A launch meeting was held in Karmi Church car park on Thursday 12th November, 11.00am, at which the village residents, (there are approximately 200 properties), learned all about the new collection and recycling scheme
Jules Hall, one of the residents spearheading this project, who had a career in sustainable packaging development and waste management in the UK says, ‘I am horrified at how much packaging is dumped into landfill in TRNC and feel very strongly that we should, and could, do something about it’. She met with Irene Raab-Marancos, director of Cader, in Catalkoy who set up a similar scheme earlier this year to understand how they manage their pilot recycling scheme
At the meeting on Thursday residents were shown how to easily identify the different types of plastics and separate them into two coloured bags: blue bag for PET and yellow bag for HDPE/LDPE and PP containers/bottles. A green bag was issued for the collection of aluminium drinks cans.
Once full the coloured bags will be placed in a centrally located cage specially designed and built by Arman Metals.
ASM Recycling Ltd, based in Lefkosa will pick up the full bags from this cage and, at their facility, will shred or pelletise the plastics into a form that can be used in re-processing. 40% of this material will be used by manufacturers in TRNC who will produce products such as broom heads, buckets and plastic chairs. Nurettin Ruso, Director of ASM Recycling Ltd, who attended the launch stated ‘I am delighted to partner with Karmi village in this recycling scheme and I believe it will be a huge success’.
The scheme will be managed by the residents of Karmi but it is fully supported and sponsored by the KSVC, Karaman Özel Köy Komitesi.
Jules Hall said it was glorious weather for our meeting so I could talk ‘rubbish and recycling’ in the sun. It was fantastic to have such a good turn out with obvious enthusiasm for this new scheme.
A leaflet was given to all the residents which clearly outlines which type of plastic goes in each bag.
A number of pertinent questions were asked during the meeting and this was the reply.
- Ring pulls and the ‘widget’ in beer cans are ok to go into the green bag (aluminium cans only though – not food or cat food steel tins ).
- Dispensers in Detergent bottles etc are recyclable if there is no metal in them. If they do have metal they should be discarded in the general waste bin.
- Yoghurt pots tend to be made from PS (Polystyrene) and are NOT recyclable but most margarine tubs are PP (Polypropylene) so can be placed in the yellow bags.
- Supermarket carrier bags and the veg/fruit bags are recyclable and should be deposited in the yellow bags.
- Crisp packets, cling film, detergent bags, cat/dog food bags, bread bags, nuts/dried fruit pouches are NOT recyclable.
- Dynasty’s (Chinese near Eron) take away trays and lids are made in PP (recycling category 5) and therefore can be recycled – yellow bag.
- Plastic garden chairs can be recycled – chop them up and place in the yellow bag.
All the caps should be removed and collected in a separate bag. ASM Recycling will take these and make a contribution to the Orthopaedic Association.
It is imperative that the bottles and containers are empty, clean and crushed otherwise any food left over could contaminate the stock and lead to it being sent to landfill.
Additional bags can be collected from the Karmi village office on a Monday morning 10-11am, (Residents only) or from Jules Hall or Sylvi Austion.
All the plastic collected will be processed into a form that will be used to make new plastic products such as buckets, broom heads and garden chairs. The majority of the PET is destined for clothing factories to make fleeces etc. Rest assured that the material IS being recycled and not just collected and sent to landfill!
Karmi is the trailblazer for recycling!
Special thanks to Nurettin Ruso for talking to us today and Irene Raab-Marancos and Pervin Özgeçen from Cader.
Thank you again
Jules Hall and Sylvi Austin
