Council urges residents to recycling catalogues

Feb 25 2010 by Marjorie Kerr, West Lothian Courier

WEST Lothian residents are being urged to go green by recycling high street catalogues.

The call from West Lothian Council comes as one major retailer launched their new season’s book.

Each Argos catalogue is 100 per cent recyclable and made from paper that is sourced from sustainably managed forests and controlled sources, and can be pulped down to make newspapers.

As each catalogue weighs over 2kg, and over 36 million are circulated each year, recycling all of them would create 7200 tonnes of recycled paper.

Robert De Bold, Executive Councillor for the Environment with the local authority, said: “It’s quick and easy to simply throw your old Argos catalogue into your blue bin for recycling.

“A heavy phone book or catalogue like Argos can easily be recycled, and creates a good deal of paper that can be used again.

“I’d encourage everyone to carefully consider what they dispose of, and make sure that it can’t be recycled first.”

Items than can be placed in the blue bin include: paper such as newspapers, magazines, brochures, catalogues, junk mail, telephone directories including Yellow Pages, rinsed aluminium and steel food and drinks cans, lightweight card such as card food and drink packaging, cereal boxes, kitchen and toilet roll tubes, washing powder boxes, textiles, such as old sheets and clothes, rinsed Tetrapak containers and rinsed plastic bottles.

Please do not place items in the blue bin such as plastic bags, food packaging excluding cardboard, glass bottles, older Yellow Pages, envelopes, carbon paper or disposable nappies.

Organic garden waste, which includes: flowers and plants, garden weeds, grass cuttings, hedge clippings, leaves and bark and small branches and twigs, should be placed in your brown bin.

All other household waste should be put into the grey bin or taken to one of the six community recycling centres located across West Lothian.

For more information, please visit www.westlothian.gov.uk