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Barna’s Recycling Process and Tips

Have you ever wondered what happens to your recycling waste once it has been collected from your home? This blog outlines Barna Recycling’s process and gives some recycling tips.

Barna Recycling takes great pride in our recycling waste disposal process. Did you know we export recycled plastic waste bales overseas? These bales are often shipped to Europe for use by energy plants. As plastics have a high energy content that can be converted to electricity, synthetic gas, fuels, and recycled feedstocks for new plastics.

Barna’s Waste Disposal Process

The Irish Waste Management Association (IWMA) has 40 member companies that collect, recycle & treat a wide range of waste types across 60 waste management facilities. These facilities are licensed by the EPA and approximately 30 waste management facilities are permitted by the local authorities in Ireland – Barna Recycling being one of those serving the Connacht region.

The process all starts in your home, whereby you separate your waste into general waste and recycling, compost too if you have a brown bin. Our licensed bin men then collect your blue bins on the designated day and deliver the waste materials to our EPA licensed recycling facility. These facilities can often be known as materials recovery facilities because that is the main objective, recover as much recyclable material within each load so that it can be re-used.

Once your waste materials are delivered to our facility, the recycled items are then sorted for processing on our picking line. Recycled waste is generally broken down into six categories: glass, aluminium and steel cans, paper, cardboard, plastic bottles and packaging, and other non-recyclable residual materials. Most of this process can be operated mechanically, but some manual work is required to obtain maximum recovery of recyclable materials. Any waste materials that are contaminated or non-recyclable are removed at this stage. All recyclable materials in good condition, are then prepared for re-use.

• Plastic and cardboard waste is baled and exported for use by manufacturers or energy plants.
• Glass bottles and jars are cleaned, sorted, and crushed. This material then becomes known as cullet, which is the term used for furnace-ready recycled glass. It is then remoulded into new products.
• Aluminium cans go through a cleaning and sorting process. Once ready for reprocessing, the cans go through a re-melting process which removes any ink or other coatings present. It is then made into blocks called ingots which can then be milled to create new products.

Some interesting facts on what happens to your recyclable items:

• Plastic bottles are made into items such as kid’s swings.
• Around 650 aluminium cans are required to make a kid’s bike.
• If you recycle one aluminium can today, it can be made into a new can, get filled, and be back on the shelf in just six weeks.

Recycling Tips:

• Don’t use plastic bags to pack lunches or store food items, buy durable lunch and storage boxes instead. Using storage boxes with lids also reduces the need to use cling film or tinfoil to cover a plate or bowl.
• Make sure your small recycling bin inside the home and the main bin outside are kept dry and clean – if recyclable items get wet, it becomes contaminated and cannot be recycled.
• Reduce the number of items such as fruit and veg packaged with plastic waste.
• Take a reusable bag when going out shopping.
• If shopping online, look for sites that offer reduced packaging or more environmentally friendly packaging options.
• When you receive your online goods, look to re-use the packaging when possible.
• Clean out and dry all food and drink containers and take the lids off bottles.
• Flatten plastic bottles, containers, and cardboard.
• Look to eliminate or reduce your use of plastic plates, cutlery, straws, and cups.
• Have a designated bin or reusable box in your home for glass items and cans, this will make it easier to transport these to a bottle bank or recycling centre.
• Encourage a community clean-up in your area and get the family involved – contact your local authority as they often help by providing gloves, bags and pick up the waste collected.

View a full list of recyclable items here.

Easter Colouring Competition 2021

It’s February, the shortest month of the year!

Did you know, February is one of the most misspelled words in the English language? It is also the only month where it is possible to go the entire time without having a full moon.

Facts aside, we made it through January and fingers crossed we are getting closer to some level of freedom and normality. We hope those of you that set goals for the new year are still working towards them. Many of you will be undertaking home-schooling on top of an already hectic schedule and this blog aims to make life a little bit easier for you all.

During this time, it can be easy to let your usual day to day household chores fall by the wayside. We have found a great list of the more common household cleaning tasks that you can do in under 1 minute all the way up to 30 minutes. If you want to know what can be done during an ad break or while dinner is cooking, here are some ideas.

Now some of the suggested times do seem more suitable for a cleaning Olympics, such as cleaning a bathroom mirror in 15 seconds, but who doesn’t like a challenge!

How many of you keep putting stuff up in the attic throughout the year simply because it is an easy way to declutter? Over time it becomes a habit.  But the volume of items often keeps building and eventually there is no room to find anything in the attic, or even if you have that one room in the house where everything gets dumped.

We find that at least once a year, it can be a good idea to go through all the items in your attic and decide if they are to be kept, or whether they need to be disposed of. Naturally, there will be some items of sentimental value up there, but often you can also find broken or unused board games, old games consoles, DVD’s or books that are no longer needed, kids’ school or college books, Halloween costumes, and more. While it may seem like an arduous task to sort through it all and do a clear out, there can often be fun had while doing so, by reminiscing and laughing about the past.

