On Tuesday, 23rd January Ballineaspaig Parish hosted a Recycling Workshop led by Recycling Ambassador Teresa MacEoin. Teresa is part of Voice Ireland’s Recycling Ambassador Programme which is offering free interactive Recycling Workshops to help people improve Ireland’s recycling rates and reduce levels of contamination in household recycling bins.
The recycling workshop was very informative. Parishioners discovered that the vast majority of them were doing at least some things wrong. The rules have changed recently because China is no longer accepting many of the materials previously accepted. Here are some of the main points attendees learned:
• They were all very surprised to hear that the Green Dot symbol does not mean the packaging is recyclable, will be recycled or has been recycled. It merely means the producer has contributed financially to the recovery and recycling of packaging in Europe.
• All items placed in recycling bin must be loose, not bagged or packaged together. If you place items inside each other, or inside a box or a paper bag, for example, they can’t be sorted by the machines and will end up as refuse.
• All items must be clean and dry. Even a slight contamination can cause your item to be sent to refuse instead of recycled (e.g. a pizza carton is not recyclable if the bottom half has even a slight amount of food spillage on it. You should cut off the top and recycle that then put the contaminated section in the refuse bin).
• Tinfoil cannot be recycled. This includes cartons with a foil lining, eg custard cartons, and is the reason that disposable coffee cups are not recyclable.
• Shredded paper is not recycled, it cannot be sorted by the machines so it also gets sent to the refuse bins.
• Rigid plastics are ok, but light, squashable plastic such as plastic bags cannot be recycled.
• Books (including telephone directories, text books) and magazines can be recycled.
In the discussion which followed the presentation, the following were suggested as sources of further information on the environmental impact of plastic pollution:
www.littlegreenshop.ie The aim of the Little Green Shop is to provide Irish families with non toxic products that are mainly plastic free and ethically produced.
Documentary A Plastic Ocean – A Plastic Ocean begins when journalist Craig Leeson, searching for the elusive blue whale, discovers plastic waste in what should be pristine ocean. In this adventure documentary, Craig teams up with free diver Tanya Streeter and an international team of scientists and researchers, and they travel to twenty locations around the world over the next four years to explore the fragile state of our oceans, uncover alarming truths about plastic pollution, and reveal working solutions that can be put into immediate effect.
Dates for your Diary: (Full details nearer the time in the weekly Parish Bulletins which are available on www.dennehyscrossparish.ie).
The following talks have been arranged for Lenten Series for 2018:
• Tuesday, 20th February at 8.00pm (Trees and the environment, Kevin Corcoran)
• Tuesday, 27th February at 8.00pm (Cosmology, Sr. Nellie McLoughlin RSM)
• Thursday, 8th March at 8.00pm (Micheál Lehane, Director, EPA)
• Tuesday, 13th March at 8.00pm (Ants, John Breen, Zoologist)
Generally each talk is about 45 minutes, followed by questions and a cup of tea.
We will also be holding a Sustainable Energy Community meeting on Tuesday, 20th March at 8.00pm.
A Vegetarian Cooking Demonstration will be held in CIT on Wednesday evening, 21st March, start time to be confirmed.
For further information, contact the Faith in Action Group: [email protected]; 087 6492554.