Members of the Waste Action group recently visited the Material Reclamation Facility (MRF) at Marsh Barton, Exeter which is owned by Exeter City Council.  Matt Hulland, MRF Supervisor invited the group to a tour after reading about our own plastics collections in Crediton.

In Exeter all types of plastic are collected from households as well as drinks/food cans, paper and cardboard. Interestingly though, glass and food waste is not taken at present.  Matt gave a lot of information as to how the materials are processed, and where they are recyled. It seems the outlets as well as the price of the commodites varies frequently and Matt is always on the lookout for the best price to benefit Exeter council tax payers. He is passionate about recycling and what can be achieved.  

The Exeter MRF was the first one to be set up in the UK and has been functional since 2001.  The recylables - known as products since they are all sold, are all sorted by hand. The staff are experts on all the different types of plastic, and in a typical year will process nearly 14 million plastic milk bottles! Four million tonnes of cardboard is processed, some of which goes abroad. There is a big demand from China for packaging the goods which we import.

Income for recycling is big business and an important factor when it comes to councils setting our council tax rates. Recycling really does pay!

For anyone interested in seeing recycling in action, the MRF is open to the public for the Heritage Open Days held in September.    

To view a slideshow of photographs from the visit click this link.