This year marks the 20th anniversary of Recycle Week – the UK’s largest national annual recycling campaign – and we want to inspire children, families and whole communities to get involved in The Big Recycling Hunt from 16th- 22nd October.
Recycling is an established behaviour with nine out of ten UK citizens regularly doing so, many still don’t recycle all the materials they can. Some of the most common of these “missed capture” items that end up in the rubbish bin are:
- Empty aerosols
- Detergent or cleaning product bottles
- Toiletries/shampoo bottles
- Food tins.
The Big Recycling Hunt will call on everyone to unearth these missed opportunities from around the home. Whether it’s relying on out-of-date knowledge, not having a recycling bin in the bathroom, or the perceived “yuck” factor of rinsing tins and bottles, we want to overcome the habits that lead to missed capture and help everyone to recycle the right things, more often.
Did you know?
Bathroom cleaner and bleach bottles can be recycled!
Bathroom cleaner and bleach bottles, including any spray dispensers, can be recycled.
In the bathroom, we use plastic in all shapes and sizes, most of which can be recycled, including shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, bubble bath, hand soap, and moisturiser bottles.
You can even recycle deodorant cans. Read this article to learn how to recycle more from your bathroom.
What can and cannot be recycled
Recycling from across the borough goes to a Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) in Portsmouth. Materials are sorted into the different material categories using state-of-the-art equipment, machinery, and by hand before being baled and sent on to processers for recycling.
How to present your recycling
- Empty, rinse and dry all plastic bottles, jars and containers
- Place lids back on all plastic bottles, jars and cartons
- All packaging should be empty
- Items should go in loose (all items separate)
- Flatten cardboard* and cartons – keep it dry
*Large pieces of neatly flattened cardboard can be left by the side of your recycling bin.
Find out more about what can and cannot be recycled!
Don't throw away old electricals
Did you know anything with a plug, battery, cable or a symbol of a crossed-out wheelie bin, can be reused or recycled?
These items are known as Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) or e-waste. They shouldn't be sent to landfill, because hazardous substances inside like lead and mercury can leach into soil and water sources, posing threats to the environment and our health. Valuable raw materials such as gold, copper, aluminium and steel, are also lost forever.
Repair, Donate, Sell, Recycle
f you have a faulty electrical item, take it to the repair café in Havant, so the volunteers can fix it for you.
The Repair Café Havant runs from 10am to 1pm on the first Saturday of the month at The Pallant Centre, Saint Faiths in Havant.
Find out more about the Repair Cafe here
You can also consider donating or selling your unwanted items, if they're in good working condition.
If your unwanted electricals can't be passed on or fixed, recycling them is the best thing to do. The Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) accept WEEE such as computers, electric toothbrushes, microwaves and more.
Retailer Take-back Scheme
The Electrical Retailer Take-back Scheme, which came into effect on 1 January 2021, has also made recycling items easier.
More than 10,000 stores across the UK now take back your old appliance on a like-for-like basis when you buy a new one from them, no matter whether the old product is bought from them. The scheme covers all types of electricals.
It's not to late to sign up!
For just £39, Havant Borough Council's Garden Waste service will collect all your twigs, leaves, grass cuttings, and weeds from the kerbside outside your home, every fortnight until the end of March 2024/