Recycling for flats!
Posted: April 20th, 2008 by Jenny.
Comments: none
Last Friday I went to the Tillingham Green family fun day. Various organisations attended to promote the services they provide to the public. Plenty of people attended despite the bad weather. I attended with the East Sussex County Council’s Re-think rubbish team, to help raise awareness of Rother’s alternate week collection scheme and encourage people to reduce, reuse and recycle their waste.
I am keen to attend any other events that may be happening across the district. Please contact me if you think there is an event I maybe interested in attending.
Over the next few months, I will be assessing all the flats in the district that are currently on a weekly refuse collection, to see if they are suitable to move onto the alternate week collection. We need to get as many flats onto the alternate week collection, which will help to increase our recycling rate even more!
Easter Collections
Posted: March 20th, 2008 by Jenny.
Comments: none
Easter Collections
For Changes to your refuse and recycling collections over the Easter Period, please follow the link to Rother District Council’s website.
http://www.recycleforrother.co.uk/latestnews.html
Reducing the amount of Carrier Bags consumers use.
Each year in the UK more than 10 billion carrier bags are produced. Most of these bags are only used once for carrying items home from shops. They then end up in the landfill, and can take up to a hundred years to decompose. This is the equivalent of 100,000 tonnes of plastic bags being thrown away each year. This is such a waste especially when you consider the majority of carriers are made from oil, which is an increasingly valuable commodity.
Easy ways to reduce the amount of carrier bags you use.
· use your shopping bag as many times as possible
· remember to take bags with you every time you go shopping
· keep spare bags in your car or at work so you’re never without
· invest in stronger reusable bags - bags for life
· Let the check-out staff know you’ve brought your own bag before they pack for you.
Behavioural Change
Most people simply forget to take and reuse their old carriers or reusable bags when shopping. Remember to take a bag when you leave the house, along with essentials items such as your keys, wallet or purse. Instead of picking up a free carrier bag, try and remember to reuse your old carriers, bags for life or a cloth bag or a rucksack.
Contamination
Posted: March 6th, 2008 by Jenny.
Comments: none
Over the past month I have been going out with the refuse and recycling collectors each week to look at the excess refuse and the poor quality of recyclable materials being presented for collection in Sidley, Bexhill. All refuse has to be placed in your wheelie bin, we cannot take excess side waste.
Unfortunately we have had to reject over 100 recycling boxes on each recycling collection, due to residents presenting the wrong types of plastics for collection. In the black boxes we can only accept: plastic bottles types 1,2,3 with the lids removed, steel and aluminium cans and empty aerosols. In the green box only Newspapers and magazines “all white fibre paper” and small amounts of shredded paper can be collected.
For full details please refer to Rother District Council’s website
http://www.recycleforrother.co.uk/
Tips on reducing waste!
- Before buying products think “am I actually going to use it?” Make a shopping list to make sure you only by the products you actually need.
- Avoid items that have excessive packaging. Buying loose fruit and vegetables, rather than pre packaged ones.
- If products have packaging, choose packaging which can be recycled over non recyclable products.
- Use your own shopping bags or a cardboard box instead of plastic bags. Cotton bags are a great idea as they can be reused time and time again. Alternatively you could reuse old carrier bags.
- Avoid buying disposables nappies, for more information on the re-useable nappy scheme please refer to the East Sussex County Council Website
http://eastsussex.gov.uk/environment/rubbishandrecycling/whatyoucando/nappies/
- Composting is a great way to reduce your waste and is good for the environment too. For more information on purchasing composter’s follow the below link. http://www.escc.getcomposting.com/
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Buying recycled products not only helps to reduce the amount of waste needing to be sent to the landfill it also keeps re-usable material in the economy and conserves resources.
Fix items, don’t bin them!
Before throwing something out, make sure that it can’t be fixed, e.g. bicycles, electrical items and furniture can often be repaired, which prevents it going to landfill and can often save money.
