PERSHORE firm JMDA’s campaign to tackle the global environmental problem of recycling car seats took another step forward in raising awareness after a slot in the BBC One Show this week.

BBC presenter and record-breaking athlete Iwan Thomas interviewed managing and creative director Derrick Barker from JMDA and discussed the issue of car seat recycling.

The birth of JMDA’s car seat recycling campaign, to raise awareness, and to find a practical and commercial solution, to tackling end of life products entering the landfill system, started over 18 months ago.

After interviewing consumers in the local area, filming began at JMDA’s storage units to fully understand why child car seats are so hard to recycle and why a scheme is not already in place.

JMDA’s storage units are full of car seats which were once used for research purposes, which then need to be disposed of on an ongoing basis.

This show went on to explain how staff at JMDA at first tried to dismantle the car seats themselves.

It could take up to a day of man hours to dismantle a car seat by hand, using power tools, mainly because of its rigid structure as a safety unit, but also because car seats are made up of a complex mixture of materials; steel, aluminium, difference types of plastic and fabrics.

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Mr Barker said: "It’s not a question of whether or not car seats and the materials in it can be recycled.

"We’ve already proven that with our trial last year by placing car seats into scrap cars, which were then passed through an industrial shredder.

"The material can then easily be separated in this way and then recycled or incinerated to provide energy.

"The biggest hurdle is moving used car seats from collection points across the country to processing plants for shredding.

"Obviously, there is a cost implication in moving the car seats and therefore the logistics are hindered by commercial factors. So who foots the cost of moving them? This is an issue for the whole industry including manufacturers, retailers, waste management and local authorities.

"JMDA will continue the work already started with the car seat industry to help establish a solution.”