Did you know - not all recycling is sorted prior to collection?  We are used to separating our recyclables in our kerbside boxes and using the correct slot for coloured glass in the glass banks but two trips I went on recently with my Guildford recycling colleagues have shown that this is not always done.

Last year we visited a MRF (Materials Recovery Facility) in Leatherhead where commercial waste from businesses is taken. Office workers can dispose of paper, cans and plastic bottles together but after collection the waste has to be separated at the MRF before being recycled. Steel cans are extracted by magnetism and aluminium by an eddy current separator. As it is heavy any glass in the waste will roll off the sloping conveyor belt. Finally other recyclables are actually sorted by hand as they pass the workers on the conveyor belt. This is an expensive operation but if offices didn't pay for this service they would have to pay more in landfill charges.

Last month we went to Southampton docks to see Recresco's (Latin for: 'I use again') glass recycling plant. Here, separated coloured glass from bottle banks from S. E. England is processed for recycling. Labels are washed off, plastic bags blown off and lids melted down for reuse. Interestingly, the brown glass goes to the North East for beer bottles and the clear and green glass either goes to Liverpool for bottling cheap wine brought in bulk from countries like Chile or it goes to France, Spain or Portugal also to make wine bottles. However, mixed glass from pubs, clubs and passenger liners is also brought to the plant. It is separated using the first optical sorting equipment in the UK. The laser computer can sort 10 tonnes of glass every hour. Mixed or separated it takes 6 to 8 weeks for a recycled glass bottle to be back on the supermarket shelf. Any glass which is not of a high enough quality for glass making is crushed down to make aggregate for roads.

We had a very pleasant afternoon at our bring and buy. Plenty of good bargains making a nice profit towards our funds. Weather as usual sunny and warm which helped members to attend.

Mrs Britton entertained us playing  tunes on the piano for a sing along - the rest of the time members had chat, also a welcome tea and cakes. Thanks to our tea ladies not forgetting the raffle.

Next Meeting the children from St James' are coming. Please ladies be on time as they need to go back to school for a dismissal. Just a reminder - have you any ideas for a members meeting in July.

Your boat must be large enough to contain a crew of one person or more, and must be made entirely from paper and or cardboard. We've shortened the junior races to 10 minutes this year, as an experiment, but for adults it's 15 minutes as usual. The winner will be the crew that covers the most laps of the course. Junior and adult races are separate. 

All the rules and more details from Helen Page 01252 702 899. And there are pictures of recent races at http://www.elstead.org.uk