With the new year now in full swing, the Isle of Wight Council is asking Islanders to make one more resolution — to join the local authority in recycling even more and really make a difference to the Island’s 2022 recycling rates.
Although many of us already do all that we can to recycle at home there’s always more we can do, says the Council.
Natasha Dix, strategic manager for contracts, waste and environment, said:
“Thank you everyone for all your amazing efforts to reduce waste and recycle more over 2021.
“Thanks too, to our our waste workers for their ongoing dedication and hard work from collections to disposal and at the HWRC. Together, let’s make 2022 the year we can really make a difference to our recycling rates.”
The Isle of Wight Council has issued its top tips for recycling more, wasting less and reusing more in 2022:
Waste less food
According to the charity WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme), UK households throw away 6.6 million tonnes of food waste a year and almost three quarters of it is food we could have eaten. Furthermore, a study carried out on the Isle of Wight in 2019 found nearly a third of a typical black bin was food waste alone.
During 2022 why not try to:
- plan meals ahead, allowing for changes so you don’t find yourself with something getting to its use by date before you can eat it;
- make a food shopping list and stick to it — avoid ‘special’ offers that encourage you to buy more than you need like three for two or large multipacks unless you are sure you are going to use them;
- serve smaller portions and give your family an option for second helpings so that if you do have any leftovers, they can be put in the fridge or freezer for another time rather than being scrapped into the bin;
- use your food caddy for any food you cannot eat like veg peelings or banana skins. We collect food weekly which is then sent to a specialist plant in Basingstoke where it is used to generate electricity or farmland fertiliser. If you need a food caddy, call 01983 823777 or visit iwight.com/waste to order a free one.
Become a recycling superstar
Recycling is one of the best ways we can protect the world we live in and minimise our carbon footprint. Check your annual waste services information booklet or online at www.iwight.com/waste for details of what you can and can’t put in your different household bins.
Don’t forget to:
- give your recyclable items a quick rinse. They don’t have to be squeaky clean; a quick rinse in dirty dishwater is fine and saves water too (we don’t want to contaminate any other waste);
- get the kids involved and make recycling this year really fun.
Dispose of batteries safely and donate unwanted items
A lot of us would have received new gadgets or toys over Christmas, which means lots of unwanted batteries. Batteries contain valuable metals that can be recycled. Don’t put them in the bin…
- Recycle batteries at your local household waste recycling centre (HWRC) or in most supermarkets. In smaller shops, if you can’t see a collection point, ask as it may be held behind the counter.
- Plug electrical equipment into the mains wherever possible — reducing reliance on batteries.
- Use rechargeable batteries if you can.
- Look for appliances that use renewable energy. For example, wind up torches or dynamo bicycle lights.
- If you no longer want or need a gadget or toy, why not donate to friends, a charity shop or sell them online? There are numerous sites that offer this service.
If you want to find out more about waste services, including additional free services like free reusable item collections or bulky waste collections, visit www.iwight.com/waste or read your annual waste and recycling information booklet.
Open the dump sites up to normal working time without restrictions and you will get even more recycled stuff.
You expect people to help but you don’t help the people.
But remember this, only donate to a charity if you would consider buying it from yourself, charities are not I repeat not there to take your waste instead of you taking your crap to the tip.
Exactly Miss Angry our local Hospice spends thousands of pounds every year disposing of chipped and broken China broken toys and dirty stained and torn clothing. Money that could be spent on patient care.
I blame the pound shops (or whatever they’ve morphed into now). What is second hand pound shop stuff worth – next to nothing. Yet if that’s what people buy, a lot of it will be passed on to charity shops, which can’t shift it.
i totally agree with you Miss Angry .i can remember when refuge collectors came round your back garden to collect your bin and even return it ,now they want it at the kerbside if it is wrong they wont even collect or remove it ,they will place a sticker on the bin or bag . my bin was not collected over an egg box which can be classified as cardboured or food container ,( which one would you pick ).? Council workers are getting very lazy .
The only thing -I have not been able to recycle is garden waste. I would love to recycle garden waste so the IW Council can then sell it as compost but you need to have enough garden waste bins for everyone who wants one and make it available and affordable ie: free
another gimmick of the Council , with garden waste they get two bites of the cherry . they charge rate payers to remove garden wasts THEN it is sold by the council in 1 ton bags as garden compost .