Consider donating unwanted items to local charity shops or find out about local re-use, salvage and second-hand schemes.
Assault on batteries
Posted: February 29th, 2008 by Matthew.
Comments: none
In Melton we began collecting batteries in the grey recycling boxes at the start of February. Word seems to have spread quickly, and we’re currently collecting over five kilos of batteries every day. We ask that batteries are put in clear plastic sandwich bags and then into the grey box, preferably with a minimum of four batteries in each bag.
With waste reduction in mind, we recommend using rechargeable batteries wherever possible. Up to £250 can be saved over the lifetime of a rechargeable battery in comparison with the cost of buying disposables, and the energy a battery stores is typically only 2% of the energy that was needed to produce it.
Although recycling 25 kilos more each week doesn’t make a huge difference when compared with just under 100 tonnes we recycle in total every week, it’s really encouraging when there are clearly so many people keen to take every opportunity to recycle everything they can.
Freecycle
Posted: January 30th, 2008 by Jenny.
Comments: none
I have discovered a website www.uk.freecycle.org. This site lets people from all over the world exchange items for free. Freecycle groups match people who have things they want to dispose of with people who can use them. Their goal is to keep usable items out of landfills. By using what we already have on this earth, we reduce consumerism, produce fewer goods, and lessen the impact on the earth.
How does freecycle work?
Everything posted must be free. When you want to offer something - whether it’s a chair, table, fridge you simply send an email to your group.
If you’re looking to acquire something, you can post a wanted message and a group member may just have what you’re looking for.
Garden Waste
Residents who are part of the garden waste scheme, it has been noted that there has been some contamination. Only the following items can be placed in the garden waste bins:-
- Flowers
- Grass cuttings
- Bark
- Hedge Pruning’s
- Twigs
- Leaves
- Plants
- Hay (clean)
Under no circumstances can soiled animal bedding be placed in the green wheelie bin.
Bin Swaps
We are currently carrying out bin swaps and delivering missing items throughout the district. These should be completed very soon. Once residents who have requested their larger bin (through Rother District Council) have received it, we ask them not to use their smaller bin. If the smaller wheelie bin wasn’t collected when the larger bin was delivered this will be collected at a later date.
Please help our busy crews
Posted: January 11th, 2008 by Matthew.
Comments: none
December and January are the busiest months for recycling and refuse crews, and this last week has been no exception. Recycling crews are working incredibly hard, and there are certain ways to make it much easier for them.
1. The simplest is just to put the right items in the boxes. For Melton, you can refer to the council web site (www.melton.gov.uk) for a full list of things you can put in your boxes. Most importantly, keep butter tubs, plastic trays and paper-based juice/milk cartons out of the boxes.
2. For those who have more than one grey box, it helps if you seperate different materials into different boxes. For example all plastic bottles and cans in one box, glass and textiles in the other.
3. Make all containers are empty before putting them in the box
4. Put shredded paper in a separate large envelope or paper bag, or tied up in a carried bag in your green box. In strong winds, our crews can’t help put make a mess when emptying some boxes if shredded paper is loose in the box.
5. It is very important that dangerous items are left out of the boxes. Please do not put glass in for recycling if it is already broken- although crews wear gloves, this is still a risk for them. Aerosol cans should also not go into the grey boxes if they are full- there is a risk that these could explode.
Many thanks
Christmas!
Posted: December 20th, 2007 by Jenny.
Comments: none
All residents should have received their newsletter from Rother District Council this week explaining the collection changes over the Christmas period.
We won’t be able to take side waste over Christmas. All your refuse needs to be in your wheelie bin with the lid shut.
We can now only accept plastic bottles with the numbers 1,2,3 on them with the lids removed. This is due to the end users not being able to process food trays, tinfoil, plastic film or bags and margarine/ice cream tubs.
Empty aerosol, steel and aluminium cans can all be recycled in your black recycling box.
We are currently recycling 35% of our waste throughout the Rother District. This is a great achievement considering in May only 16% of refuse was recycled.
