Paper & Glass...

Comes in all shapes and sizes

You can recycle more than just old newspapers and bottles here in Calderdale.
Take a look at the lists below and you'll see that everything from toilet roll holders to jam jars can be put out for the fortnightly kerbside recycling collection service. And, if you miss your collection day, or you don't yet have access to this service, you're welcome to do your bit for recycling by using one of the Bring Sites or Household Waste Recycling Sites in our borough.

Did you know?

• Glass can be recycled again and again without losing its clarity or purity.



• Glass packaging makes up 8-10% by weight of UK household waste.



• On average, each person in the UK uses 110 glass bottles and jars per year. Only 27% of these (about 30) get recycled.



• The energy saving from recycling one bottle will:
  - Power a 100 watt light bulb for almost an hour
  - Power a computer for 20 minutes
  - Power a colour TV for 15 minutes
  - Power a washing machine for 10 minutes
  


• Milk bottles are reused an average of 13 times before recycling.



• The UK has more than 50,000 bottle banks.
  
  
• One bottle bank can hold up to 3,000 bottles before it needs to be emptied.
• The earliest known paper was made from papyrus by the Egyptians in 2,200 BC. More than 2000 years later the Chinese developed a different method, making paper from rags, hemp and the bark of mulberry trees. This method spread through the Middle East, and then finally to Europe in the 12th Century.
  For many centuries paper continued to be made by hand from rags and straw, but world demand was growing and ground wood chips soon became the main source of fibre. With the introduction of mechanised paper making machines in the 18th Century paper finally became a cheap and readily available material.



• Paper is made from a fibre called cellulose that comes from trees. This might come from either short-fibred hardwoods such as eucalyptus, or long-fibred softwoods like pine trees. Sometimes paper is made from cotton fibres.



• Paper that does not get recycled goes to landfill where it rots down into methane. Methane is a harmful greenhouse gas, for example a single mliecule of methane has 21 times the 100 year Global Warming Potential of a single mliecule of carbon dioxide



• Recycling one tonne of paper saves around 6 average sized trees



• There are 40,000 pieces of A4 paper in one tonne



• Did you know that 17 trees can absorb the carbon dioxide emitted from your car each year, locking up the carbon in the wood and releasing the oxygen back into our atmosphere.

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