It should be no secret that Tamara and I (Emma) are keen on recycling. I mean we’ve written about it multiple times on Shades of Green and we’ve even toured Portsmouth’s rubbish and recycling plant together. (Yes, we’re very cool people.) That’s why you shouldn’t be surprised that we’ve managed to transform this love of recycling into a way of making money for Portsmouth Green Party.
We’ve recently started working with Recycling for Good Causes, which helps turn trash into cash by recycling unwanted items no matter their condition, thus saving lots of items from landfill. Better yet, we can offer a local drop-off site, so that you don’t have to arrange to ship the items anywhere yourself.
What can Portsmouth Green Party recycle for you?
There are four main categories of items that Portsmouth Green Party can now recycle for you, not including the ink cartridges that we told you about in a previous blog, and they are jewellery, currency, gadgets, and stamps. Let’s look at them in more detail.
Jewellery
This includes:
- Watches
- Odd earrings
- Broken items
- Costume jewellery
How many of our readers have got pieces of broken jewellery or sole earrings in their jewellery box because you just don’t know what you do with it? I myself have two earrings that lost their partners several years ago and one necklace chain with a broken clasp, but I couldn’t put them in kerbside recycling and didn’t want to throw them in the bin.
Thankfully, I can now recycle them along with any other unwanted jewellery, no matter what material its made from or state it’s in.
Currency
This includes:
- Notes
- Coins
- Foreign currency
- Obsolete currency (i.e. the old style pound coins, pre-Euro currency, pre-decimal currency)
I think we’ve all had that moment when you’ve come back from a trip abroad and you have $1.93 left in your wallet or €3.47 at the bottom of your bag. Unless you’re a regular visitor, you may not want to keep it in the house and it’s not really enough to bother exchanging it back into GBP, so it winds up stuck in a drawer. The same goes for out-of-date currency – for some reason we have like 20 francs in a drawer at my house because no one knew what to do with it.
Gadgets
This includes:
- Sat navs
- Games consoles and games
- Laptops
- Tablets
- Cameras
- Video cameras
- Mobile phones
- Portable music devices
Importantly, it doesn’t matter about the age or condition of the item. We can still recycle it.
This is actually fantastic because most places only recycle mobile phones. A friend of mine has been looking for somewhere to recycle her broken laptop for ages and the nearest place she could find to take it was Chichester and she certainly wasn’t going to make a special trip. (I don’t blame her.)
Stamps
This includes:
- Loose used stamps
- Stamp collections
- First-day covers and presentation packs
- Postcard collections
Yes, the things that you usually leave on the envelope to be tossed into the recycling can actually be used to earn money for PGP.
What will Portsmouth Green Party do with the money raised?
All money that PGP earns from these recycling efforts will be used to help make Portsmouth a greener (and Greener) place because while PGP is entirely volunteer-run, we do have a fair amount of expenses.
We will use the money to:
- stand candidates at elections
- create flyers for our candidates
- print our newsletters
- create protest banners
How can I get the recycling to you?
Just email me at "> and I’ll get in touch with a drop-off location.
Benita says:
Hello! I heard Portsmouth finally installed tetrapak recycling facilities in Asda… does this mean they might start collecting tetrapaks from homes soon? As someone who really likes oatmeal, I’d really like to have it with soymilk everyday but… just looking at tetrapaks piling up makes me anxious! I’m making so much waste because they all come in 1L only! I compromised by not eating oatmeal everyday, even though it’s really healthy. ):
For now I’m just ‘stockpiling’ the empty tetrapaks in one small corner, hoping one day the council will take them soon…
February 5, 2019 — 4:33 pm
Editor says:
Hi Benita,
Yes, it is true! There is a carton recycling bank now in Portsmouth, at the Asda in the Bridge Shopping Centre in Fratton. I did a happy dance when it was announced. I hope it will be extended to other areas of the city.
I can’t comment on whether the council will start collecting cartons (of which tetrapaks is a brand) from homes. To be honest, I wouldn’t think so as I would expect they will want to monitor the cartons bank useage and demand, and I believe it would be cheaper to expand the number of carton banks first. However, that is all speculation on my part. I suggest you email your local councillors to let them know your views. To find out who your councillors are, visit: https://democracy.portsmouth.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?bcr=1. Also, use the new carton recycling bank at Asda, and then the council will see there is a real demand for it!
Lovely to hear from you,
Tamara (and Emma)
February 8, 2019 — 1:11 pm
Geoffrey Marsh says:
I must compliment those members who have worked on the production of the Green newsletter. It’s a delight to the eye and the environment.
I live in Emsworth and we have just lost our weekly community market, so I am now at a loss as to where to recycle jam jars with lids and egg boxes. Living alone I only have a few every so often but I see jam jars offered on Portsmouth Freegle, and it would be good to direct all these to those who can re-use them. I also have a very small collection of old coins and stamps which I am happy to donate to party funds. Are books and DVDs also of value?
March 5, 2019 — 9:36 pm
Editor says:
Dear Geoffrey,
Thank you for your kind comments re. the latest Portsmouth Green Party Newsletter which I have passed on to the small team of dedicated volunteers responsible for the said newsletter. You have made their day! 🙂
I wasn’t aware of the loss of Emsworth weekly market – when did it shut down? Was it on Wednesdays?
I take my egg boxes to my local greengrocers and also to the monthly Farmers Market. I am sure producers at the Emsworth Farmers Market would be happy to take your egg boxes and perhaps even your jam jars. The Emsworth Farmers Market is on the third Saturday of the month from 10am-2pm at St Peter’s Square.
Great point re. Freegle. Freegle aims to increase reusing and reduce landfill by offering a free Internet-based service where people can give away and ask for things that would otherwise be thrown away. I also use Olio which links neighbours with each other and with local shops so surplus food and other items can be shared, not thrown away.
Re. your kind offer to donate your collection of old coins and stamps, this would be gratefully received as funds raised will go directly to our campaign to elect our first Green councillor. Books and DVDs are sold on ebay by Mac, our coordinator, and monies raised go straight into the campaign and literature fund. I will ask Dan to get in contact with you re. this. It is so kind of you, thank you.
Best wishes,
Tamara (and Emma)
March 20, 2019 — 10:07 am