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Welcome to the
October edition of Recycling: Let’s Sort It News, your waste and
recycling newsletter from Wiltshire Council.
In the newsletter this month:
- Use it again, and
again, and again – upcoming repair cafes
- The Great Cable
Challenge – International E-Waste Day
- Household Recycling
Centres switch to their winter opening times
- National Recycle Week
- Monthly Myth Buster
- Recycling tip of the
month
- Double agent: Rethink
your glass bottles
- ‘Tis the season to be
sustainable
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Use it again,
and again, and again – upcoming repair cafes
Save money and resources by
using items again and again and again!
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The Great
Cable Challenge – International E-Waste Day
International E-Waste Day took place on 14 October
Almost all of us have unwanted, broken cables clogging up our
drawers, or have considered binning that flimsy cable when it broke.
That’s thousands of kilograms of precious copper going to waste,
which could be recycled into anything from lifesaving hospital
equipment to electric vehicles.
Cables contain copper which is one of the most precious materials on
our planet and essential to our everyday lives. We use copper in our
phones, transport, clean energy, lifesaving equipment and the green
technology revolution.
Let’s keep recycling, taking one small action to make a big
difference. Gather up your old cables, and any other old electricals
you find in your drawer of doom! Simply take them to your local
Household Recycling Centre or recycle them through the small electricals
kerbside collection service.
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Household
Recycling Centres switch to their winter opening times
On 1 November all Household Recycling Centres (HRCs)
will switch to their annual winter opening hours. The opening hours
of all 10 of our HRCs will be 10am to 4pm on each day that they’re
open.
Salisbury, Trowbridge and Stanton St Quinton HRCs will be closed for
an additional day a week so will not be operating on Thursdays and
Fridays.
If you are visiting one of our recycling centres, remember to sort
out your waste before you arrive so that together we can recycle as
much as possible.
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National
Recycle Week
This month we were delighted to join this year’s
Recycle Week (14 – 20 October). Now in its twenty-first year, Recycle Week
is the UK’s biggest
celebration of recycling, shining a light on the nation’s recycling
habits through activities happening across the UK.
This year’s theme, Rescue Me, aimed to empower people to look out for
the five items missed most often in recycling collections because
they are placed in the household waste bin. This is also a key theme
of our ongoing Recycling: Let’s Sort It campaign.
These items included empty aerosols, yoghurt pots, toilet roll tubes,
cleaning spray bottles and cans which can be recycled in your
blue-lidded bin or bag. To help us achieve our goal of recycling more
of Wiltshire’s waste, make sure you are recycling more of the right
things, more often.
Materials collected for recycling from Wiltshire residents are sent
to re-processors to be turned into new products or raw materials to
go back into the manufacturing process.
Throughout recycle week we spotlighted commonly missed items on our
social media so make sure you’re following us on Facebook and X.
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Monthly Myth
Buster
Myth –
the waste from my household bin gets sent to landfill.
Fact–
the waste collected from your household waste bin is sent to one of
our energy from waste facilities (EfW), with only 14.9% of
Wiltshire’s household waste being sent to landfill in the financial
year 2023 to 2024.
We work hard to reduce the amount waste that is sent to landfill.
Recycling is not the only way we do this. In addition to
recycling, in the financial year 2023 to 2024, we diverted 41.4% of
Wiltshire's waste from landfill using waste treatment processes which
can reclaim some energy from waste.
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Recycling tip
of the month
Remember, remember that you can
recycle chocolate foil wrappers, kitchen foil, aluminium pot
lids and foil food trays.
Small recyclables can get lost during the recycling sorting process,
so once clean, scrunch these items together to form a ball and place
in your blue-lidded bin or bag.
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Double agent –
rethink your glass bottles!
This month we are introducing a
new feature, uncovering items which are double agents in disguise.
Some items have dual uses, and we will be spotlighting these to help
you reduce your waste, save money and get creative!
Whilst glass bottles such as gin, wine, and prosecco are primarily
used to store those drinks, they can double up as other useful items…
- Water carafe –
instead of buying a new water carafe for hosting guests, why not
reuse your old glass bottles?
- Decorations – glass
bottles can make lovely table pieces for at home, weddings or
parties. Why not try adding fairy lights, a candle or leftover
ribbon.
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‘Tis the
season to be sustainable
It’s nearly the most wonderful
( and wasteful…) time of the year again!
Many of us will already be starting to think about Christmas shopping
ahead of the big day, but did you know,according to research carried out by Censuswide in
2022, around half of UK adults say they have received gifts they
don’t want at Christmas.
Before you start your Christmas shopping, here are some top tips to
reduce the chances of your gifts going to waste and to be more
sustainable this festive season:
- Gift an experience –
give the gift of memories by gifting an experience. This reduces
the demand for physical resources, but also gives the recipient
something to look forward to after Christmas.
- Choose recyclable
wrapping paper – wrapping paper made from paper and free of
glitter can be recycled but laminated or foil paper can’t. If
you can scrunch it and it doesn’t spring back, you can recycle
it.
- Think less is
more – choose quality items that will last a long time and
that your loved ones will use.
- Save money and
resources by gifting pre-loved items this Christmas – research
is showing that one in three people would give a quality used or
refurbished item to a loved one at Christmas. Be part of the
growing trend and find second-hand gems that your family and
friends will love.
- When food shopping,
avoid plastic waste by choosing loose fruit and
vegetables – this tip applies all year round. WRAP research
has shown that if all apples, bananas and potatoes were sold
loose, we could save 60,000 tonnes of food waste by enabling
people to buy closer to their needs.
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