Letter: Is Recycling At Slyfield A Myth?

Published on: 24 Sep, 2021
Updated on: 24 Sep, 2021

From Gina Redpath

I would like to bust a myth about recycling at Slyfield.

Slyfield tip

The Community Recycling Centre at Slyfield does not recycle plastic containers, metal cans or glass bottles

At the tip, on Monday, we were told to put cans, glass bottles and plastic in the general black bin waste container.  There is no container for metal cans (before you mention it, no, you cannot put metal cans in with metal), the operative at Slyfield cheerfully advised me that it all goes off for incineration to generate power.

On top of this, we are told to wash our recycling so that it doesn’t contaminate and then it is mixed in with dirty nappies etc. What a waste.

And this discovery came during Guildford’s first Big Green Week!

Editor: We put this letter to Surrey County Council who responded as follows:

“We have had a number of enquiries along these lines over the past few days and we are a bit perplexed as to what has prompted these.

“Firstly we can assure you that there are facilities to recycle cans and plastic bottles and glass bottles at the Slyfield community recycling centre.

“The site has never had facilities to recycle other types of plastics such as pots, tubs and food trays but these can be recycled in the normal kerbside recycling collection.

“We can also assure you that all material that is collected for recycling at the community recycling centre is sent for recycling and not sent to incineration or landfill. There is a high demand for a lot of recyclable material at the moment and it has a good market value so there would be absolutely no point in sending it to landfill or incineration which costs considerably more.

“We can also confirm that the dry mixed recycling collected at the kerbside by Guildford Borough Council is recycled at a facility operated by Biffa in Edmonton so we are unsure why the operative would have suggested otherwise.”

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