A group from ‘Waste Not, Want Not’, including the Women’s Shed, Tidy Towns, Community Resource Centre and Clonakilty FET representatives visited Forge Hill Recycling Centre in Cork on Friday, February 28. The trip was both informative and eye-opening!
As a group, we were curious to learn more about how waste is managed and Forge Hill didn’t disappoint, as they were very open and happy to answer our many (many!) questions.
We were guided through the recycling process, from how we sort our recycling at home to baling the final ‘product’ for transport and then, often, export. We had a full tour of the plant, which was, as promised, loud and dusty! Recycling enters via trucks into a large warehouse, is dumped into an enormous pile, which is then moved by grabber truck into a hopper to start the sorting process. At this first stage, larger items, which might tangle in the machines, like big plastic sheeting or netting, is put to one side.
From there, it enters a seemingly endless number of conveyors and sorting machines that use magnets, optic sensors and sifts with the end goal to efficiently sort recyclables into categories such as paper, plastic, and metals, to ensure they are processed and reused properly.
We were also impressed by the amount of hand sorting done at the centre. After some initial machine sorting, materials travel through rooms on conveyor belts at quite high speeds under inspection by quick-reflexed workers who remove any items that should not go through to the next stage of machine sorting – such as textiles, large bulky items or non-recyclables.
Some materials get caught in the machines, like rope or plastic bailing twine. They frequently jam the equipment, causing delays. Batteries (and vapes) are also dangerous and can cause (usually small) fires – nothing with batteries should ever be put into the recycling bin. Another issue the centre deals with is contamination, especially food-stained cardboard, or mixed plastics, which can spoil the recycling stream and result in a poorer quality final ‘product’ in the sorted bales ready for shipment.
A key takeaway from our visit was the importance of keeping recyclables clean and dry, so that they don’t contaminate other recyclables, especially paper and cardboard. We also saw firsthand the importance of keeping non-recyclables out of the recycling bins.
For example, a big problem for the facility is created by diapers entering the recycling stream. Diapers are a major cause of recycling being rejected once it moves from a sorting centre like Forge Hill, on to a recycling plant. Machines can only do so much and since nappies are made of paper and plastic, they often aren’t caught automatically and have to be hand sorted, the same goes for textiles. Eighteen per cent of all ‘recycling’ brought to this facility is baled and moved on as rubbish, which we got to see up close.
There was a lot of random junk in there – like a yoga matt, wooden items, contaminated recyclables, and a notable amount of clothing – none of this should go in the recycling bin.
Overall, our visit to Forge Hill Recycling Centre was a great experience. It deepened our understanding of recycling and the challenges that come with it. We left feeling slightly overwhelmed by the scale of some of the issues but motivated to contribute to a more sustainable, circular economy in our community. The centre is available for (free) group visits and we’d recommend it, so if you want more information, just get in touch.
The Sachet-Free Clonakilty movement is making great strides! Seventy-five per cent of food businesses in Clonakilty are well on their way to ‘sachet-free’, with many of those finished their transition already. That is to say these businesses no longer use ketchup, vinegar or mayo sachets! In actual numbers – that’s 25 food businesses in Clonakilty that are already sachet-free and seven in transition out of the 41 total food businesses in Clonakilty. A big thank you to all those involved and another meeting to discuss the next stage and national promotion will take place this month.
Please reach out if you have any questions or would like to be involved.
Save the Date – our final community gathering
We hope you will join us on Thursday, March 20, 7pm at O’Donovan’s Hotel. This will be the final community gathering for ‘Waste Not, Want Not’. The evening will be a celebration of the many projects and initiatives that have been developed and are still ongoing in our community! We also want to find out from you what you think worked best so that VOICE Ireland can put together a toolkit of suggestions and resources to share with other Tidy Towns groups around the country.
If you can join us please RSVP by email to
allison@voiceireland.org.
