Why recycling still matters and what we need to do to make it better

There's recognition that we need to concentrate more on waste prevention and reuse to address the problems of over-consumption and climate change, and to manage our resources in the best way possible. But recycling still matters, and we absolutely need to recycle key materials such as paper, card, aluminium, plastics and food waste.

CRNS members engage in recycling in all sorts of ways. SpringBack started the UK's first mattress recycling facility a few years ago and now handles 70,000 mattresses a year, breaking them down into their components parts, bundling those up and selling them on to be reused in different manufacturing streams. It's difficult to imagine that most mattresses end up in landfill.

Some of our members operate kerbside recycling schemes - for example, GREAN in Golspie and Moffat CAN in the Borders. Others, such as Changeworks Recycling, Recycle Fife and ACE in Alloa, collect recyclate from businesses (ACE also collects from households on behalf of a local authority) to help them manage their outgoing resources.

Enviroglass in Shetland uses a patented process to recycle glass into paving slabs. EFI Superstore sends low-grade waste wood from the furniture it handles for recycling. Organisations such as Glasgow Wood Recycling, Wood Again and the Claverton Group recycle all sorts of discarded wood, from scaffolding to pallets and timber off-cuts. Bike recycling organisations reuse as much as they can but will always recycle unusable metal as scrap.

Some members, such as Hebrides Alpha on the Isle of Lewis and ReJIG on Islay, manage recycling bring banks in the midst of their other activities. The Barra and Vatersay Community Group will soon be running the recycling centre on Barra, while the Coll Recycling Group is undertaking a range of recycling activities on its island.

All our members are recycling aware. Even if their primary focus is on reuse, they will always endeavour to recycle anything that can't be used. Blythswood Care are leaders in this, finding ways to pass on for recycling all sorts of materials and products it can't use itself, such as VHS tapes, optical media and other difficult streams.

You can browse through all our members and see what they all do on our Find a member page.