Recycle - Glass

Hello, my name is Erin McCluskey.
I am an outreach worker for BDA Scotland.

I’m very excited to be making this
video with my amazing guest today.

Could you introduce yourself please?

Hi. My name is James Colhoun.

In this video we’re going to cover an
interesting topic. Under the BSL (Scotland)

Act 2015, local councils across Scotland
have certain obligations.

One of the services councils provide
is rubbish and recycling collections.

In this video we want to focus on why
it’s important to separate out your recycling.

Before I get carried away,
I should ask James to explain his role.

Sure. I work at a recycling centre
dealing with the glass.

The glass is all processed and recycled
and reused to make the special white paint

used to paint lines on motorways.
The glass makes the paint glow at night

when it is lit up by headlights.
It is also used to create a similar effect

in the reflective strips on Hi-Vis jackets.
These things are both made from recycled glass.

They are really made from glass?
That’s amazing! Can I ask James,

why is it so important to separate out
your recycling, your glass, your paper,

your plastic and so on? Why do we have
to put all these things into separate bins?

It is really important, yes. I really want
to emphasise that. It’s important to

separate it all out. In Glasgow,
the green bins are for general waste

so anything that’s not suitable for
recycling should go in those.

The purple bin is for your bottles and jars,
the brown bin is for food waste,

the grey bin is for plastics, and the
blue bin is for cardboard and paper.

You can put shredded paper in there too.
It’s really important to keep all this

waste separate, and I will explain why.
So, as I said before, I work on the glass.

When the lorries come into the recycling
centre, all the glass that they have collected

up is put into a big hopper. It is my job
to load it into the hopper,

which is like a giant funnel.

So the glass goes into the top of that?

Yes, that’s right, into the top and then
down into the hopper. Obviously, I can’t

see inside it. If a piece of wood for
example or some food waste or plastic

gets mixed up with that, it makes a real
mess and destroys the whole process.

It can break the machinery and then that
will need to be fixed. This means that the

lorries returning to the recycling centre
back up because they can’t unload.

It’s the same thing with the plastic.
If it gets mixed up with other types of waste,

it causes all sorts of problems.
Please, please don’t do that!

There is no way for us to sort through it
so if it does get mixed up, we just have to

throw the whole lot away. It gets
compressed and dumped into landfill!

So that means it can’t be recycled?

Unfortunately not, no. It has to be dumped
because it’s contaminated.

Lots of people don’t follow the system and
just dump their waste into any bin,

so it all gets mixed up. It’s no good
though if it’s not done right.

I see your point. Recycling needs to go into
the correct bin and that’s really important,

judging by what you say.

It is, yes. If everything was separated
out correctly, the process would run really

smoothly, and everything would get
recycled. Recycling helps the planet,

it saves trees. We all need to look
after the environment.

If people just sorted their rubbish
properly, the recycling process would

run smoothly. If people ignore the
instructions, we’re just going to end up

repeating the same thing.

Thank you for explaining why it’s so important,
James. This is a great opportunity

to remind everybody that each council
has its own system for collecting recycling.

The bins are not the same colour in
every place. It’s best that you check your

own council’s website to find out what
the system is in your area. If you can’t find

the information you need, you can contact
the BSL Helpline, and they will make sure

that you find the information you need
to recycle effectively and do your bit to

keep our environment clean. Thank you
so much for your time today, James.

No problem, thank you.