If a clear out is on your to-do list for the year, it is best not to overfill your household bins. That is why we recommend hiring a skip for the easy disposal of waste from a household clear out. The St. Patrick’s Day and Easter bank holidays will soon be upon us and this could be the perfect way to make use of that time off.

Perhaps you have broken garden furniture that has been put aside but now looks messy, maybe you have some Christmas decorations that were broken and set aside to dispose of. A lot of people also do a wardrobe clear out at this time of year. No matter what room, or items you need to dispose of, a skip is the easiest solution.

Barna Recycling offers a wide range of skips for hire across Galway, Roscommon, Mayo, Sligo, and Leitrim. Skips are delivered within 48 hours and can be kept for up to 5 days. Same day delivery and collection is also possible. With prices ranging from €240.

You can view skip sizes and gain further information here.

If you wish to contact us about our skip hire you can do so by calling 091-771619.

Disposal of Waste Items

Christmas is now over, and the new year is well underway here at Barna and for all of our customers. According to the Independent.ie, two in five people say they began shopping online for the first time at the start of the pandemic. The five most popular online purchases are clothing, food for take-out and delivery, footwear, consumer electronics and home entertainment.

In this blog we look to help with the disposal of waste items, looking at how to maximise space in your household bins, how to reduce waste shopping and food waste recycling.

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Christmas Recycling and Upcycling Tips

The countdown is on for what will be a rather unique Christmas this year. Even Santa has had to go and get special permission to travel freely outside of the north pole!

Fear not though, as a global pandemic cannot take away all our festive cheer at this time of the year. While we all begin to rest and relax it is important to not forget about reducing, reusing, and recycling when it comes to Christmas waste. Christmas time is indeed a time for caring, sharing and giving, but many of us also follow the eat, drink and be merry guidelines. All of which leads to a seasonal increase in waste volumes. Many of us will increase our grocery shopping, we give and receive gifts, buy decorations and so on. That is why we want to share some of our tips on how to reuse, reduce and recycle at home this Christmas.

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What to do with confidential waste when working from home?

2020 has brought about many new challenges for us all. One of the most topical has been the switch to working from home and the discussion around this new norm going forward.

We have had several inquiries over the past few months about what our customers can do with confidential waste when working from home. Confidential waste refers to documents possessed by any company that can expose discrete information about suppliers, customers, or employees.

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How and why you should dispose of your waste

Hands up if you have been buying online more and more in recent months? Many of us have switched our shopping habits to buying our groceries, clothes, shoes, toys and more online. Products bought online can be heavily packed with cardboard boxes, plastics, paper, bubble wrap and foam.

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The difference between recycling and upcycling

Recycling has been a big buzz word for years now, across workplaces, schools and even in our own homes. With the European Union and Irish government encouraging us all to take better control of how we dispose of our waste, doing so more effectively and recycling the correct items.

Upcycling is a newer term and is gradually being used more often. You are most likely to hear it referred to in conversations around home furniture or clothing, but most items can be upcycled.

Benefits of Recycling and Upcycling

Upcycling is simply a different type of recycling. The main aim of both is to reduce the volume of waste materials being sent to landfill or recovery sites each year. Making for a greener environment.

The benefits include:

• Save on energy resources
• Reduces air pollution, water pollution & greenhouse gas emissions
• Preserving natural materials such as wood, water, and minerals
• Protecting wildlife and eco systems with reduced harvesting of raw materials
• Job creation

What is the difference?

Upcycling is where you turn your waste items that are broken or no longer needed and improve their quality or create a new use for them. It is seen as a more sustainable solution and gives older items a new lease of life, ensuring their lifespans are extended.

Recycling is the process of converting waste materials such as plastic, paper, glass, and metals such as aluminium and steel into new materials and objects. This is dependant on individuals ensuring they have recycled the correct items and that recycling bins are not contaminated.

Should you choose upcycling over recycling?

Recycling is a responsible method of managing discarded waste materials, but it does require energy to break down these recyclable materials. Once these items have been processed and broken down, they are then sold onto manufacturers to create new products.

Whereas with upcycling there is no need for excess energy consumption, and it can be done at home, with few or no additional tools or costs. It also allows you to create one of a kind items, and who does not like to have something unique.

So, upcycling does appear to have the upper hand over recycling.

Upcycling Ideas

• Books
  • Desk Organiser – All you have to do is take a stack of book pages, cut two circles, insert toilet role tubes, and use the circular spaces you have created to hold pens.
  • A Planter – Yes people are using old books for succulent plants. You simply open the book, hallow out the centre of the book, line it and get planting. The perfect accessory for a coffee table.
  • Picture Frame – Books can stand up on their own so why not make a unique picture frame. You can paint over a book or decorate it however you like. Simply cut out a ‘frame’ in the front cover and attach the picture to the inside of it.
  • Decoration – Take you favourite book, insert a piece of rope and hang your books from the ceiling to make a unique space for your home

• Cd’s & DVD’s
  • Coasters – Decorate old disks into funky coasters.
  • Mosaic Style – You can easily create a mosaic style frame for pictures or mirrors, or you can even do so to flowerpots, candle holders, bird baths and more
  • Wardrobe divider – Create clear dividers for your summer and winter clothes by labelling a disk and inserting on the rail in your wardrobe.
  • Box- Upcycle an old wooden box by gluing broken pieces of cd’s to it, adding some texture.

