WEBVTT 00:00:05.385 --> 00:00:12.748 Hello, my name is Erin McCluskey. I am an outreach worker for BDA Scotland. 00:00:12.748 --> 00:00:15.657 I’m very excited to be making this video with my amazing guest today. 00:00:15.657 --> 00:00:16.667 Could you introduce yourself please? 00:00:17.090 --> 00:00:19.446 Hi. My name is James Colhoun. 00:00:19.446 --> 00:00:23.446 In this video we’re going to cover an interesting topic. Under the BSL (Scotland) 00:00:23.446 --> 00:00:27.446 Act 2015, local councils across Scotland have certain obligations. 00:00:27.446 --> 00:00:29.666 One of the services councils provide is rubbish and recycling collections. 00:00:29.666 --> 00:00:33.126 In this video we want to focus on why it’s important to separate out your recycling. 00:00:33.126 --> 00:00:36.489 Before I get carried away, I should ask James to explain his role. 00:00:37.047 --> 00:00:42.197 Sure. I work at a recycling centre dealing with the glass. 00:00:42.631 --> 00:00:47.401 The glass is all processed and recycled and reused to make the special white paint 00:00:47.401 --> 00:00:52.311 used to paint lines on motorways. The glass makes the paint glow at night 00:00:52.311 --> 00:00:55.081 when it is lit up by headlights. It is also used to create a similar effect 00:00:55.081 --> 00:01:01.541 in the reflective strips on Hi-Vis jackets. These things are both made from recycled glass. 00:01:01.779 --> 00:01:06.195 They are really made from glass? That’s amazing! Can I ask James, 00:01:06.195 --> 00:01:10.686 why is it so important to separate out your recycling, your glass, your paper, 00:01:10.686 --> 00:01:15.877 your plastic and so on? Why do we have to put all these things into separate bins? 00:01:16.496 --> 00:01:27.836 It is really important, yes. I really want to emphasise that. It’s important to 00:01:27.836 --> 00:01:36.046 separate it all out. In Glasgow, the green bins are for general waste 00:01:36.046 --> 00:01:38.796 so anything that’s not suitable for recycling should go in those. 00:01:38.796 --> 00:01:45.506 The purple bin is for your bottles and jars, the brown bin is for food waste, 00:01:45.506 --> 00:01:56.446 the grey bin is for plastics, and the blue bin is for cardboard and paper. 00:01:56.446 --> 00:02:00.895 You can put shredded paper in there too. It’s really important to keep all this 00:02:00.895 --> 00:02:03.926 waste separate, and I will explain why. So, as I said before, I work on the glass. 00:02:03.926 --> 00:02:09.366 When the lorries come into the recycling centre, all the glass that they have collected 00:02:09.366 --> 00:02:16.216 up is put into a big hopper. It is my job to load it into the hopper, 00:02:16.216 --> 00:02:17.686 which is like a giant funnel. 00:02:17.686 --> 00:02:19.456 So the glass goes into the top of that? 00:02:19.456 --> 00:02:21.886 Yes, that’s right, into the top and then down into the hopper. Obviously, I can’t 00:02:21.886 --> 00:02:26.466 see inside it. If a piece of wood for example or some food waste or plastic 00:02:26.466 --> 00:02:33.816 gets mixed up with that, it makes a real mess and destroys the whole process. 00:02:33.816 --> 00:02:36.816 It can break the machinery and then that will need to be fixed. This means that the 00:02:36.816 --> 00:02:40.816 lorries returning to the recycling centre back up because they can’t unload. 00:02:40.816 --> 00:02:44.816 It’s the same thing with the plastic. If it gets mixed up with other types of waste, 00:02:44.816 --> 00:02:48.117 it causes all sorts of problems. Please, please don’t do that! 00:02:48.117 --> 00:02:52.029 There is no way for us to sort through it so if it does get mixed up, we just have to 00:02:52.029 --> 00:02:59.964 throw the whole lot away. It gets compressed and dumped into landfill! 00:02:59.964 --> 00:03:02.094 So that means it can’t be recycled? 00:03:02.094 --> 00:03:05.474 Unfortunately not, no. It has to be dumped because it’s contaminated. 00:03:05.474 --> 00:03:09.474 Lots of people don’t follow the system and just dump their waste into any bin, 00:03:09.474 --> 00:03:12.754 so it all gets mixed up. It’s no good though if it’s not done right. 00:03:12.754 --> 00:03:18.504 I see your point. Recycling needs to go into the correct bin and that’s really important, 00:03:18.504 --> 00:03:19.364 judging by what you say. 00:03:19.364 --> 00:03:22.164 It is, yes. If everything was separated out correctly, the process would run really 00:03:22.164 --> 00:03:25.334 smoothly, and everything would get recycled. Recycling helps the planet, 00:03:25.334 --> 00:03:27.564 it saves trees. We all need to look after the environment. 00:03:27.564 --> 00:03:29.754 If people just sorted their rubbish properly, the recycling process would 00:03:29.754 --> 00:03:32.014 run smoothly. If people ignore the instructions, we’re just going to end up 00:03:32.014 --> 00:03:33.084 repeating the same thing. 00:03:33.084 --> 00:03:37.084 Thank you for explaining why it’s so important, James. This is a great opportunity 00:03:37.084 --> 00:03:39.757 to remind everybody that each council has its own system for collecting recycling. 00:03:39.757 --> 00:03:42.264 The bins are not the same colour in every place. It’s best that you check your 00:03:42.264 --> 00:03:45.106 own council’s website to find out what the system is in your area. If you can’t find 00:03:45.106 --> 00:03:48.576 the information you need, you can contact the BSL Helpline, and they will make sure 00:03:48.576 --> 00:03:51.716 that you find the information you need to recycle effectively and do your bit to 00:03:51.716 --> 00:03:55.716 keep our environment clean. Thank you so much for your time today, James. 00:03:55.716 --> 00:03:56.506 No problem, thank you.