FAQs

The answer is… it depends. It depends on the type and amount of waste you put into each bag load. The continuous liners aren’t perforated or marked at set points so you can take as much or as little bag material as you need depending on the amount of waste inside. You can match the bag size to the size of the waste every time and significantly reduce the amount of single-use plastic you consume.

When comparing to standard waste bags many of our customers incorrectly assumed that 60m was equal to 60 standard bags, however this is incorrect as 1m of continuous liner will hold significantly more waste. You have to remember that standard bags are tapered so will hold less waste per metre than the continuous liners. The continuous liners are wider (across the diameter) than standard bags over the full 1m length being compared so the amount of waste you can fit into 1m of continuous liner is 2 ½ to 4 ½  times what you can fit into a standard bag (1m in length).

Standard bags will only hold only the amount of waste that will fit into the bin container whilst the continuous liners are unrestricted by the hard sides of a bin container.

Also up to 20% of a standard bag length is used to hold it in place on the bin meaning it will never be used to carry waste and creates an excess use (waste) of plastic.

To give you a guide, the continuous liners are equivalent to standard bags as shown below but could be more or less depending on the type and amount of waste.

• Mini Continuous liner refill, 60m =          180-270 standard bags
• Midi Continuous liner refill, 85m =          220-390 standard bags
• Maxi Continuous liner refill, 110m =          330-550 standard bags

Few of our clients buy the continuous liners because they save a lot of money, more often they buy it because of the massive plastic savings and reduction in CO2, not to mention making life easier for their cleaning teams and saving hours of time. The amount of plastic and CO2 that can be saved usually outweighs the cost benefits of the continuous liners.

The cost is usually like-for-like with most standard bags. However it depends on how you calculate the amount of bags you get from a continuous liner and what you take into account in terms of ‘cost-in-use’.

If you assume that a Mini continuous 60m liner is equal to 60 bags then the continuous liners will often be more expensive ‘per metre’.  When you consider the amount of waste you can hold per 1 metre of continuous liner it is equivalent to 2-4 standard bags. So it’s important to take this into account when comparing. Our Mini liner refills are typically equivalent to 150-260 standard bags.

Every bag you remove using the continuous liners is 100% full and you don’t waste any plastic.

Also standard bags often split and a 2^nd bag has to be used or bins are double lined because the standard bags aren’t strong enough thus increasing the amount you are paying ‘per bag load’. Our continuous liners are a made using a special 3-ply formulation of PE giving them incredible strength up to 4 times that of standard bags. However as we use 3-ply we can lower the thickness by up to 50% compared to standard bags without compromising the strength.

If you cost productivity and time/labour correctly, you see significant savings by using the continuous liners. You don’t need to fetch replacement bags from storage and the bag change is only 20-30 seconds. We have clients who save up to 3 hours / day and clients who have reduced their bin emptying team by 50% by using continuous liners. When you factor this is there are significant cost-savings.

No, not if the continuous liner is sealed correctly and tightly with the cable or your tie a know securely (if not using cable ties). Sometime further training is required to ensure new staff use the liners correctly but we sell 1000’s of continuous liners per week and we can count the complaints on one hand…! There is another safety method you can use to further prevent leaks by looping the bag material back on itself before applying the cable tie. Check out this article for further info.

As standard, all three sizes (Mini, Midi, Maxi) are available in Transparent, Black, Red, Blue, Green and Yellow. For minimum order quantities of 1 pallet per colour we can supply in orange, pink, purple and brown – there would be a longer lead time of up to 6 weeks for special colours. Please talk to us as we may have these special colours coming into stock already for another colour.

Minimum order quantities for special colours are:

• Mini = 200 liners
• Midi = 120 liners
• Maxi = 90 liners

Our continuous liners are a made using a special 3-ply formulation of PE giving them incredible strength up to 4 times stronger than standard bags. However as we use 3-ply we can lower the thickness by up to 50% compared to standard bags without compromising the strength.

No, you can simply a tie a knot at the bottom to start capturing the waste and then when you cut the liner to remove the waste you simply tie a know as you would with a standard waste bag. Some of our largest volume customers who use 100’s of continuous liners per month don’t use cable ties.

Obviously using a cable tie uses slightly more plastic but if you tie a knot you will use a similar amount of plastic. We have proven (and can do the same calculations for your site) that we can still save customers 70-80% on plastic usage despite having to use cable ties.

Using cable ties encourages better compaction of the waste and you can remove air from the a bags as you tie right around the top of the waste, saving plastic but also space in external collection bins, which in turn reduces collection costs. One client reduced their Biffa collections by 13% using the continuous liners…!

With the continuous liners you only take the length that you actually need to surround & capture the waste so there is no excess liner and every bag is 100% full. We also use a special 3-ply liner formulation which allows us to massively reduce the thickness of the bags compared to standard bags, without compromising the strength and performance.

These two elements combine to save 70-80% of the plastic used with bin liners and the associated carbon footprint. To give you some idea, 100,000 standard bags converted to continuous liners would save around 23 tonnes of CO₂

There are a number of options from back of house and manufacturing style bins to front of house aesthetically pleasing recycling stations that will work with the continuous liners. We offer floor standing, wall mounted or holders that can be built into cabinets and recycling stations. Some of our most popular options are below

• • Unisort Aspire Recycling Stations
  • Mini Classic Bin
  • Maxi Classic Bin
  • Mini Washroom Bin
  • Mini Dynamic Bin (with / without pedal lid)
  • Mini Slim Flex Bin

We would recommend our Unisort Aspire Recycling Stations for a more aesthetically pleasing, stylish design for use with the continuous liners in a front of house areas such as an office, kitchen, canteen or event space.

