Week 1 - Reduce Reuse and Recycling on the airwaves

And..... we're off!  Yes, rubbish dieters of Suffolk are now officially underway with Week 1, which is all about reducing, reusing and recycling.

The Rubbish Diet slot on Mark Murphy's show yesterday kicked off with a phone in, which covered a few key areas including:

1. Plastics recycling - with questions about plant pots.  A useful tip for plant pots is to see if a local school would like them.  One caller suggested taking them back to Notcutts and of course all HWRCs will accept them along with other hard plastics as shown in the above leaflet.   If you've ever wondered what happens to the plastics, take a look at Suffolk Waste Partnership's video, which shows how it is shredded and processed into a high quality polymer.

2. Drinks cartons - there is still confusion around the county about what to do with Tetra Paks and other similar cartons.  These are not supposed to go into the kerbside recycling bins and should be separated and taken to the HWRCs or any supermarkets that have a collection service.   To see which sites are available around Suffolk, visit the Tetra Pak recycling locator.  Remember to wash and squash so they take up less room.

3. Film - stretchy film can be included with the plastic bag collections within supermarkets, as it is made from the same material.  However, if you want to divert other film away from your landfill bin, in Suffolk all HWRCs will also collect other types of film packaging including cheese wrappers, clean cling film, film off the top of punnets or meat packaging, pasta bags, rice bags and the bags that you find within cereal boxes.  Just be careful not to include crisp packets, biscuit wrappers or confectionery wrappers.

4. Garden waste - oooh, well... it all kicked off with a caller complaining that in Mid Suffolk (as indeed Babergh) residents have to pay a separate fee for garden waste wheelie bins to cover the delivery of a bin and an annual collection charge, whereas elsewhere in Suffolk it is included in the reuse & recycling collection services.  It doesn't seem a huge amount annually, for anyone wanting to have their garden waste collected (£45 on joining, then each year thereafter £40 for an annual subscription).  After all, this cost would be hidden in the council tax paid in other authorities, where it is collected for 'free',  However in this age of austerity, figures like that can still bite.  It also strikes me as a wasted opportunity in that Mid Suffolk have trucks on the road collecting from subscribed households.  Meanwhile many other households they pass will put the green waste into landfill if they can't be bothered to take it to the nearest HWRC.  During our visit to landfill the other week, we saw lots of green waste being dumped into landfill, which is such a waste when it could be treated separately.

5. Off-air - afternoon presenter Lesley Dolphin asked about water cartridges.  The good news is that Brita have water filter collection points.  Use this map to find the nearest to you.

If you want the full rundown of what else can be recycled in Suffolk, either at the kerbside bin or via the HWRCs, visit www.suffolkrecycling.org.uk.

And if you haven't seen the fabulous Plastics: Know your Place video yet, which fully explains what we can do with the different types of plastics that enter our homes, do have a look below:

There'll be lots more coming up on Mark's show this week. If you have any questions, do keep sending them through.  And don't forget, next time you're 'tootling off' to your Household Waste Recycling Centre in Suffolk, pick up one of these fabulous Sort & Save bags.  They're marvellous.