MAYOR of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham is set to visit a Bolton business next week to learn more about recycling.

He will be shown around the Toughsheet Recycling Centre in Westhoughton to see how the facility recycles plastics into the products they then sell on.

The centre at Chequerbent Works has been recycling plastic since 1968, with around 15,500 tonnes being recycled each year.

The products they sell are for use by builders and include membrane, film and refuse sacks.

Toughsheet Building Products say that they “are committed to sustainable environmental improvement”.

The company says that their objective is to use large amounts of packaging waste that would otherwise go to landfill sites.

All the products that they sell contain a huge amount of recycled materials that are used in builders’ products, ensuring the material is taken out of the waste stream completely.

Doug Mercer, who has been managing director for 15 years, said: “With what’s going on in the news at the minute, I think he just wanted to come and see our centre and how we recycle.

“It’s going it give him a better idea of what’s involved and how we do things. I think it will help it become better known that lots of things can be recycled.

“I’m quite looking forward to meeting him. We’ll discuss general politics and of course more that can be done.”

Mr Burnham is already part of a campaign to ditch single-use plastics in Greater Manchester by 2020, as well achieving carbon neutrality in the region by 2040.

Toughsheet constantly works on improving its efficiency, having invested millions in state of the art machinery and technology to help improve the process.

People are increasingly being urged to recycle as the amount of plastic in the ocean increases.

Earlier this year, an investigation found that hundreds of bottles of water across different brands and countries contained an average of 10 tiny particles of plastic.