Thirty-odd years ago, when the first bottle banks were opened, waste management was very different. These first sites were partnerships between the glass industry, which wanted cullet, and local authorities. But soon, paper merchants became aware that they could obtain an economic load by placing a skip on the same site, charities cottoned on that textile banks here were worthwhile and Save-a-Can completed the picture.

It soon dawned on councils, though, that a few bring sites weren’t going to achieve spectacular recycling rates because they were used only by those who were keen enough to save recyclables and take them to the centre. However, they remained easily the most economical way of collecting recyclables: many tonnes could be lifted
for the cost of just a few collections.

Following wider European practice, some councils tried to develop ‘high-density bring centres’ – one per 1-2,000 homes – but it proved difficult to find sites close enough to people’s homes that they would be used, yet far enough away that householders didn’t oppose a ‘tip’ near their home. Supermarket sites were ideal. It was not economic for industry to operate other facilities with smaller bins, so the council took responsibility, subsidising costs with the recycling credit.

Yet, they were not without problems. Many people dropped plastic bags that had transported materials into containers or left them lying around. Glass got broken. Less well-supervised sites sometimes became dumping grounds, and paper bins were set on fire for fun, rendering the material useless. And thieves found their way into textile banks full of valuable clothes.

In 1999, LARAC agreed a code of practice with the British Retail Consortium about care of recycling facilities in supermarket car parks, making sure that banks were safe and well maintained.

When kerbside collections were introduced, the question arose whether bring facilities had had their day. If people had recycling facilities on their doorstep, would they stop using the centres? The evidence was mixed. Most bring centres continued to be well used. In some cases, bring tonnages actually increased when a kerbside scheme was introduced. Nearly all people separate rubbish for recycling now, but they don’t want recyclables around their homes, so if they miss their collection, or they think two weeks is too long, they may take them to the local supermarket. Moreover, it is not always possible to include glass in a kerbside scheme, so the bring-bank habit continues.

Lately, recycling has changed again. At a time of financial cutbacks, any service that has to be subsidised by the council comes under close scrutiny, especially collecting low-bulk density materials such as plastics and cans. Meanwhile, the supermarkets where recycling facilities have operated for years have been set their own obligations and targets. What better way to achieve their targets than by taking control of the material their customers bring in? In that way it can be taken to recyclers issuing the packaging waste recovery notes (PRNs) the supermarket needs without having to go through a local authority arrangement.

By possibly reducing the tonnage available for kerbside recycling (without reducing the collection cost), this could increase the local authority subsidy needed for recycling. In two-tier areas, the district is concerned about its loss of recycling credit if it can’t report the supermarket’s tonnage, and the supermarket sometimes asks for the recycling credit itself, as the price of allowing the weight collected at its sites to be credited to the council. Understandably, paying public money to a highly profitable multi-billion pound corporation to subsidise an expensive recycling facility doesn’t go down very well in some quarters.

Despite all this, bring facilities are here to stay. In a rapidly changing world of resource efficiency and producer responsibility, supermarkets and local authorities need each other to achieve both of their sets of targets and objectives through recycling and must learn how to work in partnership.

Now, what about kerbside?