Games Workshop Rolls Out Recycling Program For Old Sprues
It’s only a trial program and it’s only in the UK — for now. This is actually a really great idea and needs to be world-wide ASAP.
You might have seen the news that GW is starting a trial program for recycling old plastic sprues and paint pots. Regardless of your stance on recycling or companies “going green” or whatever this is still a great idea. Why? Because it’s going to give me a place to dump recycle all my leftover plastic sprues!
“The Warhammer Recycling Programme, a first-of-its-kind scheme for Warhammer, will see ‘sprue bins’ popping up in various UK locations by the end of March, and means that local hobbyists can recycle old sprues, paint pots, and even unwanted plastic miniatures.”
Any hobbyist who’s built pretty much any GW kit can tell you about the leftover sprues. Those excess plastic frames are a thing. Disposing of them over the years has been a bit of a chore. They don’t really fit into garbage bags well, so do you clip them up to cut down on the volume? That’s one fix. But they are also plastic and that doesn’t breakdown over time and ends up in landfills where it just…sits. Or worse, it ends up the water cycle and causes other issues.
I know folks who’ve turned the left over sprue into basing for their models — heck, I’ve done it myself. I’ve even seen crazy hobby projects that use excess sprue as bits to build roads, buildings, and even entire armies.
You probably remember these guys…
But really all those options are a LOT of work. And I know I’m not the only one who’s got a pile of sprues that need to get reused somehow. That’s why this program is great. It’s going to give hobbyists a place to drop off these space-taking sprues that (ideally) won’t end up in a landfill. I’ve wondered if the sprues could be melted down and reused by GW in the past and, while it seems like that might not be the case, GW is at least partnering with a company, TerraCycle®, to find a use for them.
TerraCycle® is going to take those leftover sprues (and old paint pots) and recycle them into completely new products. Apparently, this is because the GW plastic is a very high quality — which is good. And plastic (being the wonder material that it is) can be recycled and reused many times over. There’s a thing called “the plastic chain” which is a whole other topic, but it’s essentially how plastic waste can be recycled and turned into new products.
If we can take theses sprues to a Warhammer Store and they can ship them off to be reused that seems like a win. Plus, since I’m at the store, I might as well do some shopping…that also seems like a win, too.
Right now the only downside I can see is that this program is only available in select UK Warhammer Stores. I really do hope that this program gets rolled out across the US and the rest of the globe. I’m just thinking of the amount of plastic waste I’ve got from sprues over the years and if it could have been turned into playground equipment or garden planters — or really any other products — that would have been kinda cool.
I wouldn’t consider myself a hippie by any means. And I’ve tossed out my fair share of plastic (hey, recycling programs in the US don’t have the best track record). So if a company like GW can take some steps and find some reliable partners to take better care of plastic waste, then I know what I’ll be doing with my sprues. I really hope this program takes off and they expand it. Selfishly, I really need to clear out these sprues sooner rather than later. Unselfishly, I don’t want this plastic to go to waste or do more harm than good.
How are you recycling your plastic sprues?
