COLL RECYCLING GROUP

The Committee of the newly constituted 'COLL RECYCLING GROUP' are:-

• Julian Senior, Chairman
• Julianna Nicholls, Vice-Chairman
• Lisa Carr, Secretary
• Liza Bourne, Treasurer

Other Committee members are

• Fra Macintyre
• Pauline White
• Ella Smalley
• Mairi Hedderwick
• Keisha Ann Down
• co-opted:
• Andrew Peddie (Composting)
• Emma Grant (Financial responsibility)

PLEASE NOTE: NEXT BEACH CLEAN, CROSSAPOL, SUNDAY 15th AUGUST 2pm RSPB Car Park or 1-45 opposite The Manse for Minibus lift.

See bottom of page for more info.

New members always welcome.

The Recycling Group has provided a comprehensive start to recycling on Coll over the past five years and have many other attainments in mind.
Echoing the Scottish Government's mantra 'Zero Waste' there is a lot of work to be done before they can rest on their laurels!

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       These are some of the achievements thus far:-

59 scrap cars removed since July 2007. 16 Tonnes of agricultural bale wrap removed in June 2008 and sent to Solway Recycling (next batch due to go soon).1 wheelie bin full, per week, newsprint shredded and used as animal bedding then compost. Rope and fishing netting collected for inclusion in next bale wrap collection. 1.5 tonnes per year of plastic bottles and the same weight of metal cans banked at the village compound, these trasnsported to Oban on a voluntary basis by Neil Morrison. 400 household batteries taken annually from the compound's bank to Moleigh. Numerous beach 'hot spots' cleaned by Group members, Islanders and Project Trust volunteers with uplift by Argyll and Bute Council.

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The immediate future is going to be occupied by the installation and commencing use of The Glass Imploder. Once going, the imploder will provide 'cullet' which has an unending list of uses. Thought of and not yet thought of! The machine takes a bucket of bottles and rather than exploding, implodes. This results in smooth pellets in a choice of sizes. Uses include track and path repairs (helping to fill the gap left by not having access to a quarry any longer), greenhouse sump...whereby the cullet is laid beneath the soil where it holds the heat of the day far longer than the soil itself giving a warmer temperature at night resulting in more crops. There are many decorative uses and artists are waiting to get their hands on some cullet. It is thought that it could deter slugs and snails and therefore piling around stems or used as a 'mulch' is an exercise many are keen to get started on. It is also possible to implode old china and use in similar ways to glass and also large amounts of shell. This in particular being a great slug/snail deterrent.So, saving clam shells and such like could be a new recycling drive! There is information to be had regarding cullet use in concrete also as another strand. The imploder has been used extensively over the past few years as a space saver on board Naval and Cruise ships, Lundy Island has used it for some years to repair their 'Mountain' road ( www.lundy.org.uk ) and many hospitality outlets also use it as a space saver. Coll may be trail blazing here with multi use possibilities.

The prospective plan is to build a shed, to house the Imploder and receive glass, on the three cornered field next to the Fire Station. The end of the shed would face Craigdarroch and have slots to feed the glass into, an easy spot to pull up and deposit straight from a vehicle, and not out of the way for those on foot. The front of the shed would be accessed through the same gate as the allotmenters. Any hard surfacing needed to make this easily operated should not be a problem. The Imploder does make a noise when operated but would only be used once a week generally and it is thought for only a couple of hours. The noise is not constant of course. The site in the middle of the village is considered to be the place where the machine is least likely to be heard domestically. 

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In the meantime though, please do continue to use the compound ,card bank and bottle bank . Remember that all the paper that goes into the compound bin is taken to Arileod where it is shredded and used as cattle bedding. Then on as compost. Anyone wanting a bag of shredded paper can always contact Arileod.

The Summer Beach Clean on 15th August was attended by about 12 people. The beach was found to be a lot cleaner than on other visits but there was cause for concern over the objects that were there.145 fish farm fish dosing sticks were found, along with a quantity of fish bands. Liza has sent these to Grab Trust for anaysis as this is not the first time these things have been found. Also causing concern were the 60 used shotgun cartridges on the sand. It was not clear if these had been washed up or used on the spot. If anyone wants more info, or has more info, on these things contact Lisa or Liza.

Date of the next Recycling Group meeting which all are invited to attend is 27th October 2010 at The Island Cafe' at 7-30pm..