 Don't lose your bottle
If you're taking your bank holiday empties to the glass recycling banks, please don't leave them on the ground.
Our contractors have been in touch to say they are seeing an increase in bottles and jars being left on the ground beside the bins, and that although they may appear full, there are another set of holes with available space on the other side of them.
Not sure where to take your bottles and jars? Visit Recycle Now and pop in your postcode to find your nearest recycling facilities.
 Let's Talk Climate: survey now live
We want to know how we can help you in reducing your carbon footprint, with rubbish and recycling being one of the key areas of focus.
Our Let's Talk Climate survey is exploring what impacts the decisions you make and how we could help you make more sustainable choices, such as by providing skills workshops to repair items, community waste reduction schemes and incentives or penalties.
Earlier this year, nine focus groups made up of residents, businesses and children, were guided through three sessions looking at what can be done locally to reduce our carbon impact.
The participants started by thinking about if money and technology were no issue, what could they could do. They then narrowed those down into tangible and practical ideas.
In the survey, we are sharing those ideas and asking people across the borough what they think.
 Reducing food waste: packed lunches
If you have children heading back to school this week, here are some tips to reduce food waste in their packed lunches:
- Get your child to help choose what they would like. You may want them to eat that apple, but if they never eat apples, it will only go to waste.
- Ask your child to bring home any leftovers so that you can see how much of their lunch they eat so you know how much to pack in future.
- Pack leftovers from home for them to eat for lunch, such as pasta dishes.
- Buy snacks like crisps and nuts in bulk and pack into smaller pots. Bulk is often cheaper, and there's less waste than with individual packaging.
- Reuse or recycle any leftovers in the lunchbox.
- Visit NHS Better Health Better Families for more lunchbox tips and recipes.
 Changes to the newsletter
Earlier in the summer, we asked for your views about this newsletter. Thanks to those that took the time to respond. It's important for us to understand how we can make sure that what we send you is relevant and useful.
What we do well
- 80 per cent of respondents are either satisfied or very satisfied with the newsletter.
- 90 per cent frequently read the newsletter.
- 97 per cent find the newsletters relevant and helpful.
Where we can improve
- More in-depth content in different aspects of recycling (for example, recycling of glass and plastics)
- Information about what you can do with your waste before getting rid of it, such as re-using and re-purposing.
- Reduce the frequency of the newsletter to fortnightly or monthly.
Next Steps
- This will be the last weekly newsletter. We will change to fortnightly, starting next week on 7 September, followed by the next on 21 September and fortnightly thereafter.
- Updates about our waste services will continue to be covered in every issue, wherever available.
- More in-depth features will be introduced to dive deep into the world of recycling in the borough
We hope, by making these changes, the newsletter will provide even better information that helps you reduce waste and recycle more.
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