How to Recycle in Portsmouth

Greetings all.

 

If you found your way here, you’re probably looking for some tips on going green in our port city. Don’t worry; I (Tamara) have got all the info you need.

 

I am so pleased to live in a city that has a kerbside recycling collection for most items. Portsmouth City Council’s fortnightly kerbside collection helps me to save the planet while staying in bed! Win win! So, for those of you who may be new to the recycling malarkey – dudes, it couldn’t be easier!

 

Warning – useful information below! 🙂

 

Kerbside Collection
All items must be clean, dry and loose:

Metal:
Drink Cans
Food tins
Aerosols (No lids- Take these to mixed plastic banks)

Plastic: Bottles:
Plastic bottles (No lids- Take these to mixed plastic banks)
Cleaner and detergent bottles
Milk bottles (No lids- Take these to Lush)
Drinks bottles
Toiletries and shampoo bottles

Paper
Newspapers
Envelopes
Junk mail
Magazines
Telephone directories
Window envelopes
Yellow Pages
Greeting cards
Other paper (No shredded paper- Take this to Asda Bridge Centre and Tesco City Centre Crasswell)

EDIT: OCTOBER 2018 – Unfortunately, Asda Bridge Centre no longer accepts shredded paper. Tamara is investigating if Tesco Crasswell Street still accepts it. In the meantime, chuck shredded paper into your compost!

Cardboard:
Cardboard egg boxes
Cardboard fruit and veg punnets (please break down larger boxes)
Cardboard sleeves
Cereal boxes
Corrugated cardboard
Toilet roll tubes

Small electrical items
Small electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in standard sized supermarket carrier bag which must be placed beside or on top of your recycling bin.

 

 

Recycling Banks

 

But wait! There’s more! There are council, charity, and even supermarket recycling banks dotted across our lovely city.  Here, you can recycle other things like glass (of any colour), mixed plastics, batteries, printer ink cartridges and textiles etc.

 

This example is from Tesco North Harbour:

 

 

Mixed Plastics: Recycling Bank at Sainsbury’s

 

I was so chuffed when I realised that the two big Sainsbury’s supermarkets in the city (Commercial Road and Farlington) have banks for mixed plastics because I haven’t seen any other recycling points for mixed plastics in the city. If you have, please do let me know!

 

So once a week, I take my mixed plastics (as well as my housemates’, my next-door neighbour’s and also some lovely Portsmouth Green Party members’ who are car-free) to one of the big Sainsbury’s stores.

 

They accept:

  •         Margarine and ice cream tubs
  •         Confectionary tubs
  •         Rigid plastic food packets
  •         Yogurt pots
  •         Plastic lids from aerosols, bottles, cartons

They do not accept:

  •         Polystyrene
  •         Plastic food wrapping
  •         Plastic bags (but these can be recycled at most big supermarkets)
  •         Cling film
  •         Meat trays
  •         Toys

 

But I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t wait till my plastics bin is overflowing before I take a trip to the recycling bank! And I also treat myself to a veggie sausage sandwich at the Sainsbury’s cafe while I’m there. Delish!

 

Useful Websites

Here are the websites that I use most frequently to check recycling locations:

Recycle Now: https://www.recyclenow.com/local-recycling

Recycle More: https://www.recycle-more.co.uk/bank-locator

Portsmouth City Council: https://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/ext/bins-rubbish-and-recycling/recycling.aspx

Hampshire County Council: https://www.hants.gov.uk/wasteandrecycling

 

Final thoughts

 

When I go to throw things away, I try to remember that there is no place called ‘away’. Everything I put in my waste rubbish bin goes somewhere. Usually to an incinerator or a landfill. The less I send to landfill the better.

 

That’s why my household recycling centre looks like this:

Portsmouth has one of the lowest recycling rates in the country, coming in at 338 out of 352 authorities in 2015/16 with the percentage of household waste sent for reuse, recycling or composting at 23.4%.

 

To give you an idea, the top ranking authority, South Oxfordshire District Council, has a percentage of 66.6%. So, as a city, Portsmouth has a way to go. I hope my efforts will have a ripple effect – one neighbour at a time!

 

Do you have any other recycling hacks for Portsmouth? Let me know in the comments section below.