 New blue bag and food caddy liners on the way
New green food waste bags and blue general waste bags will start being delivered in Wokingham Borough from 7 February. These will be dropped on doorsteps over a six-week period, with all residents receiving them by mid-March.
More than five million blue bags will also be rolling out across Wokingham borough across the next two months. These are for general waste, with each household receiving 80 bags in two rolls of 40.
All households will also receive an allocation of about 100 food waste bags. Food waste put into the blue general rubbish bags often ends up being disposed of, where it releases methane, a harmful greenhouse gas. When recycled, food waste is turned into energy to power local homes.
 Plastic recycling
Plastic is one of the most popular and useful materials of modern times: we now use about 20 times more plastic than we did 50 years ago. Its popularity and widespread use is why handling it responsibly and correctly once it becomes waste is so vitally important. We can optimise the lifespan of plastics by re-using and recycling items as many times as possible.
Optimising the lifespan of plastics, for example, by recycling used plastic bottles into new ones, we can therefore reduce our need to create new plastic.
This means we can:
- conserve non-renewable fossil fuels (oil)
- reduce the consumption of energy used in the production of new plastic
- reduce the amount of solid waste being disposed of
- reduce emission of gases like carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
Not sure if you can recycle something? Check out Recycling Now's handy guide explaining packaging labels or take a look at how to recycle different items made from plastic.
 Bathroom plastics
In the bathroom, we use plastic in all shapes and sizes. However, many of these items end up being wrongly put in the rubbish bin.
If everyone in the UK recycled one bathroom cleaner bottle, enough energy could be saved to vacuum around 82,460 homes.
Here's a handy list of the top 5 items that can (and should) be recycled from the bathroom:
- Shampoo bottles
- Conditioner bottles
- Shower gel and bubble bath bottles
- Bathroom cleaner and bleach bottles (even the spray dispenser can be recycled)
- Hand soap and moisturiser bottles (but remember you can’t recycle the pump dispenser).
Find out more via the recyclenow webpage.
 Recycling plastic in your green bags
Residents are able to recycle plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays easily via the kerbside collection service.
If every household in the local area recycled 10 more plastic items such as bottles, pots or trays instead of putting them into the rubbish bin it would have the same environmental impact as taking 67 cars off the road for a year.
Making four plastic bottles from recycled materials uses the same energy as making one from scratch. That's why it is so important to recycle plastic rather than disposing of it - the plastic can either be shredded into flakes or melt processed to form pellets before finally being moulded into new products.
 Other plastics
Recycling soft plastics
Find your nearest locations to recycle soft plastics (plastic bags and wrappings) on the Recycle Now webpage.
The following different items are accepted at collection points.
Larger stores of major supermarkets:
- All plastic bags, except biodegradable or compostable bags
- Bread bags
- Breakfast cereal liners
- Bubble wrap
- Delivery bags
- Dry cleaning bags
- Frozen food bags
- Magazine and newspaper wrappers
- Multi-pack wrapping
- Plastic marked as low-density polyethylene (LDPE) - resin ID code 4
- Toilet roll wrapping
Selected stores of major supermarkets also accept:
- Baby, pet food, detergent and cleaning pouches
- Biscuits and chocolate wrapping
- Cheese, fish and meat wrapping
- Cling film
- Crisp and sweet bags
- Plastic film lids
- Salad, pasta, and rice bags
Recycling rigid plastic
You can recycle your rigid plastics at the re3 recycling centres.
Rigid plastics account for 700 tonnes of waste across our wider area. It is estimated that every 100 tonnes of recycled rigid plastic can contribute to avoid 250,000 kg CO2 emissions, which is equivalent to the consumption of 180 cars. All the materials are recycled in European and UK markets in pipelines, cars, construction and furniture materials.
At the re3 recycling centres, residents can recycle a variety of rigid plastic items such as: plastic buckets, crates, bins, storage boxes, garden furniture, pipes, toys or plastic plant pots.
You can book your click & tip slot via the re3 webpage.
|
