New £1m machine to help boost recycling rate

The machine sorts through plastics and metals and compresses them into bales

A new £1m machine will help boost Swindon's recycling rate and help it become greener, a councillor has said.

A baler, which turns dry waste materials such as plastic and metals into bales, is now up and running at Swindon's household recycling centre.

It is hoped the machine will help lift the town's recycling rate, which is currently at 38% - well below the government target of 65%.

Councillor Chris Watts from Swindon Borough Council said: "To get there, there's going to be some considerable changes, not just in the way we collect recycling, but also in the way people think about it in Swindon."

The baler, located at Cheney Manor Industrial Estate, will allow the council to sort through plastics and metals on site.

The bales can then be sold.

Watts, the cabinet member for environment and transport, said: "Everything that's in a blue recycling bag will be put into one pile - that's put onto a conveyor belt that goes through the machine.

"You get a pile of tin, a pile of plastic, and a pile of aluminium, that is scooped up and then compressed.

"They're basically ready for sale at that point."

'Sound investment'

Watts said the bales were worth between £400 and £500 each.

"[The baler] is a capital spend, it's called spend to save so if we're increasing the value of recycling by half a million pounds, that's a sound investment.

"Essentially we'll get our money back in no time and start reaping the benefits."

The machine is part of a wider plan to improve all aspects of the waste service in Swindon, which includes introducing food waste collections to residents in flats in early 2025.

Households will see their bin collection days permanently move forward by two working days from Christmas Day, to avoid a backlog of roughly 40,000 collections which caused numerous problems in 2023.