In some unexpected but good news, Games Workshop announced a plan to recycle old sprues and paint pots- check it out!
We’ve talked about the issues facing normal hobbyists wanting to recycle the sprues on their own (we’ll look at the issues below), so it’s nice to see GW actually get involved. They are rolling out the program in the UK to start, but if things go well, they say they are going to expand it to other regions and more stores in the UK as well.
We also don’t see GW ever changing the type of plastic they use for sprues, so this seems to really be the only option for now. Let’s take a closer look at the announcement and then get into why their plastic is hard to recycle for the end consumer like us.
Games Workshop Starts to Recycle Old Sprues & Paint Pots
The info comes from the Warhammer Community post.
How does it work?
- The scheme is simple – bring in your used sprues and empty paint pots, deposit them in the sprue bin at one of the participating stores, and we’ll take care of the rest.
What can I recycle?
- Any old sprue of plastic Warhammer models, with or without components still on it. You can also hand over old plastic Warhammer models, as well as empty Citadel Colour paint pots. The paint pots should be empty of liquid, but don’t worry about cleaning them. The old acrylic paint residue can all be recycled too.
What can’t I recycle?
- We aren’t able to recycle metal or resin miniatures. Also, this isn’t a general plastic recycling bin – we can only accept items whose chemical composition we are sure of, so no non-Games Workshop plastic miniatures or other plastic items, please.
What happens to the sprues, paint pots, and old miniatures?
- These will all be recycled into new materials and products. The plastic used in Citadel miniatures is of a very high quality and purity, so there are loads of uses for the recycled material elsewhere in the plastic chain, including garden planters, playground equipment, or even table tennis tables!
- Because Citadel miniatures require such high-quality materials, we’re not yet able to turn old sprues collected from stores back into new models – though we are investigating that for the future.
They have a decent list of stores to start, with over 25 stores participating. They also mention the trial run will start at the end of March (if you bring your old spures before that, you’ll have to just go home with your recycleables).
After that, they will try to expand the stores on the list and, hopefully, regions as well. As you can see above, they mention the type of plastic they use and why it causes issues.
Here is more on why they have to do it this way, and the reasoning why we, as consumers, can’t just put it in the recycle bin.
An Issue With the Plastic
We grabbed this info from a Reddit user about the type of plastic GW uses. As it turns, out they use Polystyrene (or High-Impact Polystyrene, aka HIPS) for the molds. Why does that matter? Well, a lot of local facilities do not have the capability to actually reuse this type of plastic.
Lots of bigger facilities have the capability, but if you want to recycle the plastic on your own, this makes it much harder. The reason is unless you live close to a huge facility with the correct gear, you are just giving it to them, and they can’t do anything with it.
So this new program from GW is an excellent start for them. Let’s hope they keep expanding it.
Why is it Hard to Recycle Games Workshop Sprues?
According to How Stuff Works:
Polystyrene usually can’t be recycled locally but has to be transported to a centralized plant, increasing costs to the recycler and reducing the incentive to recycle.
So, this makes it harder for you personally, but it isn’t impossible. So as you can see, it pretty much put the onus back on GW since customers may not have a facility that can handle their plastic sprues within many miles.
So, again, this is a great program to see Games Workshop roll out with!
What are your thoughts on the new program? Will you be participating in the new Games Workshop recycling program?
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
