In the wake of COP26 the church is looking more closely at what it can do.  One of the items that came up was recycling, the amount of rubbish we collect in our bins and whether we can get better at separating it.  Of course we all recycle at home, and we all know what we can and can’t put in our bins – don’t we?   I checked out Camden’s website and found a few surprises, and a bit of confusion: What is the difference between a food tray and a food storage container?  What are we supposed to do with biodegradable bags if we don’t have hot compost heaps to degrade them on? Do they know the difference between a biodegradable coffee cup and the other sort?  And how do you spell “biodegrad(e)able”? 

This is what Camden say:

Yes please

Plastic containers of any size or colour,

including:

• Yoghurt pots
• Food trays
• Ice cream tubs
• Margarine containers
• Fruit punnets
• Plastic bags
• Magazine wrapping

But not

• Liquid waste
• Food waste (this goes in your food caddy)
• Sweet wrappers and crisp packets
• Nappies
• Plastic toys
• Polystyrene packing or beads
• Food storage containers
• Plastic furniture
• Black sacks, biodegradable and degradable bags
• Coffee cups

Yes please…

• Wax-lined, poly-lined and foil-lined cartons (such as milk cartons, Tetra Pak)

Plastic bottles of all kinds, including:

• Mineral water, cordial and cooking oil bottles
• Milk bottles
• Soft drink bottles
• Bleach and cleaning fluid bottles
• Shampoo and shower gel bottles
• Detergent and fabric conditioner bottles
• Newspapers, magazines and catalogues
• Telephone directories / yellow pages
• Envelopes (including windowed)
• Office paper (including coloured paper)
• Wrapping paper
• Junk mail