It might improve people’s willingness to sort rubbish if we knew what happened to it. There’s a strong belief that it all ends up in landfill, often on the mainland, whatever we do here.
And how can HM Gov live with the chaotic variety of recycling plans around the country? No two authorities, even adjacent ones, have the same rules/facilties.
Not that I would expect joined-up action from the current bunch of no-hopers.
I would like to see more stuff being included in the list of recyclables. I gave some suggestions in the recent on-line waste survey but broadly items such as those included in the “Terracycle” scheme – animal food pouches, toothpaste tubes, cheese wrappings, sweet papers, blister packs from medications, pens, bubble wrap, crisp packets, etc. There are isolated locations on the Island where Terracycle exists.
Allow same day booking at the waste sites.
You can if you look I have booked at 11 am and got a 1 pm slot
Thanks.
they should now open up on a 100% basis now, and not a booking system
Maybe if everything we bought wasn’t double or triple wrapped we wouldn’t have nearly so much waste? Yes, we can all do more and recycle more but in all honestly what are you supposed to do when your recycling and waste bins are mostly full of excess wrapping? Maybe it’s the manufacturers and retailers who should be doing more to stop waste as there’s very little that we, the consumers, can do with our waste apart from putting it in the relevant bins?
Will we get a discount in our inflated council tax as a reward ?
Rinse before recycle…. Waste of water and time. All ends up in the same hole as the general waste.
Where I live we have two bins for black bags and two bins for recycling since the iwcc stopped giving away the clear recycling bags I have noticed that the black bins are now overflowing and only one of the recycling bin is only half full I buy a big roll of 90 white bags at bookers and it lasts us two years nearly because we break all the bulky stuff up
Not everyone can get in Bookers, trade only
I find it annoying with packaging, you get the bottom part of a plastic pack which can be recycled, yet the top thin piece of clear plastic can NOT be recycled ! !
Absolutely huge boxes with a small Cadbury Easter egg inside in B&M yesterday for £10.99.
The boxes were about 30cm x 30cm with a normal size egg in the middle in clear plastic. Crazy.
Polystyrene?
Years ago there was a place on the island that made garden furniture out of polystyrene.
There must be something the IW Council could do with polystyrene other than it ending up in landfill.
they could put it under the floating bridge to keep it afloat
Never ever used our waste food bin. I find people who throw food away as criminal.
Tea bags etc
“Criminal”? That’s a bit harsh. You not had kids who can’t finish their dinner? Cooked a meal thats not turned out as it should? Forgot that bit of leftover that was at the bottom of the fridge?
You really think that people should be arrested, charged and prosecuted in the courts for wasting a slice of gateau?
What do you do with your vegetable peelings and tea bags?
You can turn veg peelings in soups or home made crisps and use tea bags for compost
I’d be surprised if they recycled anything.
It makes no sense to recycle glass, paper and plastics via the same bin.
Everything gets dumped into the truck and is then crushed.
How would they even separate the crushed glass bits from the paper and plastic?
Surely the crushed glass/glass dust would contaminate the paper and plastics and make them impossible to recycle.
I’d be more than happy to be proven wrong, but I’d need to see evidence of what they do with an entire truck full of tins, paper, plastics and crushed glass! They should be able to upload a video to their website or put something on youtube.
They probably use a huge gas fired furnace to melt down perfect way to recycle to help save the ozone
Hooooo hold on but all that burnt gas
Bit of a pointless task
If we could have recycling collected every week it would be more encouraging. I hardly have any landfill-just bathroom wipes etc but so much recycling as manufactures and food stores over wrap everything
another gimmick of the I.O.W waste team , they want you to reduce the recycling waste to avoid less weight,added to I,O,W council collecters.
I.O.W Council should avoid extra carbon emisions, the I.O.W council should stop road closures ,sending traffic to double their journey, adding more carbon emisions to this planet .their waste recycling centres should be working now at full compacity, this will eliminate fly tipping ,and will stop any further laziness in Council staff ,i have noticed empty bays and only 1-2 cars recyling ,
Council Tips are paid for by the tax payers,
Lower or Freeze council Tax to do your bit for 2022