Yes, significantly quicker. Whilst it may take a couple of times to get quick at using the cable ties we have proven many, many times with lots of clients they can save hours of time per shift / per day. One client told us they saved 3 hours per shift by using the continuous liners and another client said they reduced their bin emptying team from 2 people to 1 and were able to redeploy that team member to production related tasks, thus increasing output.

The next bag is always immediately to hand with the continuous liners and it only takes 20-30 seconds to empty and reline the bin. No more wandering off to fetch the next bin liner or struggling to open at the wrong end…!  Also as there is way less air trapped in the bags when removed from the bins cleaners can fit double the amount of bags in their trolleys and reduce the amount of time spent walking to and from waste storage areas.

Yes, we can assist with this but we would require a conversation by phone or Teams / Zoom to agree what you are trying to achieve first. We don’t run free trials of the continuous liners in a customised Unisort Aspire Recycling Station and this would be a paid for trial.

However, we will provide the Mini Classic and Maxi Classic bins free of charge for 2 weeks to allow you to trial the continuous liners. If you like it simply pay for the bin and liners. If you don’t, send the bin back to us and no more questions asked. We will usually require a site visit to set up the trial for you and show your cleaning team how to get the best out of using continuous liner bins.

No, the continuous liners will not work with bins you already have in place such as the Glasdon Nexus recycling bins. The continuous liner requires a specific size holder, safety cutter and a cable tie holder fitted to the bin and many standard bins do not have this.

Our standard warranty is 12 months from date of invoice and covers you for manufacture and delivery faults. This doesn’t cover misuse or general wear and tear.

No, as each recycling station we create is customised and we don’t have a ‘fleet’ of recycling stations to send out as free trials. Many of our customers buy a couple of recycling stations to start with and then invest in further roll outs once they have proven they work for a couple of months first.

Once your recycling stations have been delivered you will be sent a copy of our After-Care Manual to share with your cleaning and facilities team. This goes through all the maintenance and operational points you will need to know. If you require further training onsite after this we can assist you but it’s best to call us and talk through your requirements first.

Call or email us and we can arrange a visit to a customer that would be happy for you to visit their site.

We have supplied these recycling stations to many large companies who really want to increase recycling and drive behavioural change whilst reducing carbon footprint and showing that they care about sustainability. We’ve worked with some of the largest brands in the world such as Amazon, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Red Bull, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Santander, NatWest, HSBC, Ted Baker, GlaxoSmithKline, Astrazeneca, B&Q, British Gas, Vue Cinema, Adobe, Pepsico, Danone and many more.

No problem but remember we find that the backboards are a really great way to engage team members and make it easier for them to recycle correctly. The backboard should be used to reiterate what the door graphics are telling the user as they approach the recycling station and give them more detail.

Instead of backboard options you can choose worktop and/or door vinyl graphics.

We will send you all the design visuals you need once your purchase order has been placed in writing by email. Once you are happy and sign off the design visual and payment has been received we can confirm a delivery date

From us at Unisort. You can place an order via our website or call us by phone on 0330 700 6000 or send your PO by email to orders@unisort.co.uk

It depends on the type of waste being disposed of (some waste types compact and fit together inside the bag better than others). Typically the volume per waste stream is 70 litres therefore:

• • 2W = 140L
  • 3W = 210L
  • 4W = 280L
  • 5W = 350L

Often it depends on the layout and the space available. Also what the design team will and won’t allow…!

We recommend a recycling station should be within 10-15 metres of all areas where team members will work or take a break. Making it easy to access and near to hand will really help to increase recycling rates. Position near kitchens, teapoints, exit doors and walkways will also give you a guide.

Also consider what resource you have on site to empty the bins regularly. You may need to decrease the frequency of bin emptying if you have more stations with more waste streams per station as they will up less often if you are separating correctly

We have a range of standard design graphics with text, colours, images and icons that we have proven to work with other clients. You can either take these options and run with it (quickest option) or you can take inspiration from our standard options and customise to your own design. We can add your logo and slogans to the backboard and also as vinyl graphics on the doors. We can customised messaging to the worktops too as a vinyl graphic.

The important point to consider when designing signage graphics is to keep it simple with enough detail and make it clear & uncluttered with specific waste stream names (for example, do away with ‘Mixed Recycling’ and be specific with ‘Plastics & Cans’).

The delivery lead time is usually 5-6 weeks from payment is received and your design visuals have been approved and sent back to us. Bespoke projects can take longer up to 10-12 weeks.

It depends on the number of recycling stations you order, the colour and what recycled materials you choose, the backboard and graphic options you have, the delivery & distribution requirements, the number and type of waste streams per station.

However, a 2 to 5 waste stream recycling station will typically cost between £600 – £1500 per station including delivery to mainland UK locations. But it’s best to have a conversation with our team so that we can fully understand your requirements and put a proposal together for you.

Firstly we offer recycled plastic worktops made from recycled PET bottles or packaging or kitchen utensils or yogurt pots etc. Secondly we offer bamboo worktops that is a very fast growing plant and super renewable and sustainable.

We use a lot of MFC in our recycling stations and this is made of 80% recycled content.

The worktop inserts that we use are made of 78% recycled ABS.

The standard colours are white, grey and black. Then there are alternative colours that are readily available in our range such as Olive, Sea Blue, Smoke Blue, Terracotta Red, Cappuccino, Natural Halifax Oak and White Halifax Oak.

We also offer bamboo worktops and recycled plastic worktops

However, it’s best to talk to us if you have a specific colour required to match your interior design as we have access to a wide range of colours that can be ordered in specially for your project.