As part of its Mission Zero aspirations to achieve net-zero carbon, the Isle of Wight Council is taking positive climate and environmental action for this year’s Recycle Week 2021.
Residents are being encouraged to join the authority in supporting Recycle Now’s campaign – ‘Step It Up’ – and take action to protect our UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and lower emissions through even better recycling habits.
Latest research from Recycle Now reveals almost 9 out of 10 people recycle. However, 55% of UK households put items in the general rubbish bin that can be recycled, including foil, aerosols, and plastic toiletry (shampoo and conditioner bottles), plastic trays and cleaning and bleach bottles.
On the Island, on average, nearly a quarter of the contents of a typical black sack collected is food waste that could have been composted.
This is where we need to ‘Step It Up’. We can all help reduce the Island’s contribution to climate change by recycling because recycling currently saves 18 million tonnes of CO2 every year, which is the same as taking 12 million cars off the road.
The Isle of Wight is an island of recyclers — the council is now in the top 15% of local authorities for recycling and composting in the country, with 99% of waste diverted from landfill according to Defra (December 2020 figures). But there are some simple things we can all do to make our recycling even better.
Top tips for recycling:
- Recycle more of these items: plastic bottles, aerosols, plastic film, bread bags, plastic pots and tubs, and food.
- Make sure these never go into the recycling bin: nappies, food waste, polystyrene, bubble wrap, plastic toys with electronic parts, small household electronical items or appliances or batteries inside, batteries.
If you are at all unsure about how to recycle a specific item, visit the council’s waste page at www.iwight.com/waste where you can find out what needs to go in your recycling bin or sack.
Natasha Dix, the council’s strategic manager for contracts, waste and environment, said:
“We are proud to be supporting national Recycle Week once again this year and I’m also proud of how well our residents are already doing with recycling. Recycling has really become the norm for the Island.
“But while we are doing well, we can always do better. There are items such as aerosols, for example, that we can recycle too as well as textiles on the doorstep. So I’d like to thank residents for helping us become a recycling island and let’s make it even better.”
To find out more about Recycle Week, and to find out what you can and can’t recycle where you live, visit www.recyclenow.org.uk/RecycleWeek.
I will recycle when the council stop building houses on greenfield and plant more trees instead
lead by example.. more trees and greenfield..less co2 in atmosphere, less climate change.
no more houses
I will recycle when our country improves its border so only those allowed here, who are deemed safe and needed force more homes to cover fields, woodland, and the life contained within, more drain on our energy, more cars and pollution in our air, more refuse, more sewage more schools, more hospitals, more stealth taxes to pay for such.
So it will be a very very long wait I am afraid to say.
Again, are you saying that two wrongs make a right? Or, is recycling to save our planet for future generations simply beneath you ?????
Are you saying that two wrongs make a right ??
I am saying – practice what you preach – they are supposed to be leading by example and clearly are not.
If they were, then they would be saying – we are not allowing any more building of houses on greenfield sites on the island, to preserve the biosphere and to do our bit to reduce the co2 in the atmosphere – we will be planting more trees on council owned land and having it designated as essential CO2 Reduction areas. They would then state that they will be investing more money into the whole recycling process and
moving forward with the installation of a charging network for electric cars.
When they “step up” then so will I, until then, I won’t be – as they are allowing houses to be built and more rubbish and pollution to be created on this Island, whilst hypocritically expecting others to adhere to climate change reduction measures.
Like yesterday, traffic queuing from Stag Lane traffic lights back to Albany entrance due to bin lorry. Like traffic held up GT Preston Road Ryde due to bin lorry double parked on cars instead of moving on to empty places. Thing about it. Green? Hardly.
Also have you seen the pollution the so called biomass green energy site at Arreton causes? Several huge tractors using diesel, running crops grown specifically for such from as far as west wight, then being hauled here, with cars stuck behind such, and the crops then replacing food crops, which then have to be bought from the mainland or abroad causing more Co2 than it saves. Just a EU funded gimmick, but blinkered don’t want to see.
So long as the CO2 emmissions are hidden, they can claim they are going zero-carbon. When they put more money into developing more efficient egines rather than digging up the countryside in search of yet more lithium then I will believe them.
I take your point on that; far better to grow crops of houses on that land, and cut down on tractor journeys.
And your point is ?????
Why don’t they send someone round who can answer people’s questions and advise on better recycling.
If over half of black bags are stuff for recycling I think there’s a lot of education to be done, and leaflets only do so much.
Why can’t we put small household batteries in the recycling bin, they are recyclable after all?
Probably because of potential leakage,
How about when the Refuse and Recycling operatives NOT putting bags of general waste into the back of the truck on recycling days?
Apparently many loads are rejected for recycling if there are small contaminants in there and seeing how many people put wrong items into the recycling, this must mean a lot get rejected.
they only reject things as they are too lazy and to skinflint to organise a proper sorting regime and process.
Oh yes, the week after the festival. That was really environmentally friendly. Tens of thousands of people, hundreds of trucks and vans bringing equipment from the mainland, helicopters ferrying artists to and fro, and gridlocked traffic, because Fairlee Rd is closed in the wrong direction. Plus all of the waste that was produced, loads of recyclables thrown in the general waste. This council is priceless.
To encourage “Mission Zero”, it would be helpful if some people didn’t recycle their rubbish out of their vehicle windows.
What is the point, why bother, to little to late, when you have China and India amongst others making things worse on a yearly basis. Drop in the ocean (excuse the pun).
Surely every little helps though? If everyone thought why bother then nobody would do anything and it would only get worse. It’s like the cumulative effect of so many people concreting over front gardens, they think their one won’t make any difference, but one turns into a whole street in no time and it’s the cumulative effect that makes the difference. Everyone can do their bit, never mind what others are doing, lead by example.
Yes, you are right, and I do recycle.
I just get a bit disponded sometimes, what with other countries and there selfish ways.