Bin it to win it this recycling week!

'Bin It to Win It' has been launched to encourage you to recycle your glass and textiles in the bring banks around the city.

You can win £10 Love2Shop vouchers all of next week if you are seen recycling your glass and textiles by the BIG Recycle Recycling Officers in one of the many bring banks in the city, every week day next week until Friday 25 June. Just go to our Facebook and Twitter pages to find out more!

Follow the hashtag #BinItToWinIt to see the clues on Twitter, and like 'The Official Portsmouth City Council Facebook Page' to see the daily clues, which will be posted at 9am every morning.

Find out more: 

https://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/ext/news/bin-it-to-win-it-during-recycling-week!.aspx

Also to be in with a chance of winning £250, just for recycling the right things, sign up to the BIG Recycle, go to bigrecycle.portsmouth.gov.uk or call 023 9243 7843.

Introducing FoodCycle Pompey

Uniting the community so no good food goes to waste

FoodCycle Pompey is a new project based at the John Pounds Centre to bring the community together whilst addressing issues of food poverty and food waste. 

FoodCycle is a national organisation running volunteer-powered community projects across the UK – working to reduce food poverty and social isolation by serving tasty, nutritious meals to vulnerable groups. To find out more about who FoodCycle are, watch this short video.

The FoodCycle Pompey Team are currently looking to recruit volunteers into a number of 'Hub Leader' roles; session leaders, food collections and donor relations, fundraisers, community engagement and volunteer coordinators. 

Alternatively, if you aren't able to commit to offering your time regularly, you can sign up as a FoodCycler on an ad-hoc basis. 

There will be an information session for volunteers soon, so keep your eyes and ears open for further information! Please share the story of FoodCycle with family, friends and colleagues! 

The FoodCycle Pompey Team think this is an exciting opportunity for the city and can't wait to get started!

BIG Recycle has 6,000 residents now signed up

Over six thousand Portsmouth households have now pledged to bin their bad habits and be more environmentally friendly thanks to the Portsmouth BIG Recycle scheme.

The campaign was launched at the end of September 2013 by Portsmouth City Council to help improve recycling rates in the city. Even though lots of residents participate in recycling, Portsmouth currently only recycles 23% of its household waste - one of the lowest rates in the country - so we could all do a bit better.

If we can boost our recycling to at least 30% we could generate around £150,000 more a year, which helps protect other council services.

Since the launch, over 6,000 households have signed up to the scheme, funded by over £500,000 allocated by the Department for Communities and Local Government to reward residents for doing their bit.

Every month, each household that has signed up to the scheme is entered in to a prize draw, 81 households are then randomly selected, and if they are found to be recycling in the right ways, they'll be rewarded, with the top reward being £250 cash.

So far only 10 households have missed out on prizes (with a combined total of £350) as they were putting the wrong things in the recycling bin such as the wrong types of plastic, metal foils, food waste, general rubbish and even clothing. If you're stuck with where to get rid of old clothes they can be recycled at bring banks, which can be found on the roadside of many main roads in the city.

Register for free by visiting bigrecycle.portsmouth.gov.uk or calling 023 9243 7843

For more information on recycling in Portsmouth go to the Portsmouth City Council web page www.portsmouth.gov.uk/waste/15862.html

Portsmouth Recycling Centre

Portsmouth City Council is undertaking a review of services at the Portsmouth Recycling Centre with the aim of improving efficiency and cost effectiveness. Portsmouth City Council is seeking views/comments from site users on the proposed changes.

The proposals are:

1. A revision of site opening hours based upon current site usage

The current and proposed opening hours are shown in the table below

	Opening Hours
Calendar Period	Current	Proposed
1st October to 28th February	8:00am to 4:00pm	9:00am to 4:00pm
1st March to 31st March	8:00am to 5:00pm	9:00am to 4:00pm
1st April to 30th September	8:00am to 7:00pm	9:00am to 7:00pm With late opening Thursdays to 9:00pm

2. A revision of the policy for accepting DIY waste with the option of charging for larger quantities

Although there is no legal obligation to accept such waste, site users are currently able to bring in small quantities of DIY waste originating from their own property free of charge. DIY waste includes waste from activities involving improvements, repair or alteration including, but not limited to: 

·        Hardcore, bricks and masonry

·        Wood (i.e fencing, doors and windows)

·        Soil and aggregates

·        Bathroom and kitchen renovations

·        Cement bonded asbestos

·        Plasterboard

The current free provisions allow:

Soil and Rubble: Approximately the contents of 6 x 30 litre bags (the equivalent to a small car boot load) no more than once per month.

Plasterboard: Small offcuts only.

Cement bonded asbestos: No more than 15 sheets, of no greater size than 120cm by 60cm - approximately equal to the amount from a standard single garage roof.

The proposal would not change the current entitlement for free disposal of these small quantities of DIY waste at the site, but would offer residents the option of paying to bring in larger quantities which should currently be disposed of through alternative means, such as the hire of a skip.

3. Introduction of a chargeable commercial waste service

It is currently illegal to deposit trade or commercial waste at the site. Portsmouth City Council is investigating ways of introducing a chargeable service to allow small local businesses to dispose of their trade waste.

If you have any comments or views on these proposals, we would like to hear them. Please e-mail comments or views to recycling@portsmouthcc.gov.uk or call 023 92834092.

Don't bin it, bring it!

Have you got a loft full of old kettles, mobile phones and toasters that you no longer use or need? Don't bin it, bring it.  Take them along to a collection point near you.

As well as being Bike Week, 17 to the 23 June is also National Recycling Week. Residents will be able to bring any small, unwanted or faulty electrical items for recycling at many drop-off points around the city:
•all city libraries
•Southsea Community Centre in King Street, Southsea.
•Paulsgrove Community Centre in Marsden Road, Paulsgrove.
•John Pounds Centre in Queen Street, Portsea.

It’s important to dispose of electrical items properly because some of the substances could be hazardous to the environment. Electrical items often contain valuable resources, so recycling and reusing them also stops materials such as plastics and metals going to waste.

Clear out your house whilst helping the environment.

All small electrical household items (with a plug or batteries) that can be carried by one person are welcome. Unfortunately we cannot accept large items such as washing machines or televisions. Please continue to take these to your local household waste recycling centre. For locations please visit the rubbish and recycling webpage.

So have a hunt around and take in anything small and electrical, including your old curling tongs, hairdryer or cameras.

Recycle Week 2012

This year’s Recycle Week runs 18-24 June, and the focus is on small household electrical items.

 

To help support the collection of electrical items, the council will be hosting a number of events around Portsmouth to create awareness and to encourage participation.

Competition cards will be given out at all the events and collection points, everyone who completes one will be entered in a free prize draw to win some top electrical gadgets from partners WeeeCare!

Details of events, collection points and background information is available on the City Council website here.

The waste & recycling wonder open days

This is part of a national initiative organised by Veolia ES UK to educate and inspire local residents about what happens to their waste.

Open days in the Portsmouth area are scheduled for the following dates:

• Portsmouth Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) - Tuesday 20 September Advert
• Little Bushywarren composting facility - Tuesday 25 October Advert
• Alton Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) - Thursday 27 October Advert

Portsmouth City Council delivers its refuse to the Portsmouth ERF, its recyclable material to the Portsmouth MRF and its compostable material to Little Bushywarren (via a depot in Fareham).  Unfortunately, the Portsmouth MRF is not suitable for public visits, hence the invitation to Alton MRF instead. 

If you would like to attend, you must pre-book in advance by calling Veolia on 01962 764083.