, businesses and the public sector, and preventing 27m tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year. Composting food waste through processes such as anaerobic digestion could return over 1.3m tonnes a year of valuable nutrients to the soil, the report says, and generate enough power for over 600,000 homes. The report highlights where and why food waste is happening at each stage of the UK supply chain; what actions are being taken to tackle food waste in each sector and what more can be done in the future to drive the positive environmental, economic and social outcomes. Compulsory food collections by local authorities are key to the new campaign – currently only 40% of councils have separate food waste collections. The Local Government Authority, which was involved in the report, says if "food contamination" of recycling
was halved by 2020, it would save £1bn. The devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are now consulting on banning food into landfill, but not England. The campaign is led by food waste recycling company ReFood – in collaboration with BioRegional, a sustainable business charity – as part of the Vision 2020 campaign supported by national and local government as well as industry. Sue Riddlestone, chief executive of BioRegional said: "Achieving zero food waste to landfill within the next seven years is a big challenge and we will need the support and actions of individuals, businesses and the government if this vision is to be realised. However, the case for change is compelling. We will save billions of pounds. We will prevent millions of tonnes of greenhouse gases from entering our atmosphere. And crucially, we will ensure that food is treated as a precious resource."

~Break The Bag Habit

Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg has announced plans to bring in a 5p charge on single-use carrier bags in England from October 1st 2015. An unbelievable 19 million carrier bags are given out daily in England.  During the Christmas sales, this figure rises but in the 600 days until the change, says the ‘Break the Bag Habit’ campaign, (www.keepbritaintidy.org) we will use more than 12 billion bags, and spend nearly £2bn on cleaning up litter. The campaign urges people to make a small change in shopping behaviour by taking re-usable bags to the shops, and help reduce the huge amounts of waste, litter and danger to wildlife from 12 billion plastic bags.  This comes as Environment Agency figures show that carrier bag usage may have fallen by as much as 80% in Northern Ireland since a 5p levy on single use bags was introduced in April. The NI executive has also submitted plans to increase the minimum charge for single and multi-use carrier bags to 10p from April 2014. Similar charges are due to come into effect in Scotland from October 2014, while the Welsh Government introduced a levy on thin gauge bags in September 2011 – with results showing that bag
usage in Wales may have fallen by up to 76%. During the same period, the number of carrier bags issued in England had risen by 4.4%. There are plans to exempt small businesses from the charge, and incentivise businesses for using more biodegradable plastic bags. However, plastics recyclers have voiced concerns that biodegradable plastic bags undermine the recycling process by contaminating conventional plastic recycling, and criticised bio-degradable bags as being ‘designed to be waste’, whereas conventional plastic bags could be reused and recycled. A spokeman said: “Even a small amount of oxy-degradable polymer in a carrier bag is a barrier to its recyclability. If significant amounts of this material was to enter the waste stream it could undermine some of the plastics recycling targets going forward because  you would not be able to reprocess this fraction of bags (or separate them from conventional plastic).” Oxy-degradable plastics are made from petroleum-based polymers, usually polyethylene, with metal salts - such as cobalt, iron, nickel and manganese - accelerating degradation when exposed to heat or light