After another bumper month of Terracycle collection, the total recycled by Peasedown Environment Group (PEG) is heading for ¾ of a tonne.
The collection which started in August 2020 has grown every year and since January the collection has kept 164kg out of landfill. For those who can’t imagine what that is like, the picture shows May’s collection of 35kg.
The collection is run by volunteers from PEG on two mornings each month and accepts crisp and snack packets, pens and felt-tips, bread bags, biscuit wrappers, sweet wrappers, cheese packets, oral health products and, a recent addition, ground coffee bags. To give an idea of what this plastic waste is like, if you laid the crisp and snack packets end to end, it is reckoned that they would reach from Peasedown to Bath city centre and back.
Most of the items that go to Terracycle are broken down into their plastic components and then reused to make other items where lower grade plastic can be used. PEG also collects ink-jet cartridges which are reused and raise money for the environmental group, Climate Stewards, spectacles which are sent by Midsomer Norton Lions for re-use and hand tools which are refurbished by Tools for Self-Reliance and sent to Africa.
PEG would love to end the collections but until we can get companies to reduce their plastic use, this is, sadly, the only option.
The next Terracycle collections are on Thursday, 22nd June and Saturday, 24th June at Peasedown Methodist Church from 10am to 11.30am. The Saturday collection takes place at the same time as The Repair Café, organised by Share and Repair, which repairs all sorts of items and again keeps them out of landfill.
If you are bringing items for the Terracycle collection, it really does help if they are sorted and if you only bring the items listed.
If you would like to know more about Peasedown Environment Group please come to the Community Energy Roadshow run by BWCE at The Hive in Peasedown – drop-in 2.30-6.00pm and an information meeting from 7.00pm to 9.00pm on Tuesday, 20th June.