Lib Dem Councillors put their money where their mouth is

9.33.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 18th Feb 2005

Liberal Democrat Councillors set up drinks carton recycling point and reach into their own pockets to finance this pioneering scheme. From Friday a box will be set up in the Liberal Democrat Group room for Liberal Democrat Councillors to collect their drinks cartons (tetra cartons).

Attention was raised to this new scheme at the Planning, Transportation, Economy & Sustainability Overview & Scrutiny Panel meeting held on Thurs 17th Feb.

Bath and north east Somerset Council recycled 28,883 tonnes of waste during 2003/04, however, although this Beacon Status Council recycles a greater variety of waste products than most local authorities including plastic bottles, cardboard and clothing, Tetra cartons are one of the few things that the Council does not collect for recycling. This is because there are very few companies that provide a recycling service for this waste product.

Cllr Gail Coleshill, Liberal Democrat Peasedown, discovered a facility in Scotland which recycles these commonly used tetra cartons. The problem here is getting these cartons up to Scotland. Solution, the Lib Dem Councillors have rallied together to personally pay the postage to get these cartons to the recycling plant.

Cllr Gail Coleshill said: "I've wanted to recycle my drinks cartons for a length of time now but it was difficult to find a facility that provided this unique service. My research led me to Scotland to the Smith Anderson Ltd in Fife. I've been sending my own drinks cartons here for quite a while now and thought my colleagues would also be interested so I informed them of this new found facility."

Cllr Caroline Roberts, Liberal Democrat Newbridge, said: "We all wanted to do our bit but it seemed illogical for us all to be posting off our drinks cartons individually to be recycled. So we decided to collect the cartons together as a group and share the cost of postage collectively."

Cllr Paul Crossley, who has volunteered to pay the postage for the first batch of cartons, said: "Mammoth progress has already been made on the Council's recycling services but as long as we consume there will always be more we can do to recycle. It's important to keep on pushing the boundaries and see what else can be done to reduce landfill waste."

For more information please contact Cllr Caroline Roberts on 01225 336366 or Cllr Paul Crossley on 01225 312487 or 07980998802.