• Video & Cassette Tapes
  • Boxes/ holders – Create unique boxes or holders to hang on your office wall or sitting room.
  • Coffee Table – Some people have used their old video tapes to make unique coffee tables with storage.
  • They can be glued to create bookends.
  • Knitting – You can use these old tapes as a wool feeder while knitting to prevent tangling.

Managing Garden Waste

This month’s blog looks at how you can manage your larger garden waste such as garden furniture, storage containers, gardening tools, outdoor toys, and hazardous materials. As we are nearing the end of the summer months and school is due to recommence soon, we often find that Barna Recycling customers are looking to dispose of such garden items that are broken and no longer needed.

We had some fantastic summer sunshine in the earlier parts of the summer, which encouraged us to get outside and work on our gardens. Children also needed to be entertained during lockdown so new toys and garden gadgets were brought in to help keep them busy. Some of you may have had long serving garden tools and sheds that were due an upgrade and want to know for to recycle and or safely dispose of these large garden items.

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Safety Tips for Hiring a Skip

One of the easiest and most cost-efficient ways of disposing of large amounts of waste is by hiring a skip. At Barna Recycling, we deliver skips to households and businesses for a wide range of waste materials. There are some important aspects to consider when hiring a skip, such as the best place to put it and how to fill it safely. Whatever your reason for hiring a skip, please keep these important tips in mind!

Hiring the right skip for you:

It can be hard to know what size of skip you need as what looks like relatively small waste might take up a lot of room in a small skip. Likewise, for bulky waste, many people think they the need the largest skip possible, but often when these items are broken down the skip may not be full and not the best value for money. When phoning our customer service team to book a skip, they will help you establish what skip size you need. Alternatively we have developed this handy skip sizing guide to help you choose the right skip.

Best place to put a skip:

Try and avoid resting it on any dips or slopes as it may move once unbalanced due to the loading of waste materials. If you require the skip to be left on a main public road, please let us know as it is likely you will need a permit for this. As well as a permit the skip may require added safety equipment such as nets, doors, or signage. Once delivered, skips cannot be moved and is important that you do not attempt to move it.

What cannot go in a skip:

• Hazardous Waste: The big rule that is often forgotten is that hazardous waste should not go in a skip. It can leak and contaminate other recyclable materials.
• Asbestos: If you come across asbestos during a renovation project or a home clear out, this must be dealt with by a team of specialists and not put into a general skip.
• Appliances: Other items that we find causes great confusion is around electrical items, especially large household items. Refrigerators, freezers, microwaves & cookers should not go in a skip but instead be brought to a recycling centre.
• Oil or paint cans
• Tyres
• Solvents, fuels and batteries
• Chemicals, flammable materials
• Household waste: Such as food scraps, soiled nappies, and sanitary items.
• Liquid Concrete

How to load it safely:

We recommend that you load heavier items first, putting lighter items on top. It is very difficult and unsafe to load heavy items when the skip is nearly full and there is an increased risk of injury in doing so. It is key to have an extra pair of hands when filling a skip, especially when dealing with large bulky items that may be heavy to lift by yourself. Smaller items or materials will naturally fill the spaces in and around these larger items and it is a more efficient way of filling the skip.

How to maximise space in the skip:

To maximise the space of your skip, make sure to have a good plan in place. Simply throwing everything into the skip without having a plan will result in wasting plenty of space. It can also waste time as you may have to take items out to ‘rebuild’ your skip. If you are working as a team of people, make sure everyone filling the skips knows the plan.

Where possible have the items lined up in the order that they need to go in the skip. For example, if you have dismantled a kitchen, you could place all the cupboard doors, shelving & unwanted timber first in line to be placed at the bottom of the skip. You could then have the bulkier items such as furniture, building blocks and other materials lined up and ready to be placed on top.

Break down large items like tree limbs down into smaller pieces, remove any arms and legs from furniture and dissemble old appliances where possible.

Ensure you’re distributing the weight as evenly as possible to reduce the risk of it tipping over once it’s full.

Our tips for maximising the space in the skip:

• Break down furniture before loading it
• Don’t leave gaps in between, try and fill gaps with smaller, lighter materials
• Load all the flat items first, things like plywood, table tops etc
• Put bulky items in after laying down the flat materials

Do not overfill the skip:

In the interest of everyone’s safety, it’s important that you do not overfill your skip. Something could fall out and injure you, or when it has been collected, items may dislodge during transport.

For health and safety reasons, overflowing skips cannot be removed and transported from your property to the Barna Recycling waste management facility. Skips should be filled to the top and no further. To avoid other parties from placing items for disposal into your skip Barna Recycling have a number of skips available with security lids.

To view the hiring process and some frequently asked questions, read this blog.

If you have any further questions on skip hire, don’t hesitate to contact a member of our skip hire team on 091 771619.

Barna Recycling offer a wide range of skips for hire across Galway, Roscommon, Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim.