Tag: portsmouth green party (page 1 of 2)

Daring to Dream Green in 2021

Portsmouth residents will be going to the polls on Thursday 6th May. One-third of local council seats will be up for re-election, one in each of the 14 wards. You can find out what ward you live in here and who your current councillors are here.

If you live, work or study in Portsmouth and are eligible, we hope you have registered to vote! And we, Tamara and Emma, hope you will choose to vote Green.

For it is you, Dear Reader, who can help bring our first Green Councillor into the city. Each of the Green candidates we present to you below believe passionately in a greener, cleaner and fairer Portsmouth. We are all local Portsmouth Green Party members, volunteers and activists. We are not career politicians but normal people trying to do our part to make Portsmouth a better place to live, who choose to step forward and put our names on the ballot paper because we want to speak truth to power.

Now, it’s over to you… and to get you started here are 3 quick and easy peasy steps you can take today:

3 Quick and Easy Peasy Steps To Get a Green Councillor in Portsmouth:

  1. Vote Green at the local election this May 6th and check out your 2021 Green Pompey candidates below.
  2. Display a Green Party poster in your window: email to get your poster.
  3. Join The Green Party: visit https://join.greenparty.org.uk/ to become a member of the national Green Party and automatically become a member of your local Portsmouth Green Party.

Meet The Dream Green Pompey Team 🙂

Tim Sheerman-Chase, Copnor

Tim is a local resident and has been an active campaigner in Portsmouth for the last few years, with his ancestral routes tracing back to nearby Emsworth. 

Tim works as a software contractor and AI specialist. In his career, he has been involved in problem solving and delivery of solutions in complex research and engineering projects. His understanding of evidence based policy is needed to address the significant challenges we face.

After seeing worrying signs of environmental and social break down, Tim decided to get involved in politics and local campaigns. He has had a long interest in environmental issues and civil rights. Tim currently specializes in air quality and sustainable transport issues. He has volunteered with Portsmouth Foodcycle and Fratton Big Local to help support the local community.

We need to abandon old dogmatic solutions in favour of sustainable and accountable systems. Of particular concern in Portsmouth is the level of traffic, which causes parking problems, delays, pollution and climate change. I will fight for more investment in cycling, walking and public transport, as well as requiring development schemes to put these priorities at their centre. Green spaces need to be introduced around the city to improve well being. The city also needs to improve its recycling rates, which are among the worst in the country.

I am an air quality campaigner and regular blogger on the #LetPompeyBreathe campaign.

Email: tim [at] portsmouth [dot] greenparty [dot] org [dot] uk
Twitter: @GreenTimSC

Sarah Gilbert, Milton

This past year has clearly highlighted the importance of a strong community and better investment in local government. As a Milton resident for 20 years, I am concerned about air pollution levels, lack of affordable housing, recycling rates and the protection of our green spaces. We need to improve public transport and establish much safer walking and cycling routes in the area. A cleaner, greener environment will help to improve the health and wellbeing of residents.

There are some significant planned developments in this area, including new housing at the St James’s Hospital site, a new leisure centre at Bransbury Park and the Aquind interconnector cable. Residents’ views on these projects must be heard and full consideration given to the environmental impact and the needs of the community. I am committed to helping Portsmouth achieve a more sustainable future.

Tamara Groen, Central Southsea

As the Green Party Candidate for the Central Southsea ward, I am standing for a change in the status quo. A strong believer in social justice and equality, I do not claim to know everything about local government but I am persistent, tenacious and will fight your corner to the end. My key concerns are Portsmouth’s dangerous air quality, low recycling rates, unsafe roads for cyclists and the lack of resources and support for those experiencing homelessness. I will also tackle the daily frustrations around parking, dog poo, litter and anti-social behaviour.

I am not a career politician but instead someone who has lived in Portsmouth for over fifteen years who is tired of the toxic atmosphere within our city council. As your Green Councillor, I want to enhance and improve all of our cities’ wonderful qualities.

Menno Groen, Eastney and Craneswater

The past year has been incredibly difficult for so many of us, with many people struggling to make ends meet and mental health suffering due to stress and isolation. It has been more clear than ever that Portsmouth urgently needs to tackle the poor air quality in the city, to improve residents’ health and reduce pressure on the NHS.

I use my bicycle for most of my journeys, and Portsmouth is great to get around without using a car, but much more needs to be done to ensure that people can walk, cycle or use public transport easily, and safely. We need a city-wide strategy for transport that includes first-class provisions for cyclists and pedestrians, as well as affordable and reliable public transport.

As we slowly come out of lockedown, we have an opportunity to improve the way we do things and build a greener future. A Green recovery means proper action on climate change and the ecological emergency, and an equal society.

As a Green Party Councillor, I will push for sustainable policies to make our great city a better place to live – for everyone.

Bob Simmonds, Baffins

Imagine living in a city with clean air, quieter roads and with affordable and accessible transport links. This could happen in Portsmouth, not easily or quickly, but with imagination and effort. The Green Party has well researched policies on this, and many other issues which would improve our lives now, and more importantly the lives of future generations.

More immediately I would like to see increased recycling of materials. If plastic recycling bins were as widespread as bottle banks it could lead to a huge change. Finally, in Baffins we are fortunate in having a good deal of green space. I would like to see that developed throughout Portsmouth, eventually to create green pathways through the city.

Elliott Lee, St Thomas

Hey, I’m Elliott and I am your Green Party candidate for the St Thomas Ward. I am a young adult and am Visually Impaired. I am a Student and activist. I have experience in the health and social care sector as well as in the charity sector. I stand as a Green Party candidate here as someone who has been disillusioned by the inaction of other parties and past administrations to tackle the very apparent inequalities all around us.

As a young person with a disability, I am constantly experiencing the inaccessibility of our community and the wider city, made worse by some of the current administrations’ policies. An accessible city is a city for us all. Which, as a young person, is why I can not sit by and watch on at the lack of care taken towards our green spaces and coastal areas.

Ian McCulloch, St Jude

We need a political system that puts the public first, and an economy that gives everyone their fair share. We need a planet protected from the threat of climate change now and for the generations to come. That’s the world we want to create and I believe we have the means to do it.

The challenges faced by the people of Portsmouth include homelessness, poor air quality, unaffordable housing and a critically underfunded NHS.

By building more social rented homes and bringing abandoned buildings back into use we can ensure that everyone has a secure and affordable place to live. Ending the creeping privatisation of the NHS and repealing the Health and Social Care Act will help us to restore a publicly funded, publicly provided health service free at the point of use. A rent cap, longer tenancies and licensing landlords will provide greater protection for renters. UK standards on air pollution are out of date, we need to implement charges for the most polluting vehicles, and support a more cycling- and walking-friendly city.

By investing in renewable energy and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, we can build a stable and sustainable society that protects our planet from climate change.

Emma Murphy, Hilsea

Hi, I’m Emma and I’m the Green Party Candidate for Hilsea. I’ve lived in Portsmouth my whole life, so I’ve seen many citizens who are frustrated with the lack of sustainability and environmental protections in the city. This includes my dad, who lobbied for a recycling scheme in his office and had to complete the task on his own, after hours, for no extra pay for well over ten years. He’s an inspiration and there are many unsung heroes in our city who are doing the same.

Things have gotten better in many ways since the mid-2000s, but we still have a long way to go. If elected to the city council, I would champion a cleaner city with better recycling, a stringent air quality action plan, and better facilities for the people of Portsmouth.

The people of Portsmouth deserve a cleaner, greener city and a Green Councillor would go a long way to making that a reality.

Ken Hawkins, Fratton

I have been a Portsmouth resident for more than fifty years, during that time I have served the people of Portsmouth as a JP and school governor so I believe I am a strong candidate to become a Councillor for the Fratton ward. During my life in Portsmouth, I have helped raise three daughters. I have attended Portsmouth University – twice. I have been an active volunteer I am currently treasurer of the local hospital radio, and I also have my own music show.

I strongly support efforts to improve Portsmouth’s air quality and as a Councillor, I would promote the use of cycling and would actively work toward taking buses back into public ownership and the introduction of electric power buses. There is also a need to make Fratton and Portsmouth more greener to help achieve this I would campaign for more trees to planted and more wilding of Fratton’s open spaces i.e Kingston park and St Marys church. Also, I would like to provide Fratton residents with wildflower seeds for their gardens.

I would work with the police to improve the safety of Fratton’s streets with better lighting and with an increased number of police officers on the street. To help with the increase in fly-tipping I would have an increase the number of communal bins.

Duncan Robinson, Nelson

I am a candidate who lives and works in Nelson ward and am the only candidate in the ward to have signed the South East Climate Alliance ABCD pledge.

My prime concern is to ensure that air pollution in Portsmouth is reduced by tackling traffic congestion by seeking to increase the public transport infrastructure. I will also seek to increase the size of the Portsmouth Clean Air Zone in line with residents wishes as well as promoting cycling within the city.

I also wish to increase the proportion of recycled waste by in Portsmouth at the earliest opportunity by rolling out food waste collection across the city and increasing what can be collected in our green recycling bins.

In addition, I seek to oppose the Tipner West development as it destroys 43.5 hectares of wildlife feeding grounds and a site of special scientific interest as well as adding untold amounts of pollution to our waterfront city.

As a veteran, I aim to provide a voice for veterans on Portsmouth City Council and aim to work with the Royal Navy to further reduce the impact of ships and personnel travelling on our city’s environment without impinging on operational capability.


And finally Dear Reader, should you like to find out more about Portsmouth Green Party and follow us on social medias, do peruse some of the links below:

Portsmouth Green Party: https://portsmouth.greenparty.org.uk/

PGP Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreenPompey

PGP Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pompeygreens/

PGP Twitter: https://twitter.com/PompeyGreens

#LetPompeyBreathe: https://greenpompey.org.uk/let-pompey-breathe/

Green Party of England and Wales: https://www.greenparty.org.uk/


Written by Tamara, a Green Hairy Feminist

Ethical Tech: Mobile Phones

REFURBISHED VS FAIRPHONE

Emma vs Tamara

This is a post free from Covid-19 mentions! Enjoy the breather as you ponder the ethicalness of mobile phones. :)

To buy new, or not to buy new?

That is the question that Emma and Tamara are tackling in today’s post, specifically in relation to mobile smartphones.

Should one buy new, or refurbish and repair? Or simply do without? (Spoiler alert, the last option isn’t a choice we explore!)

Photo Credit: The Gender Spectrum Collection 

EMMA SAYS: DON’T BUY NEW. BUY REFURBISHED.

We begin with Emma, the queen of the refurbished phone.

Emma got all the phones, she got all the phones.

I have had eight phones in my short little life. (I’m still a Young Green for nine more months!) The first two – a Motorola Brick and a Nokia 3310i – were third hand. My uncle would give my mum his old phone when he got a new one and I would get it after she was done with it.

Then, I turned 16 and I asked for a camera phone for my birthday. And that was where things started to go wrong. When I went to college (and started going out later with friends), my parents and I agreed that I would get a cheap contract, so that I couldn’t claim that I didn’t have the credit to tell them the gig overran or I missed my bus. That came with a new phone, barely a year after the last. (I assume the provider didn’t have a sim-only contract then.)

When I moved to uni, my phone didn’t get signal and, after too many nights only able to phone people while standing outside the IT centre, I switched providers, which came with a new phone. This time a slider phone, which broke just a year later, and resulted in me buying my last-ever new phone.

I should, for context, tell you that I got another phone second-hand from my mum and discovered sim-only contracts at some point between 2011 and 2019. (Also, that all of my past phones have been recycled or sold on if they were working.)

Reader, she cheap.

As mentioned before, I’m cheap. (If this feels like a recurring theme to you dear reader, try being one of my friends who I refuse to pay the £4 to sit next to on a plane or who have to smile at the bartender as I order tap water at their birthday night out.)

The phones that I had bought, as opposed to getting through a contract or from a family member, only ever cost about £60, which meant that they were off-brand with lower-res cameras and would result in people going, “Is that an- oh no”, whenever I got my phone out.

So I didn’t want to buy a new phone when my old one was no longer able to support any of the social media apps that I used. But I was tired of taking terrible photos.

And yes, I know that sounds shallow, but as a writer and the co-runner of the Portsmouth Green Party Instagram account, it was my own personal hell to continuously borrow my mum’s phone to upload pictures about your local Green Party or promote my articles on Twitter. (For 10 glorious minutes in November 2017, a picture of a cake my mum made was visible on the PGP Instagram because I forgot to log out.)

Emma discovers refurbished phones and doesn’t look back, ok bye.

So last February, I knew I needed a new-to-me phone. I was practically bullied into it by a dear friend and my mum. I opted for a refurbished one through my network provider and got a 2018 model, which supported all the apps I needed and had a great camera, for just £60.

(It came with a £10 sim card that I gave away to one of the local homeless shelters to allow the people there to call their families.) (Full disclosure, I don’t remember which one, but The Lifehouse said they would appreciate it when I asked in preparation for the post.)

So why would I buy refurbished?

  • Cheaper
  • Lighter
  • More attractive and can get a cute case (although beauty is in the eye on the phone holder)
  • Compatible with wireless chargers (all of my USB cords are dangerously frayed)
  • Buying second-hand is better for the planet than buying new, even if the item you’re buying new is sustainable and eco-friendly
  • No matter how simple it is to repair the Fairphone (see below), I would still put it off. It’s pretty simple to clean my laptop keyboard, but I’m pretty sure there’s mould growing under there from the third year of uni.

But now, let’s hear from Tamara about the Fairphone. (She can totally trash my Huawei phone. A good place to start is, “aren’t the Chinese government using that to spy on people?”)


TAMARA SAYS: DON’T BUY BAD NEW. BUY FAIRPHONE.

Photo Credit: Fairphone

Tamara argues against second-hand…wait, say what now?

Uh oh Emma, are you going all 5G conspiracy theory on me? Seriously though, she makes a compelling argument. Buying second-hand should be the default. So why even as I agree that if a phone can be reused, it absolutely should, am I arguing against? Dear Reader, let me take you down an alternative path.

Like Emma, I have always taken pride in not being a brand follower or a tech upgrader. Sim-only contract, that’s me! Why get a new phone every two years when my current one is perfectly fine-ish? Again like Emma with her third-hand-me-downs, my mobile phones were always donated by my partner, the Dutchman when his work upgraded their mobile phone contracts. He always had a better, faster, shiner phone than me, with more storage space and a fancier camera. He was always the more tech-aware one in our household. I am the one who goes running with my trusty old iPod. I was the one who carried around a mobile power bank because my old iPhone’s battery would drain to 10% if I even thought about making a call. I couldn’t afford to repair these phones and most couldn’t be repaired anyway, cause they are not designed to be easily accessed.

Until now.

I am now the trend-setter with a phone that I treat more reverently than a new-born baby.

‘Hah!’, I hear you thinking, ‘Call yourself a greenie? What a hypocrite. Bought yourself a new, expensive phone at the expense of the planet and those who reside on her?’

And to that, I say: New? Yes. Expensive? Definitely yes.

Planet and people destroying? Absolutely NOT!

Dear Reader, I present to you the FairPhone a mobile phone designed to be repaired and ethically produced.

Photo Credit: Fairphone

I have reached ethical nirvana.

This is not a sponsored post. Tamara is just a massive fangirl.

Tamara learns to trust again, this time by doing actual research

For many years, I trusted brands. I trusted banks. I trusted supermarkets. I didn’t question why I trusted them, I just did. I thought for a long time that Apple was an ethical green brand because it was called Apple.

Luckily a good friend of mine (the same one who I mentioned in a previous post I share a subscription to The Ethical Consumer with) introduced me to the Fairphone about 5 years ago, opening my eyes in the process to the conflict mining and child labour that go into the manufacture of the typical smartphone.

Let’s get real for a moment. Smartphones are a*mazing. But the way they are produced is definitely NOT amazing. I won’t go into it all here, it bums me out too much and I get all fatalistic and depressive. But I will try to quickly summarise, so you know where I am coming from. But as usual, I strongly encourage you to educate and inform yourself as this is just my limited understanding.


~ A Sad Smartphone Summary~

Ok, so, basically, smartphones are made up of thousands of different components and on average around 60 different metals. These metals that go into a phone are mined.

If it is mined by people, by hand, from the earth, it is called artisanal mining. Artisinal mining sounds all fancy and lovely doesn’t it, like yummy sourdough bread. Hah, the absolute literal bloody irony as many of these metals are mined in areas of conflict, such as cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The unethical mining of these metals which go into our phones fund brutal conflicts. Child and forced labour is a huge problem. Artisinal mining my arse.

That is just one part of the supply chain. Then we have the manufacturing process, mostly done in China and Vietnam. I am talking poor and unsafe working and living conditions, inadequate health and safety and low pay. The usual fun stuff.

And finally, the disposal of the mobile phone. Even if recycled, many smartphones end up in e-waste dumps which leach pollutants into the soil, waterways and the workers who are extracting the metal components for recycling. (But we still encourage you to recycle your phone with us – we have absolute trust in Recycling for Good Causes.)

~End of sad summary~

Ooof. As I said, it is a bummer. And that is why, when my second-hand iPhone kaptutted, I bought a Fairphone 3.


Tamara pitches why your next new smartphone should be a Fairphone

The Fairphone is ethical but it does not claim to be perfect. It is not 100% fair or completely recyclable. But it is the only ethical smartphone that exists in today’s current market. They have traceable supply chains for all four internationally recognized conflict minerals: tungsten, tin, tantalum and gold. The gold is also fairtrade.

The supply and production chain of the Fairphone is completely transparent and they actively support workers rights and a fair living wage. My Fairphone 3 cost £400. From that, only 1.50 euro per phone was needed to ensure a living wage bonus to all the factory workers on the Fairphone production line in Suzhou, China. Fairphone points out that they are not the factory’s only customer and probably account for less than 10% of the total production in the factory. If all the factory customers followed suit, all the factory workers would have a fair living wage. *looks pointedly over to the big phone manufacturers*

And finally, the Fairphone is designed to be repaired. By the consumer! By me! It is a modular, repairable phone.

Yep, it cost me £400. That is a shite-load of money. I have never spent that kind of money on a phone before. Remember, I am a hand-me-down kinda gal. But I saved for a long time and bit the bullet and put my money where my ethics claim to be. Not everyone is able to do that, but I am happy I could.

Demand the right to repair

I am grateful the Fairphone option exists. But why is it the only truly repairable smartphone brand available?

It is my personal opinion -not backed up by any research cause I am at the end of the article and I am getting hungry – that manufacturers do not design their phones to last. They definitely don’t design them to be easily repaired.

This is why I encourage you to support and sign this Right to Repair petition urging the European Union to require manufacturers like Samsung, Huawei and Apple to design repairable smartphones and provide spare parts and repair information to all repairers and consumers.

After signing the petition, I am off to wrap my Fairphone in bubble wrap leftover from my recent move and sing it to sleep! My precious!

How to eco-hack your Christmas Presents in Portsmouth

Hey all and welcome to Shades of Green’s semi-annual eco Christmas post. Now, you might remember that earlier in the year, I (Emma) vowed not to buy any Christmas presents for adults. (I was still going to buy them for my nephews and nieces.)

Now, that promise was made before what was (and contiues to be) a distressing few months for my family. My grampy doesn’t really get why I’m trying to refuse presents and my mum thought we were just doing this for people outside our immediate family.

I tried to fight back. It ended in an argument. And Tamara, after I almost screamed at her about the fact that I was now under stress to buy presents that I never wanted to in December, explained that presents are a love language and my family are probably just trying to show that they care, after our annus horribilis.

Thus I, the person who didn’t want to buy presents, am now doing an eco-gift guide for my family.

Please note: This is not an ad. No payment or gifts were exchanged for inclusion in this blog. These are simply eco-friendly companies that I have bought presents from for the three people that I live with.

Buy local

When you buy local you can often cut down on transit and CO2; even if you still buy from a national or global brand.

A completely non-scientific case-study

If you wanted to purchase an individual bath bomb from Lush; you could order online and have that one item posted to you.

Compare this to buying that same bath bomb from your local store. They order their stock in massive amounts (50 bath bombs per box, sometimes as many as 30 boxes per delivery); the carbon footprint per bath bomb is much less.

Plus, they do have a massive package free (naked!) section.

Buy Small

Of course, it is always better to buy from small businesses in your local area. Here, I should mention the lovely Pigeon Books, who have been supplying me with presents for my nephews and niece since the summer.

They specialise in diverse books and have a whole section of eco-saving literature. Plus, if you live nearby they’ll deliver by bike and if you live further away, they’ll package your books in reused packaging.

I have the imposter syndrome mug you can see here!

Buy Handmade

When you buy handmade you’re helping someone to do what they want for a living; you get something uber unique and you might even get lucky by picking something from a designer that’ll be huge one day.

For this, I will recommend The Beehive Portsmouth, which has a collection of designers under one roof. We visited for the launch event back in September and loved it.

Tamara particularly liked the jewellery, I liked the small prints, and from the photos, it looks like Tamara’s husband Menno liked the food!

Buy secondhand

One of the major environmental costs is the production of new items and it’s much more eco to buy products that have been pre-loved.

I used to love doing this throughout the year and having my mum put stuff away for my Christmas presents, but, like most prolific readers, I now have more books than I could read in a lifetime.

Check out eBay, Gumtree or even Facebook Marketplace. Or you can pop down to your local charity shop and do twice the good.

However, if you’re looking specifically for books, which I always am, try World of Books, which is approved by both me and Tamara. They source books from charity shops, who are often overwhelmed by books, and prevent them from going to landfill.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5vUXyDlAKi/
I’m going to need a bigger bookshelf

Buy charitable

On that note, if someone doesn’t really have a need for more items, why not consider a charitable donation? Plenty of charities will send out cards saying that a donation have been made in their name. (Remember to add on Gift Aid if you can!)

I’ve done this for a few years for my grampy with Doctors Without Borders, but if you want to donate closer to home, there are some worthwhile causes in Portsmouth mentioned in a previous post.

Buy sustainable

We all have that friend who could use a little push to be more eco-friendly and a good way to give that push in a friendly manner is to buy them a green gift.

Looking for ideas? Check out one of Tamara’s first blogs about her zero-waste backpack.

How to Recycle in Portsmouth in 2019

Welcome to The Updated Ultimate Guide to Recycling in Portsmouth!

 It is no secret that we (Emma and Tamara) love recycling; we’ve certainly written enough posts about it. Back in 2017, our first post here on Shades of Green was about how to recycle in Portsmouth. But in the two years since then, much has changed and the time for updating is here!

As there is currently no national standardized recycling system in the UK, access to recycling facilities varies widely depending on where you live. It’s basically a geographical luck-of-the-draw. Emma’s best friend lives in Bolton and whenever Emma visits, she’s amazed and rather jealous about what Bolton council will divert from the rubbish bin compared to Portsmouth city council. She literally lusts over Bolton’s kerbside recycling where food and drink cartons, foil and foil trays (to name but a few) are all collected, together with the usual suspects of tins, paper and card and plastic bottles.

Shades of Green Mantra
Image by Tracey McCulloch

With countries such as China and Malaysia turning away the UK’s low-quality recycling, dumping our recycling waste on other countries is no longer such an easy option. So, though important, recycling must come after reusing, repairing, and reducing. With this in mind, donating to charity and repairing is included as a recycling option on our list.

For your convenience and our sanity, we’ve structured this list of items by which room in your house they’re most likely to be found. (We’ve included office as well for those of you looking to recycle at work.) We’ve also listed it according to the most convenient place for you to recycle items, i.e. if it can be recycled at home at the kerbside, we’ve stated that. 

Prepare yourself, this is one epic post!

Tip: Please ensure items are clean and free of food residue on them. Give items quick rinse and let air dry before recycling.
Terracycle Tip: Public drop-off locations for Terracycle recycling schemes do change and some schemes are time-limited, so check the maps we have included or the Terracycle website for updated locations and information.

The Updated Ultimate Guide to Recycling in Portsmouth

Room by room


Living Room

Extract of living room items that can be recycled

Living Room: Recycle Kerbside

  • Paper and Cardboard, such as
    • Newspapers and magazines 
    • Junk mail 
    • Greetings cards and gift wrapping paper (no glitter or embellishments or foils or plastics) 
    • Telephone directories and Yellow Pages
  • Small Electrical and Electronic Items (WEEE)
    • If definitely dead as a dodo, recycle at the kerbside. (Leave in a standard-sized supermarket carrier bag on top of your green wheelie bin/ box.)
    • Broken Sat Navs, Games Consoles, Laptops, Tablets, Cameras, including video cameras, Mobile Phones, and Portable Music Devices can also be donated to Portsmouth Green Party who through Recycling for Good Causes recycle these unwanted items and raise funds.

Living Room: Leave The House

  • Batteries
    • Where: Collection Points are located inside the store of most large supermarkets, including Lidl, Tesco, Currys PC World, and Sainsbury’s. (Take a look in your supermarket next time you shop)
    • What:
      • All household batteries including ‘button’ batteries from watches.
      • Battery packs from laptops, mobile phones, power tools and remote control units.
  • Cigarette Waste
    • Where: Freepost to Terracycle.
    • What:
      • Extinguished cigarettes
      • Filters
      • Tobacco pouches
      • Rolling paper
      • Inner foil packaging
      • Outer plastic packaging, and ash.
  • Books
    • Pre-loved books can be donated to charity or put in the Books & CD/DVD Recycling Banks across the city. Click here to find your nearest one.
  • CDs and DVDs
    • Pre-loved CDs and DVDs can be donated to charity shops or to the CD/DVD & Books Recycling Banks across the city. Click here to find your nearest one.
    • For obsolete data CDs etc
      • Where: Post to Reproplastics. Contact them first for their separation specifications.
    • What:
      • CD and DVD cases (with the discs removed)
      • CDs and DVDs loose
  • Large Electricals
    • If in working order, donate and if broken, attempt to repair.
    • If definitely broken
      • Return to the store for disposal.
      • or take to the Household Waste Recycling Centre (aka the Tip in Port Solent)
      • or contact a scrap metal dealer, like this one. (Emma did no research apart from Googling ‘Free Scrap Metal Collection Portsmouth UK’)
  • Furniture
    • Donate, give away, or sell.
    • If not fit for use, try offering on Freecycle or Trash Nothing because some clever crafty people can turn your broken chest of drawers into a child’s toy storage.
    • Last resort is the tip.
  • Money

Kitchen

Extract of kitchen items that can be recycled

Kitchen: Recycle Kerbside

  • Paper and Card, such as:
    • Takeaway menus 
    • Cardboard egg boxes
    • Cardboard fruit and veg punnets (please break down larger boxes)
    • Cardboard sleeve
    • Cardboard sandwich packaging (remove plastic window)
    • Cereal boxes
    • Pizza boxes (any parts with food waste or lots of grease should be composted)
    • Corrugated cardboard
  • Plastic bottles (No lids), such as:
    • Home cleaning product bottles like Cleaner and detergent bottles
    • Drinks bottles
    • Milk bottles
    • See where you can recycle the plastic bottle lids further down this list.
  • Drink Cans and Food tins (please wash), such as:
    • Drink cans e.g. fizzy drinks cans, beer cans
    • Food tins e.g. baked beans, fish, soup tins
    • Pet food tins e.g. dog and cat food tins
    • Metal sweet and biscuit tins
  • Food Waste Trial 
    • Portsmouth City Council is launching a food waste kerbside collection trial starting this September 2019 for 6 months. Click here to see if you are one of the lucky households participating. 
    • Yes to all uneaten food and plate scrapings, plastic-free tea bags, shredded paper, coffee grounds, vegetable peelings, eggshells and cut flowers.  
    • No to liquids or packaging of any kind. That includes industrial ‘compostable’ packaging such as Vegware.
Tip: If your road is not part of the food waste trial, see ShareWaste further down this list. 

Kitchen: LEAVE THE HOUSE

Recycling Banks/ Supermarkets
  • Glass Bottles and Jars (including metal lids) 
    • Where: Recycle at Glass Recycling Banks located across the city. Find your nearest one here
    • What:
      • Glass bottles of any colour e.g. wine and beer bottles
      • Food jars e.g. jam jars, baby food jars
      • Non-food bottles, e.g. perfume, aftershave, face creams
Tip: Did you know you can leave the metal jar lids and the screwcap lids on!   
  • Rigid Mixed Plastics
    • Where: Rigid Mixed Plastic Recycling Banks at Sainsbury’s Farlington and Sainsbury’s Commercial Road. Sainsbury’s Superstores are the only stores we’ve spotted these mixed plastic recycling banks.
    • What:
      • Margarine and ice cream tubs
      • Confectionary tubs
      • Rigid plastic food packets
      • Yoghurt pots
      • Plastic lids (see below for alternatives to Sainsbury’s)
  • Drinks and Food Cartons
    • What:
      • Juice cartons
      • Paper cups
      • Milk cartons
      • Paper coffee cups (no lids)
      • Soup, tomatoes and other food cartons
      • Other beverage cartons
      • No to sandwich packaging, any other laminated fibre packaging, coffee cup lids.
 Tip:  Did you know you can leave the caps/lids of the cartons on!    
  • Stretchy Plastics
    • Where: Plastic Bag Recycling Collection Points found in (usually) larger supermarkets in-store, including Waitrose Southsea and Commercial Road Sainsbury’s Superstore and Tesco Superstore and North Habour Tesco Superstore Extra.
    • What: 
      • Plastic Carrier Bags (except biodegradable or compostable bags)
      • Plastic bread bags,
      • Plastic cereal bags and inner cereal bags, 
      • Plastic wrappers and ring joiners from multipacks of cans and plastic bottles
      • Plastic wrappers from toilet roll, nappy pack and kitchen towel packs,
      • Plastic freezer bags
      • Plastic magazine and newspaper wrap (type used for home delivery only) 
      • Polythene that covers things like dry cleaning, 
      • Thin bags used for fruit and veg at supermarkets, 
        Bubble wrap
      • Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) – resin ID code
      • No: Do not include anything claiming to be biodegradable or compostable.
Tips: Tear off sticky labels where possible.
      Bread bags can also be dropped off at Eco Freaks Emporium, Gosport.
Out and ABout (Kitchen)
  • Plastic Bottle Lids (alternative to Sainsbury’s mixed plastics recycling banks)
    • Where: Lush Portsmouth.
    • What: Small plastic bottle tops made from any plastic compound such as Lush bottle caps, milk, soft drinks, sports cap drinks, fabric softener caps.
    • Where + What: Take milk bottle lids only to Coffee No. 1 in Southsea

[April 22, 2021

SAD DANCE UPDATE: Unfortunately, St Mary’s Church no longer take foils for recycling. Instead, you can take your foils to the Household Waste Recycling Centre, in Port Solent (aka the tip).]

  • Foils
    • Where: Drop it at St Mary’s Church, Fratton 9am-12pm, Monday to Friday. 
    • What:
      • Clean household foil and aluminium trays
      • Takeaway containers
      • Barbeque tray
Tip: Try the scrunch test - if you scrunch it up into a ball and it stays that way (like tin foil does), then it’s probably recyclable aluminium. If it bounces back open it isn't and needs to go in the rubbish bin.  
Tip: Take the plastic lids to Sainsbury’s Mixed Plastic Banks
  • Biscuit or Sweet Metal Tins
    • (alternative to kerbside recycling)
  • Organic, Compostable Waste
    • Sign up for Sharewaste, which links people with organic waste like veg peelings and no compost with people with home composters! Tamara has two compost bins and is very proud of her system and many ‘regulars’ who donate their fruit and veg peelings.
    • What: This depends on the person who accepts your stuff for compost but to give you any idea – Tamara accepts:
      • Raw, uncooked fruit and veg peelings (remove stickers from fruit etc)
      • Uncooked eggshells (please crush)
      • Used tea leaves and used coffee grounds. ( just the contents of the teabags as most teabag casings are made of plastic – unless states plastic-free/ biodegradable tea bags )
      • No cooked food of any kind
  • Plastic Takeaway Containers: If still fit-for-purpose, donate your clean reusable takeaway containers to The Lifehouse or Foodcycle or Portsmouth Foodbank.
  • Coffee Pods:
Tip: Did you know that Portsmouth Foodbank welcomes donations of toiletries, Tupperware, tin openers etc for people in need - not just food. 
Terracycle Drop Off Locations (Kitchen)
  • Ella’s Kitchen Baby Food Pouches and Snack Wrappers
    • Where: About four Terracycle public drop-off locations in Portsmouth and Eco Freaks Emporium in Gosport. See map for details. Alternatively, youcan sign up as a private collector and post the items for free.
    • What:
      • Ella’s Kitchen brand of baby food pouches
      • Ella’s Kitchen brand baby food pouch caps (remember these can also go into Sainsbury’s Mixed Plastics Recycling or be taken to Lush)
      • Ella’s Kitchen brand Snack packets
  • Pringles Tubes and Lids
    • Where: There are a few Terracycle Pringles public drop-off locations depending on where you live in Portsmouth, including Solent Infant School. Zoom in on the map for details. Or sign up as a private collector and post the items for free.
    • What:
      • Any size of Pringles brand tubes
      • Plastic lid and seal of Pringles brand can
  • Crisp Packets
    • Where: There are a handful of Terracycle Crisp Packet public drop-off locations both in the north and south of Portsmouth as well as Eco Freaks Emporium, Gosport. Zoom in on the map for details.
    • What:
      • Crisp packets
      • Crisp multipack outer packaging
Tips: Flatten the crisp packets and do not fold them into triangles. And try Two Farmers Crisps which come in home compostable bags! #notanad 
  • Popcorn, Nut and Pretzel Packets
    • Where: There is one Terracycle drop-off location in Pompey (Southsea) or then it’s Eco Freaks Emporium in Gosport or Horndean. See map for details.  
    • What:
      • Any brand nut packets
      • Any brand pretzel packets
      • Any brand popcorn packets
      • Any brand crisp packets
  • Biscuit and Snack Packaging
    • Where: There are a few Terracycle public drop-off locations in Portsmouth as well as Eco Freaks in Gosport. Zoom in on the map for details.
    • What:
      • Any brand of non-savoury biscuit wrappers
      • Any brand of cracker wrappers
      • Any brand of cake bar wrappers
  • Sweet Packets and Plastic Confectionery Packaging
    • Where: Solent Infant School in Drayton. Eco Freaks Emporium in Gosport. (Both SIS and EFE also take several other items if you just want to make one big trip with everything.)
    • What:
      • Plastic chocolate and sweets pouches and bags
      • Individual chocolate bar wrappers
      • Chocolate and sweets multipack outer plastic packaging
      • Plastic chocolate block wrappers
Tip: Breakfast, granola and energy bar wrappers are not accepted. See here for more details on what is/isn't accepted.  
  • Home Cleaning Products Packaging
    • Where: Several locations in North Portsmouth. See map for details.
    • What: all brands and sizes of –
      • Plastic bottle caps and plastic trigger heads for home cleaning products
      • Flexible wipe packaging (used for home cleaning products)
      • Pumps and caps for home cleaning products

And for the truly dedicated, here are some kitchen items that do not currently have drop-off locations in Portsmouth but can be taken further afield to Fareham, Gosport Denmead etc.

Further afield Terracycle drop off locations
  • L’OR and Kenco Coffee Packaging
    • Where: Drop off at these locations in Fareham or Gosport.
    • What:
      • Any size of Tassimo Flow Wrap packaging
      • Kenco Eco-Refill Coffee Packs
      • L’OR Coffee Capsules
      • Kenco Eco-Refill Coffee Packs
      • Kenco brand Coffee Jar Lids
Tip:  Alternatively, for an easy life, drop the coffee jar lids at Sainsbury’s Mixed Plastic Banks  
  • Cleaning Products Packaging
    • Where: Either in Eco Freaks Emporium, Gosport Fareham and Denmead. Zoom in on map for details.
    • What: any brand of –
      • Outer plastic sleeve for dishwasher cleaners:
      • Foil inside dishwasher protector
      • Flexible plastic dishwasher sale bags
      • Outer packaging for dishwasher cleaner and fresheners
      • Fragrance Twin Pack plastic sleeves
      • Flexible stain remover packaging
      • Flexible cleaning wipe packaging
      • Flexible cleaning product refill packaging
      • Flexible dishwasher tablet packaging
  • Pet Food Packaging
    • Where: Either in Gosport or Horndean. Zoom in on map for details.
    • What:
      • All wet pet food plastic pouches
      • All pet treat flexible plastic packaging and pouches
      • All dry pet food flexible plastic packaging

Bathroom

Extract of bathroom items that can be recycled

bathroom: Recycle Kerbside

  • Paper and Card, such as
    • Toilet roll tubes
    • Toothpaste cardboard cartons
  • Plastic Bottles, such as
    • Plastic shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, etc bottles
Tip: Rinse them out first- use leftover bathwater or do so in the shower.  

Bathroom: LEAVE THE HOUSE

Terracycle Drop Off Locations (BATHROOM)
  • Oral Care Items
    • Plastic toothbrushes (rinsed)
    • Electric or battery-operated toothbrush heads (rinsed)
    • Toothbrush outer packaging
    • Toothbrush tubes and caps (empty as far as possible)
  • Razors and Blades
    • Where: Sign up here for a Freepost envelope.
    • What: Gillette is running a recycling scheme until June 2020 via Terracycle for all brands of razors, blades and disposable razors and their packaging.
  • Plastic Air Fresheners
    • Where: A few locations north of Portsmouth. See map for details.
    • What: all brands and sizes of-
      • Plastic air fresheners and air freshener cartridges
      • Plastic air freshener packaging

BEDROOM

Extract of bedroom items that can be recycled

BEDROOM: Recycle Kerbside

  • Aerosols, such as
    • Deodorant aerosol containers 
    • No lids
Tip: Take the plastic aerosol lids to Sainsbury's mixed plastic banks. 
  • Metal Tins, such as
    • Shoe polish tins
    • Deodorant tins

Bedroom: Leave The House

Out and ABout (BEDROOM)
  • Glass
    • Where: Glass Recycling Banks can be found across the city. To find your nearest one, go to Portsmouth’s City Council Recycling Locator here.
    • What:
      • Glass jars and bottles such as body cream and face cream jars. Remember, you can leave the metal lids on.
  • Jewellery
    • What + Where: Donate jewellery including costume jewellery, odd earings, broken pieces, and watches to Portsmouth Green Party. Of course, other organisations and charities also collect for these types of recycling schemes.
  • Contact Lenses, including Packaging
    • Where: We have spotted contact lens recycling bins in-store at Boots in Commercial Road, Portsmouth and the Boots Meridian Centre, Havant. When you get your next eye-test, check if your local opticians in participating in this Terracycle scheme.
    • What: any brand of-
      • Soft, disposable contact lenses (daily, 2-weekly, monthly)
      • Contact lens blister packs & foils waste packaging
  • Spectacles
  • Inhalers
    • Where: A number of locations across the city, including Boots Southsea and Asda Fratton pharmacies. Search for the nearest one here.
    • What:
      • All brands of oral respiratory devices
      • Click here to check the list of acceptable items
  • L’Occitane Beauty, Hair and Skincare Packaging
    • What:
      • Refill pouches
      • Flexible Plastic Tubes
      • Rigid plastic tubes/tubs such as lip balm tubes and deodorant sticks
      • Caps and closures
      • Pumps, trigger heads and dispensers such as for soap, body lotion etc
      • Travel size packaging
      • Metal cases
      • Aluminium packaging
      • No: Aerosols Glass Bottles, Glass Tubs, Glass Moisturiser Jars
Tips: Recycle aerosols kerbside minus the lid, the aerosol lid can go to Sainsbury's Mixed Plastics Recycling Banks, the glass tubs and jars to the Glass Recycling Banks all around town. 
  • Clothing and Accessories
    • What:
      • Clothing
      • Shoes
      • Bags
      • Household Linens
      • Belts
      • Hats, scarves
    • Repair:
    • Donate:
      • New to Good Condition?
        • *Prioritise* donating to charity shops and shelters if items are in good, reuseable condition.
      • In Good to Bad Condition?
        • Textile Recycling Banks
          • Where: There are many across the city, check here for your nearest one.
          • What: Any materials (clothes, shoes & bags and household linen) no matter how old or worn (Please ensure items are clean and place them in a bag).
      • Not Fit for Use?
        • Where: Charity Shops and Textile Recycling Banks
        • What: Rags, materials and textiles not fit for use – including old towels, bedding, clothes, etc
        • Tip: Put in a separate bag and label it rags, so staff don’t waste time going through it.
    • Swap for Rewards:
      • Where: Most M&S stores, including M&S Outlets, and at Oxfam stores offer a ‘Shwop Drop’ box, usually by the tills. Nearest M&S Outlet is in Gunwharf and Oxfam Shop is in Southsea.
      • What: They accept any item of clothing (even if it’s damaged) from any retailer, including shoes, handbags, jewellery, belts, hats, scarves and bras. You can also Shwop soft furnishings (bed linen, towels, cushions, curtains, throws, aprons, tablecloths and napkins)
      • Where: +What: H&M accept unwanted clothes by any brand, in any condition, at any of their stores. Nearest H&M is in Commercial Road, Portsmouth.
      • Others reward schemes exist. Google is your friend.
  • Bras
    • As well as the options above, you can also donate your preloved bras to specific bra-focused organisations and charities that redistribute and recycle them.
    • Tamara particularly likes Against Breast Cancer and Bravissimo, having used both in the past. Freepost your bras to Bravissimo to this address: FREEPOST RLYT-YCYR-YGUH, Bravissimo, 1st Floor, Imperial Court, Holly Walk, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, CV32 4YB.
  • Towels, Bedding, and Other Large Soft Materials
    • If it’s not good enough to be sold in a charity shop, but too good for rags, donate to your local animal shelter.
  • Mattresses
    • Donate to charity shops or homeless shelters, if in good condition and fit for use.
    • If not able to reuse, you could take some time stripping it down into individual parts, giving the material to rag bags and the metal to scrap metal collectors.
    • Or you can take it to the tip.
  • Sex Toys
    • Electric ones, i.e. vibrators, can be recycled with Love Honey. (Read more about socially conscious sex here.)
Tip: As electric/battery-operated sex toys are electrical items, they can be recycled kerbside. Leave in a standard-sized supermarket carrier bag on top of your green wheelie bin/ box. 
Terracycle Drop Off Locations (Bedroom)

Office/ study

Business vector created by freepik – www.freepik.com

Office and study: KERBSIDE

  • Paper, such as
    • Window envelopes
    • Envelopes
    • Greeting cards (no glitter or embellishments)

Office and study: Leave The House

Tip: Remember, shredded paper cannot go in the kerbside recycling but it can go in a home composter as well as the new kerbside food waste collection trial. 
  • Packaging from Packages
    • Where: Join Packshare and donate your packaging materials to small businesses. The closest location accepting materials (at the time of writing) is on Hayling Island.
    • What:
      • Cardboard boxes
      • Bubble wrap
      • Air pockets
      • Packing peanuts
      • Jiffy bags
      • Poster tubes
      • Brown paper
      • Tissue paper
      • Vinyl mailer 7″ and 12″
      • Corrugated cardboard
      • Shredded cardboard
      • Plastic bags

Garage / Shed

Extract of garage and shed items that can be recycled

gARAGE AND shed: Leave The House

  • Energy-efficient Light Bulbs:
    • Robert Dyas and Curry’s PC World stores should accept them for recycling. There is a Robert Dyas on Palmerston Road, Southsea and a Curry’s PC World at Ocean Retail Park, Copnor.
  • Bicycles
    • Community Cycle Hub will refurbish donated bikes or recycle them. They have three locations – two in Portsmouth and one in Gosport.
  • Wood
  • Paint
    • Reuse: Reuse it. Donate to friends/family/local community project if you won’t use it again.
Tip: Did you know paint can't be recycled or taken to landfill sites in a liquid state? 
  • Non-electrical Tools
    • Donate to charity shops, local community projects, or Workaid.
    • Unusable ones might be able to be collected by scrap metal collectors.

