 Thank you for supporting new waste collections
Our household waste collections have changed - and our crews tell us that most households are putting their waste out correctly, so it has been collected.
We'd like to say a huge thank-you for your support. We know change can be hard, but your co-operation has made this process much easier and it's appreciated.
Please keep putting your waste out correctly to avoid a missed collection:
- Rubbish is collected every two weeks from your new black wheeled bin, replacing the weekly blue bag collections
- Recycling is also collected every two weeks, on weeks when rubbish isn't collected, from the usual green bags with no limit on how many you put out
- Your food waste bin is still emptied weekly so make full use of that
Your collection day hasn't changed but some homes will have a rubbish collection this week, while others will start the new service with a recycling collection.
If you're unsure what to put out, check the calendar we posted or look up your address online.
Remember to leave your waste at your property boundary the night before collection. Your black wheeled bin lid must be fully closed or it won’t be emptied.
Finally, don't forget you can line your black bin with any remaining blue bags.
We’re delivering the last few wheeled bins to a small number of homes who haven’t had one yet, and should finish by the end of this week. If you’ve already reported a missed delivery, please don’t report it again as we will reach you very soon. Thanks for your patience and apologies for the delay.
 Recycling: don't feed your bin if you don't need to!
One of the main aims in changing our waste collections is to encourage people to recycle as much as possible.
About 55 per cent of all household waste in Wokingham Borough gets recycled at the moment, which puts us comfortably among the nation's top recyclers.
However, we know about 70 per cent of everything we throw away is recyclable - so there's still room to do better. If we can reach 70 per cent, we'd become the best in the country and the first to hit that figure!
There's no limit on how many green recycling bags you put out for collection, though up to four should be enough if you squash the contents to make space.
You should also make use of your food waste bin, as food waste is where we could make the biggest improvement in our recycling rate.
As well as being good for the planet, recycling your waste costs us far less money than disposing of it as rubbish.
Unsure what to recycle or where to recycle it? The free Recycling Locator tool, kindly provided by Recycle Now, can tell you the nearest place to drop an item off if you can't recycle it in our green bags.
 Bringing your broken goods back to life
The next Repair Café at Lambs Lane Primary School, in Spencers Wood, will be taking place this Sunday (18th August) from 10am to 1pm.
A team of skilled volunteers will be on hand to look at any garden or household items that need fixing. You can help with the repair, learning some valuable skills in the process, and enjoy some refreshments from the café.
Repairs are free, but donations towards running costs and the café's youth workshops are welcomed. Anyone who can volunteer their time and skills to help at future sessions is also asked to get in touch.
We'd encourage you to check it out rather than throwing broken items away. Many components in household goods can be recycled, but it's better for the environment to extend their life as much as possible.
You can also find repair cafés at Spencers Wood Village Hall, Christ Church in Woodley and All Saints Church in Wokingham town, as well as the Baptist Church Hub in Crowthorne and venues across Reading.
Old goods in decent condition?
If you've got items that still work but aren't used any more, you can drop them off after booking a slot at re3's household waste recycling centres.
As part of the re3 reuse scheme, your goods can be collected by Sue Ryder and sold in their shops to support their palliative care work.
re3 also has a reuse scheme with Precycle, a local firm that collects items for resale in either in the UK or, more usually, abroad.
 Don't let litter spoil everyone's summer
We're reminding everyone to be responsible when they're out and about this summer and not to ruin their surroundings by dropping litter.
Here are some top tips from re3, our waste partnership with Reading and Bracknell Forest councils:
- Use litter bins or take rubbish home - and recycle it if you can. As well as keeping the environment clean, this helps to protect our wildlife
- Keep roadsides tidy - keep litter in a spare bag while driving and, again, recycle as much as you can when you reach your destination or arrive home
- Picnic responsibly - use reusable cutlery and crockery, and leave nothing behind. Even food waste takes months to rot and attracts vermin
- Don't leave litter beside a bin - this isn't helpful as it causes more work for our crews and is likely to blow away. Take it home instead
- Cigarettes and vapes both pose fire hazards and should be disposed of properly. You can recycle vapes as small electricals
We're lucky to have hard-working street cleaning teams and volunteers, but let's make things as easy for them as we can.
Littering is also an environmental offence and you can be fined up to £500 for discarding things like cigarette butts, food waste or chewing gum.
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