Hundreds follow the journey of their recycling

On Saturday 29 June 2019, nearly 400 people came through the doors of Freighter House, to explore Chelmsford City Council’s recycling and waste depot.

Home to Chelmsford’s recycling, waste and street care services, Freighter House, in Drovers Way, uses the latest technology to sort waste materials that have been collected from Chelmsford homes, so they can be turned into useful items.

Guests saw the material sorting facility in full working action, using its state-of-the-art machinery to separate materials. Sorting means that the city’s recycled materials are of a high quality, so they can be recycled locally and be re-made into similar new products.

Adults and children of all ages enjoyed a tour, including the chance to look around the Council’s collection vehicles, and discovered the people and machines that turn trash into treasure. Meanwhile, the city’s Street Care Services explained how they keep 1,400 miles of roads and paths clean and tidy across the city. Children especially enjoyed sitting behind the wheel of a street sweeper.

During their visit, explorers also tested their knowledge in a quiz and a winner was selected from those who answered correctly. Lucky visitor Cat Chapman came away with a hamper of locally-sourced goodies to enjoy. Additionally, congratulations go to Helen Early who won a toy recycling truck for registering the closest guess of ‘17,000’, for how many cans were in one of our bales.

Danielle, a resident from Springfield said on the day: “My son is obsessed with bin day and watches your employees every Friday and they are always polite and give him a wave! For him to come and see the bin lorries close up was amazing. We are hoping you will do this again, as we will definitely be coming. Thank you again to all your hard-working staff and to all of them that give my son a little wave. It makes his day!”

Councillor Jude Deakin, Cabinet Member for Safer Chelmsford, responsible for Recycling and Waste services said: “Once again, the Recycling Open Day at Freighter House has been a great success with a huge turnout of visitors all curious to see how their recycling and waste materials are sorted here in Chelmsford.

“Given the climate and ecological emergency that we are facing globally right now, it’s essential that everyone understands how to recycle as much material as possible, and this is a great way to generate some engagement in this process, especially with children. The other side of the coin however is that we all try and reduce our use of materials such as plastics, which is even better than recycling them.”

Further information about recycling in Chelmsford can be found at www.chelmsford.gov.uk/recycling. For details of future events, please ‘like’ and follow @Recycle4Chelmsford on Facebook.

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