Garden/ Windowsill/ Balcony

Background vector created by vectorpouch – www.freepik.com

Garden/ Windowsill/ balcony: Leave The House

  • Plant Pots and Trays
    • Donate useable items to community gardens such as Southsea Green and Landport Community Garden.
    • A friend of Shades of Green, Emma, alerted us that plastic plant pots can be recycled at B&Q. Let us know if you try!
    • Further afield in Havant, you can take all shapes, sizes and colours of plastic plant post and trays to Dobbies Garden Centre. Give them a quick wash first and ensure it is plastic and not polystyrene.
  • Compostable Garden Waste
    • Where: As mentioned in the Kitchen section, Sharewaste links those with organic waste and no compost with neighbours with home composters.
    • What: This depends on the Sharewaste neighbour but they might accept –
      • Dry leaves,
      • Wood ashes
      • Withered flowers
      • Wood shavings
      • Grass clippings
    • Where: The Garden Waste Club, a paid kerbside collection is available in Portsmouth through Biffa.
    • What:
      • Leaves, grass cuttings, hedge and tree cuttings etc
      • Any woody material under 10cm (4 inches) in diameter
      • No vegetable peelings, animal waste such as droppings etc or animal bedding
  • Holiday Inflatables
    • Where: Isle of Wight based Wyatt & Jack turn inflatables, destined for the bin, into cool bags. Post smaller items and they refund your postage. They can collect large items from you using a courier service. See here for address details.
    • What: punctured and beyond repair –
      • Punctured paddling pools,
      • Bouncy castles,
      • Inflatable unicorns etc.
      • Water wings/ armbands
      • Beach balls
      • Old windbreaks
      • Trampolines
      • Rubber dinghies
      • All sorts of other beach paraphernalia, inflatables and water toys
      • Air beds

Well, that was a major read. Congrats if you made it to the end. Let us know any questions you have in the comments below or via ">email.

We’re especially interested to hear from people who want to share other recycling locations, other products to be recycled, and if you’re a local business able to take any products (i.e. paint, wood, etc) for reuse.


GREEN CHALLENGES: How we Scrwed up this year and how we’ll do better

Following our Green Wins, join Emma and me as we bare our souls and reveal our Eco ‘Oopsies’. But as eco-shame is never the aim of our game, we also set our positive intentions with personal enviro challenges for the next 365 days of Shades of Green.

So, first, the waggy-ish finger – What Eco ‘Oopsies’ have Emma and I (Tamara) made in the last year in our attempts to live green?


Confessions of Shady Greens

Image by jessica45 from Pixabay

Emma’s Eco Oopsies

Chauffeur Hire: I have been persuaded to share a taxi late at night, rather than get the bus, which I feel guilty about. (Tamara says: You are SHARING a taxi. That is fine. I absolve you.)

Flying McFly Face: Two of my holidays in 2019 have involved air-travel and I cannot pretend that I feel good about it. Before my holidays, Tamara and I discussed offsetting the carbon, which Tamara feels is greenwash. I can’t prove that the companies would have planted a tree with the £10, so I donated it to Portsmouth Green Party instead.

Single-Use Trees and Leaves: I do routinely forget to tell restaurants that I don’t want paper napkins, so I end up taking my unused napkin home and using it for emergency toilet paper if I haven’t washed my cloths. Otherwise, restaurants will just throw them in the bin because they don’t know what you’ve done to them.

Strike a Pose, Vogue: I bought three *new* items of clothing that were definitely not made from sustainable materials. I wish my swimsuit had been made from recycled materials and that the other items had been bought second-hand. 

Tamara’s Eco Oopsies 

Cat vs Food: My stupid cat has stupid ongoing urinary problems. She is now on stupid urinary food for life and though I have sourced it in a can and not in a stupid plastic pouch, it is not ethical meat. Gutted. Farewell to Yarrah‘s organic, grain free and MSC wet cat food!

Who Needs Teeth?: I am pleased to report that I have sourced zero waste toothpaste and floss. I have been using Toothtabs (with fluoride!) for a while now and am very happy with them. I’ve been buying them online and was so chuffed to buy them locally from Refill and Replenish  – a fab mobile plastic-free shop run by the lovely Laura and Alice.

However, though I bought plastic-free dental floss from Wild Thyme ages ago at the Package Free Larder launch event March, I haven’t actually used it yet. My dentist will be horrified. 

Think of the Fishes: Since Emma’s post last year on eco-ing the festival experience, researching and buying eco sunscreen has been on my list. I have not yet sorted that but I am using up one from last year’s Turkey holiday in September

Fish are Friends, not Food: But my biggest oopsie is that I’ve been eating illicit fish here and there, mostly eating (delicious) sashimi at Sakura Southsea – and it’s not even ethical or MSC fish. It is a massive fail. And I dare to still consider myself a vegetarian. It is a complete identity crisis. Who even am I?


We learn from our mistakes and we are not about eco-shaming, so Emma – please lift us back up – what will you be focusing on for the next 365 days of Shades of Green?

365 Green Challenges

Emma’s Green Challenges for Shades of Green 365

  1. A lot of the green progress I’ve made is a case of thinking more about what I need and do not need. That’s cut down on packaging, as well as the creation of new items. I want to continue this thoughtful thinking next year.
  2. I’m taking a stand against presents. Over the next year, I’m going to be telling all of my friends and relatives that I’m not going to be buying them birthday or Christmas presents, nor do I wish to receive them. (Actually, I’m just linking them to this post.) I will be making exceptions for my niece and nephews, but in order to ensure they get something that they’ll cherish, I’ve asked their parents what they want.
  3. I will continue to cut down on:
    • packaging, even stuff that can be recycled, by buying naked products
    • animal byproducts, by eating vegan meals more often
    • food waste, by optimising  my use of Olio, the Trash Cafe, etc

Tamara’s Green Challenges for Shades of Green 365

  1. Terracycle and stretchy plastics in the Carrier Bag recycling banks – this is an ongoing de-merit. I have started taking stuff to carrier bag recycling but I still haven’t looked into it properly so always feel guilty in case I am contaminating it. I do take my crisp packets to a Terracycle collector in Southsea and keep my pens for Milton Cross School (but haven’t actually taken them) but again haven’t really done the research.
  2. Water-saving is a challenge indeed as hopefully, I will be moving this autumn (hence the new mortgage green win in our previous post) and my new-fingers-crossed-home has a water meter. This is something I haven’t experienced since living in Tobago when we would bathe using a bucket. I am going to become a water-saving bully, I know it! I am taking inspiration from Emma’s post on ‘How to Eco-Hack Your Bathroom’ and her tips as her household are water-saving champs!
  3. I have signed up to be #flightfree2020. I have warned my friends and family who reside abroad and am mentally preparing myself from now! Did you know that there is a new Sweedish word for the feeling of shame experienced when flying – flygskam. 2020 shall be flygskam free for me!

And so concludeth our anniversary introspection! Emma and I will report back on our green challenges in approx a years time in August-ish 2020 Till then, here’s to another 365 days of living in various Shades of Green!

And what of you Dear Reader, what are your green oopsies and challenges? – tell us in the Comments Section.

Interview with Portsmouth Green Party’s Fratton Candidate: Tim Sheerman-Chase

It’s that time of year again, dear reader. The local elections are less than a week away and all of us at Portsmouth Green Party have been fighting away to get you a Green councillor to represent you and hold the main parties to account.

With that in mind, I (Emma) sat down with the PGP’s Fratton ward candidate Tim Sheerman-Chase to find out why he’s running and what he would do to improve Portsmouth for its residents and the world at large.

Hey Tim, I was wondering if you could tell the readers of Shades of Green why you’re running for office?

I decided to get involved in politics and local campaigns after seeing worrying signs of environmental and social breakdown. With my background in science and engineering, I am also well aware that, without drastic change, climate breakdown is a huge problem. The good news is that pressure from campaigners can be effective and real improvements can be made.

I learned so much from authors like Noam Chomsky and Naomi Klein about how current politics isn’t working for most people, so I aim to be an independent voice in politics that is a change from business as usual.

That sounds like just what we need. Now, I know that PGP have been out in Fratton talking to people to find out the main problems they have in the area. Can you tell me what those are?

Based on our survey, the main concerns of residents’ are:

  • crime
  • antisocial behavior
  • fly tipping
  • street cleanliness

Residents also face the danger of illegal levels of air pollution, which causes a wide range of health problems. All of this is against a backdrop of devastating cuts to local services under the banner of austerity.

That’s just terrible. So, what would you do to address these problems?

Fratton Green Party Candidate Tim Sheerman-Chase talking with local police about issues affecting local residents.
Fratton Green Party Candidate Tim Sheerman-Chase talking with police about issues affecting local residents.