Christmas cards and wrapping paper unfortunately can’t go into your green box. But you are able to take your cards to one of the below sites to help support the Woodland Trust (www.woodland-trust.org.uk/cards).
Tesco - at Ravenside and Church Wood, Hastings
Tesco Express - at Collington, Battle Hill, Sedlescombe Rd North,
Fernside and Little Ridge
W H Smith - Bexhill Devonshire Rd and Hastings Priory Meadow
This can help towards saving one billion cards been sent to landfill this festive season.
We wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all at Verdant!
Recycling Success Across Swale
Posted: November 5th, 2007 by Karen.
Comments: none
A lot has happened since my last post. Around 50,000 blue recycling bins together with insert boxes for glass bottles and jars have been delivered to the residents of Swale by experienced Verdant staff. This was completed in a 10 week period, a massive undertaking carried out with military precision.
The first blue bin collections were made in the Halfway area of Sheeerness on Monday 23rd July with the rest of the borough following over the next 8 weeks.
The alternate weekly collection has been in operation for over 3 months now and has been an outsatnding success. Recycling rates have consistentley been in excess of 35%. The residents of Swale deserve a huge thank you from all involved with the implementation of the scheme for their enthusiasm in making it such a success story.
Contamination with non recyclable materials has been very low with only 2 loads being rejected. The recipients of Swale’s recyclable materials are extremely pleased with the quality of materials recieved. Such has been the success of the scheme that many other local authorities are contacting us here at Swale for advice on how to implement similar schemes in their own areas.
Most residents are having no problem with operating the scheme however there are some issues regarding glass bottles and jars. Just to reiterate we can only accept glass bottles and jars, but not items such as panes of glass, heat resistent glass such as pyrex and light bulbs.
In addition we have introduced a garden waste collection service which has been taken up by over 2,000 residents across Swale. This scheme costs £30.00 per annum for which we provide a brown bin which for garden waste which is collected on a fortnightly basis all year round.
Nearly Christmas
Posted: October 10th, 2007 by Matthew.
Comments: none
Since my last post we have introduced a kerbside collection of household batteries, and this will hopefully start to divert significant amounts of batteries from landfill. I am making a particular effort to promote real nappies, home composting and general waste reduction to residents I speak to. Meanwhile we are also trying to reduce contamination of garden waste bins and of recycling boxes.
I am starting to appreciate more the value of others’ experience as several small changes to our service being considered. At a county-wide recycling forum today there were those who had experience of starting trade recycling collections and larger trials of a nappy laundry service for example. Also within Verdant we collectively have a great deal of experience from many diverse contracts.
My role in Melton comprises a large amount of work directly for Melton Borough Council. There I have been involved with the Green Team. With many councils now taking their commitments to sustainability more seriously, this is now enabling us to take a lot more action than previously. With funds earmarked to spend on greening the council and the wider community, reducing waste and supporting more sustainable travel seem more achievable goals of ours.
The recycling rate has increased in Rother!
Posted: October 4th, 2007 by Jenny.
Comments: none
Hello, I’m Jenny Morris, I have taken over from Karen Sherwood as the new Behavioural Change Officer for Rother. I am really enjoying the role, and I am keen to see our success in increasing the recycling rate for Rother continue.
In early September we started the first phase of garden waste collections. Phase one of the garden waste scheme is going very well, for September Rother recycled 314,440.00 kg of garden waste. This increased our recycling rate to 35.26%. Before the AWC & Garden Waste Collection schemes started Rother was only recycling 8 – 10% of their residual waste from kerbside collections. We are hoping phase two of the garden waste scheme will be rolled out at the beginning of next year.
At Verdant we are in the process of delivering all the extra recycling boxes and wheelie bins, we are hoping the majority of this will be completed in the next few weeks. We ask that those waiting for their containers are patient, they will be delivered soon. If you have any questions or comments please post your details and I will get back to you.