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When the first try at recycling was a glass act

23/ 2/2008

AS ROCHDALE residents start to come to terms with the new alternate collections of household waste – none recyclable one week, recyclable the next – it's perhaps well to recall that the borough was one of the first in the country to embrace glass recycling – 25 years ago this month.

For February 1983 saw the introduction of the first bottle bins in the town.

At first glance they looked like something out of a Dr Who set or spare parts for a space ship.

Big, fat and round with small holes in the top, the plastic igloos were certainly eye-catching as the mayor, Councillor Robert Stott, remarked as he ‘posted’ the first bottle into the bank, watched by an assortment of council officials.

The bins were located at 12 sites – and did not cost ratepayers a penny!

They were provided by a firm called Redfearn National Glass, who jointly sponsored the recycling project with Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council. The council had provided the sites and Redfearn had installed the bins and also had the glass collected, paying the council about £3 for each ton collected.

Some councils used the money to support charities, but when the scheme was introduced in Rochdale no decision had then been made as to where and how the cash generated should be spent.

Launching the scheme, Councillor Stott said: "The name of the game is recycling and conservation. There will be some small financial benefit for Rochdale but a greater environmental benefit.

"Waste will not be dumped around the town. Recycling is for the benefit of all concerned but it requires the positive involvement of everyone."

At that time, about seven per cent of the waste collected in Rochdale was made up of bottles or glass containers.