I talked to the local policing team and they heavily depend on information provided by the public. I would help coordinate residents’ concerns with the police and other council services. On cleanliness, we need to provide more convenient recycling and waste disposal options, rather than having to travel to Port Solent or pay steep fees for waste collection. I would work to coordinate council services to keep the streets clean.

On air quality, I have been campaigning for a number of years with the #LetPompeyBreathe group. I have been pressuring the council to make significant improvements, beginning with producing a realistic plan. Unfortunately, the council has been slow in producing results. Since we need to transition away from private car usage, we need good transport alternatives, including better bus services. We also need to investigate the feasibility of introducing a charging clean air zone as quickly as possible.

Why is the Green Party the party to address these issues?

Many people are disillusioned with mainstream politics because it only offers superficial change. As Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” The Green Party is different because of its emphasis on long term planning, while valuing people and the environment. This has allowed it to be an earlier adopter of many beneficial policies that have since gone mainstream.

That’s a really good point. If I wasn’t already a member, I’d join. Is there anything else you’d like to tell our readers and the people of Portsmouth?

I’ve been encouraged by canvassing feedback and the hard work of our campaign team. This means we have a good chance of getting a first Green councillor for Portsmouth. We can win and we can hold the mainstream parties to account.

Well, there you have it folks. If you care about Portsmouth, if you care about our planet, and if you’ve had it with politics as usual, get out there and vote Green on May 2. If you’d like to read more from Tim, Tamara did an interview with him about air pollution in Portsmouth, which is an important (and scary) read.

How to recycle with Portsmouth Green Party

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

recycling jewelry

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

recycling money

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

recycling electronic equipment

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

recycling 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.

365 days of Shades of Green- Part 2

Here at the Shades of Green headquarters, we are still in celebration mode as we pat ourselves on the back for one year of green-ish living! In our previous anniversary post, we focused on Emma as I (Tamara) asked her about her eco changes and choices.

Today Emma puts me in the hot seat as we continue our two-part series in which we discuss our Shades of Green journey.

 

Talk with Tamara

Hey Tamara, Happy Blogiversary to us! I’ll start off with a softball question. What’s the problem with me throwing compostable materials in the bin? (Also, I don’t actually do this. I’m asking for a friend.)

vegetable peelings

As this is my first question, I will refrain from speeding down Rant Road and instead will meander down Sensitive Street and say, there is no problem at all with you throwing compostable materials in the bin if there is absolutely no other option.

If you can compost, here’s why you should. First, let me set the scene…imagine The Lion King’s ‘The Circle of Life’ playing in the background. Why send organic, compostable matter to landfill or to be burnt when it could instead be composted down to produce the most boootiful natural fertilizer for the soil. From the earth, back into the earth – what could be better?

I am so lucky to have space in my garden to compost my organic waste. I haven’t always been in such a privileged position and I appreciate that not everyone in Pompey has outdoor space to compost. This is why I have signed up to ‘Share Waste’ and currently have four people, who do not have outdoor space at their homes, dropping off their veg peelings once a week to be composted in my home compost bin.

My biggest bugbear is that Portsmouth City Council don’t offer a food waste collection. This would mean that ALL food waste, including cooked food and leftover meat and bones, could be rotted down into compost. I compost as much as I can in my garden but I still throw away bits of cooked food as this cannot go into a home composter. Also, realistically – Pompey is full of flats and home composting is not an option for them! I did try a Bokashi Bin when I lived in a flat but you still have to dispose of the fermented waste.

Another bug-bear is how bio-plastics i.e. plant-based compostable or biodegradable plastic is marketed as a much more eco-friendly plastic version. It can be – if it is composted in an industrial composter. If it is thrown into the bin, it is not being composted! It is just going to landfill or the incinerator or finding its way into the sea. Sigh! The best one I have found locally is sold in Wild Thyme – their packaging for takeaway food is home compostable. That makes me happy. Ok, rant over! 

 

Eeek! Start composting now, everyone. Organic material doesn’t rot properly in landfill.  Okay, let’s move onto your green journey. What do you feel you’ve learnt about eco issues over the past year?

I have learnt that reducing my waste and what I buy needs to come before recycling. I aim to recycle as much as possible but when China banned imports of our trash that we send to be recycled, I realised I had to reduce my waste first and recycle second. This is a difficult mindset change for me and I have been helped with this by joining the local Zero Waste community. For example, I now try to buy my fruits and veg in no packaging, use soap and shampoo bars and refill my laundry and washing up liquid bottles at Wild Thyme and Southsea Health Shop on Albert Road. I’ve also joined a Bulk Food Buying group. 

 

 

That’s incredible – I’m sure many of our readers would join you with that! So, I think I already know the answer now, but lay it out for me: why should we cut down on plastic consumption if we can recycle it (I.e. plastic bottles)?

In one word, China! Recycling is a good option, where facilities exist. But what happens when we can’t recycle it – it goes to landfill or is incinerated. Therefore, reducing at source is the better option. Plastic production is resource intensive and plastic does not biodegrade, it just breaks down into microplastics and pollutes our oceans and seas. Think of the turtles!

 

I do love turtles. Okay, you’ve convinced me; not more bottled water! Let’s move on to something positive. What eco changes would you like to see PCC adopt on the next year?

Well, I have already ranted about the lack of food waste recycling! So that would be amazing. A few recycling banks for tetrapaks and food/drink cartons across the city would make a huge difference as well. I don’t expect miracles – but a trial such as the one in Southampton shouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility. And my third change would be more split bins on the street which would have a recycling section. And in case anyone from PCC is reading this, I’d also like a million pounds…. 😉

 

I hope you’re planning to share that million pounds – some of us have un-eco holidays to pay for, lol. Okay, final question, what eco changes would you like to adopt in the next year?

I am a person who has lots of intentions, tries to do it all, gets overwhelmed and then hides from the world in shame. So, keeping it manageable is key for me!  

I was tempted to say I will give up flying but with friends and family living abroad and my love for swimming in a warm sea, that would not be honest of me. But for my Europe trips, I am aiming to only fly one way and to get the train/ferry one way.

I have a weakness for crisps (cheese and onion mixed with prawn cocktail is mah jam!) but the packaging is not recyclable. So making my own crisp substitutes is a priority for me, as well as meal planning and cooking more as my local chip shop knows my order before I open my mouth!

I would also like to buy more clothes from ethical companies. I really hate clothes shopping and never have any money – which means twice a year I grab a load of clothes from Sainsbury’s and call that George!

I also have a few recycling options to explore such as Terracycle and stretchy plastics in the Carrier Bag recycling banks – this has been on my list for a while and I need to get round to it! That’s why I love doing this blog with you, it keeps me accountable.

 

As always, we love to hear from our readers. What are your top Pompey recommendations? What eco changes have you made in your life? What are your guilty pleasures? Tell us in the Comments Section Below.

365 days of Shades of Green- Part 1

Shades of Green is one year old! Happy Greeniversaray to Emma and meeeeee (Tamara).

It has been a fantastic year – a year of attempting to show and not just tell the wonderful folks of Portsmouth that it can be easy being green, a year of charting our attempts to be kind to the planet whilst not leaving the house and a year of eating our way around Pompey’s veggie establishments under the guise of blog ‘meetings’! I am so chuffed to be marking this milestone with Emma and of course with you, dear reader.

 

what's your story

 

To celebrate a year of Shades of Green, Emma and I have posed five questions to each other to judge who is the greenest of them all. Haha, could you imagine?! We don’t do judgement here, only positive vibes! 🙂

 

In this 2-part series, Emma and I will share where we both are in our Shades of Green journey. Today it’s all about Emma!

 

Explore with Emma

 

Time for change

 

Q1: Emma, tell us is there anything you have changed in the past year to be more green?

 

Since we started Shades of Green, I’ve made some changes to my life in order to become more eco.

 

  • Food waste – I hate to admit it, but I’ve always been a little bit concerned about using vegetables or fruit when they start to look a little funny or something dairy based when it’s a little bit out of date! In the past year, I’ve been tackling this by taking food that a little past it prime and actually cooking with it. Often, the appearance, texture, or even taste of an individual food item can put us off eating something that is perfectly safe to eat. This can be mitigated by making it into a soup/curry/smoothie and even masking the taste with sauces and spices.
  • Recycling – You’ve really helped me to recycle more by telling me about the plastic recycling at Sainsbury’s and taking my cartons to that secretive place somewhere outside the city. You have no idea how much that’s reduced my family’s waste.
  • Traffic – While I don’t drive, I’ve been reducing the amount that I ask my parents for lifts, which means more buses and more walking.

 

plane

 

Q2: Talking of traffic and travel, how do you reconcile air travel with your green living aims?

I knew I shouldn’t have bragged about my holiday to Florida, lol.  Like most people, I love going on holiday and sometimes that involves air travel. Now, I know that’s a controversial thing in the green community, but in order to visit places in America and Africa, it’s kind of the only option, and I don’t think that we need to be martyrs in order to save the planet.

