Polystyrene Amnesty

The launch of a Polystyrene Amnesty over Christmas and the New Yer period has seen SWM Recycling in Barnstaple became the first facility in the region to offer a recycling service for this material that diverts it away from landfill. With polystyrene not currently recycled by either North Devon Council or Torridge District Council and it is hoped that the scheme will prove popular with residents and businesses who live nearby.Phil Akers, of SWM Recycling, said: “We do a lot of dry recycling, mainly cardboards and plastics - polystyrene being one of those plastics now, which we look forward to working with. It’s a lot of investment but you know we feel we need to do something for the community and for the local businesses to make sure they have an outlet for this product.Now we have got this machine here in North Devon there is no excuse for every piece of packaging like this in our part of the world not to go into a recycling facility and be reused.”The issue of recyclable packaging has been brought into sharp focus after high-profile television programmes on the subject were aired earlier this year, including ITV’s Plastic: Can You Live Without It?