 

Yes, take slow transport where you can and where it makes ecological sense to do so – if you’re getting a plane from Southampton to Manchester, then rethink the train or the coach – but don’t beat yourself up for wanting to visit other countries and other places.

 

According to the Carbon Footprint Calculator, my return economy-class flight from London to Orlando will be about 1.13  tons of CO2. That’s a lot and there’s no way that I can deny it, which is why I’ll be offsetting it (it only costs about £6). But, do you know what equates to a carbon saving of roughly 1.88 tons a year? Being Vegetarian.

 

The things that I do to be green, including being vegetarian, recycling more, not driving, etc, actually more than make up for these big holidays that I only take every 2-3 years. It’s not perfect and ideally, I would love to be content travelling in the UK and in Europe, but I’m not perfect and I want to go to Disney World. I can’t excuse my use of air travel, but I can cut my eco-impact in other ways in order to make up for it.

 

home lettering

 

Q3: You mention a few of the actions you take to cut your eco-impact Are your family on board with your green aims? How do you deal with any conflict or differing options?

My mum is a little peeved whenever I tease her about eating meat, but my parents are mostly on board with my green lifestyle. In fact, they’re the driving force behind most of the green things in our house and have been since I was little. My dad went pescatarian when I was four and ditched fish after I went vegetarian. My mum almost never eats meat anymore.

 

We have a compost bin, several different recycling bins for the things that can’t go in our kerbside recycling, use eco-friendly bulbs, reusable bags, and even use the water collected in baths and showers to flush the toilet and water the garden. All of that was in place far before I could weigh in. Maybe my parents should write the blog instead of me?

 

teddy bear

 

Q4: Aww, shout out to Emma’s Mum and eco-warrior Dad. I’m well jel as I struggle to get my mother to even recycle! Thinking of the relationship between us and our folks, what are your thoughts on having children and the impact on the planet?

 

I would like to preface this minefield of a question by saying that I have three little nephews who I love very much and I wouldn’t give them up if that one action would end climate change. Sorry, but that’s just the truth.

 

But there is plenty of evidence to suggest that having children is one of the least eco-friendly things you can do, mainly because when you create another human being, you are creating someone else who needs resources that are already in demand.

 

That’s not to say that you shouldn’t have kids if you want them and can offer them a healthy and happy home environment, but you might be shocked to know that having one fewer child will save you  58..6 tonnes of CO2 per yearThat’s more than all the other green things combined.

 

I don’t currently have children and they’re not really on the cards for me for like another 5-10 years, but I do think I want them. Depending on how I (and my future partner) feel at the time, this might mean bio kids, but more likely it will mean adoption. Don’t worry, this isn’t a selfless act – I’m just freaked out by the idea of being pregnant!

 

 

Q5: As a reward for you generously answering some tough environmental and ethical dilemma questions re. air travel and children – here’s a nice easy one to finish off. What are your top Pompey places for green living?

 

As always, we love to hear from our readers. What are your top Pompey recommendations? What eco changes have you made in your life? What are your guilty pleasures? Tell us in the Comments Section Below.

Every Polluted Breath You Take

Air, oxygen, breathing – I admit these are not topics I tend to ponder as I go about my daily life. When in my car, I (Tamara) tend to be more concerned with evading Pompey traffic than about the effect I am having on the air quality. When I cycle around town trying to get past the self-same bumper-to-bumper traffic, I am not thinking about the fumes I am breathing in so much as trying to survive aggressive drivers.

But as with most things in life, it is all interconnected. Air quality in Portsmouth is at illegal and unsafe level. I first became aware of these issues when my local Portsmouth Green Party activists initiated the #LetPompeyBreathe campaign.

let pompey breathe

As a lazy environmentalist,  I prefer to have issues explained to me in simple, easy-to-understand terms. Here to do just that, in this special Thursday edition of Shades of Green, is Portsmouth Green Party activist and #LetPompeyBreathe spokesperson Tim Sheerman-Chase.

Me: Hihi Tim! Thanks for joining me via email to talk about the air quality issue in Portsmouth. As some of our readers may not be aware of the #LetPompeyBreathe campaign, what it is all about and what is your role in this?

Tim: #LetPompeyBreathe is a campaign group aiming to get Portsmouth’s air pollution within safe and legal limits. It is affiliated with Portsmouth Green Party, Friends of the Earth, local neighbourhood forums and other concerned groups.

My role is as spokesperson, blogger and researcher of government published reports. These tend to be fairly large and impenetrable, but I am assisted by my science background. I am the lead petitioner on the petition currently before Portsmouth City Council.

 

In a nutshell, what is the problem with our air quality?

Portsmouth is one of the worst cities in the UK for air quality, with pollution levels in continuous breach of both legal limits specified in the EU Air Quality Directive, English law, and World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines.

 

Is the air pollution a problem across the whole city or is it localised to certain areas?

Pollution levels greatly vary around the city. Some particularly bad areas include:

  • Hampshire Terrace/Queens Street
  • The top of Commercial Road
  • London Road/Fratton Road/Kingston Road
  • Eastern Way/Milton Road

The residential areas of Southsea, Milton and Tipner have relatively better air quality.

Traffic is the largest factor in local air pollution. Diesel engines are particularly bad, particularly from diesel cars, buses and heavy goods vehicles. This is probably the easiest area to make improvements and bring pollution to within safe limits.

 

Gulp…I used to have a diesel car as I thought it was better for the environment than petrol cars! Luckily, it broke down on me and was replaced with a petrol-electric hybrid. What other individual actions can we take?

It is difficult to avoid air pollution completely for an individual person, apart from moving away from cities! However, you can reduce exposure by avoiding busy roads at peak times. Pollution is far worse inside vehicles than outside, so you can help yourself (while helping your community) by reducing car usage. Try to use public transport, cycling and walking instead, even if only for one day a week extra.

 

What is it specifically about our air quality that is unsafe?

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj72L-0HpmR/?taken-by=pompeygreens

There are various types of pollution – Portsmouth has a particular issue with the levels of small particulate pollution (PM2.5) exceeding WHO safe limits. We also breach the annual NO2 limits in several locations.

 

Particulate pollution?

Particulate pollution (also known as particulate matter), is the general term for the solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air. Small particulate pollution is fine microscopic inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 2.5 micrometres and smaller.

 

How is air pollution measured and who regulates it?

Regulations have been put in place to address the problem. Among the most significant is the UK law Air Quality Standards Regulations 2010. This specifies legally binding limits on the UK government for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate pollution.

 

That is a great start but it’s one thing to know there’s a problem and set national regulations and another to actually take positive action on a local level- what is actually being done about it?  Why are the council and government not being held to account?

As you said, government bodies often ignore their responsibilities and 278 of the 391 local authorities missed the legal targets in 2017.

These legal limits are gradually being enforced. The European court of justice is threatening the UK and five other countries with multi-million Euro fines if they do not comply with legal limits.  Three successive High Court victories have been won by ClientEarth over the UK government, with the government’s plans being found to be inadequate.

Responsibility has largely been given to local government, which have taken some steps to deal with it but far stronger measures need to be taken. Part of the ClientEarth ruling found that central government does not have a sufficient enforcement for local authorities to meet these legal limits. Being underfunded, local government is having difficulty in taking suitable measures. Also, in many councils, the political will to address the problem is lacking.

 

How does the #LetPompeyBreathe campaign hold Portsmouth City Council to account?

#LetPompeyBreathe has two main goals: to raise public awareness and to encourage Portsmouth City Council to take further action.

At a local level, there are two documents that the council are required to produce: an air quality strategy and an action plan. Currently, #LetPompeyBreathe are petitioning the council to urgently publish its Air Quality Action Plan for consultation. In the two months since the petition went live, we have gathered the required 1000 signatures for the issue to be discussed at the next Full Council meeting which is in July (and handed them in on Clean Air Day – which is today).

 

As for the effectiveness of petitioning, politicians respond to public pressure particularly when well organized. If they see there is a clear demand for something to be done, we are in a much better position. The petition is only one step in the campaign.

 

What specific actions could the council take to rectify the air pollution problem?

There are many things, including:

  • improve walking and cycling routes
  • make the urban environment safer and more pleasant
  • make public transport easier to use, more integrated, cheaper and cleaner
  • reduce car use through careful city planning

MPs from different parties have been calling for a new Clean Air Act which will greatly strengthen monitoring and control of pollutants. We also need to shift the cost of pollution on to the polluter, particularly in egregious cases like Dieselgate and the car manufacturers.

Most large cities will require a charging Clean Air Zone (CAZ) to bring air pollution to within safe limits within a reasonable time.

 

Tim, thank you for taking the time to inform us about the #LetPompeyBreathe campaign and petition. Dear Reader, please sign the petition, if you haven’t already and share it with your friends, family, acquaintances and frenemies.