Wiltshire Council announce new recycling collections for small rechargeable electrical items
Read on for important updates about:
New recycling collections for small rechargeable electricals
Stopping the collection of textiles and shredded paper
Recycling centres:
New “sort it before you bring it” advice
Arrangements for paint disposal
Small Rechargeable Electricals
Why these items?
Many rechargeable items contain lithium-ion batteries. These can cause fires if not disposed of properly. Your unwanted electricals contain valuable materials including metals such as gold, copper, steel, and aluminium.
These materials can be recovered and become valuable commodities to the UK economy. They are then re-processed into new products – from bicycles to life-saving equipment.
How will we collect these items?
Place your old rechargeable items and their chargers into a carrier bag and put this alongside your blue-lidded bin or bag on your collection day.
We have limited space on the collection vehicles, so make sure that no single item is bigger than a shoe box.
Textiles & Shredded Paper
From Monday 5 June 2023, we will no longer be collecting textiles and shredded paper for recycling at the kerbside.
Successfully recycling textiles collected at the kerbside has become increasingly difficult. They tend to be of a lower quality than those taken to charity shops or textile banks and can become rain damaged when left out for collection. We will therefore no longer be collecting textiles from Monday 05 June.
Textiles and clothing that is not suitable for resale or reuse should be put in your general waste bin for energy recovery. Good quality reusable clothing and textiles can be taken to a charity shop, household recycling centre, or clothing bank. We will make use of the space on the collection vehicles previously used for textiles, for the collection of your unwanted small rechargeable electricals.
From Monday 05 June 2023, we will also no longer collect shredded paper in kerbside recycling bins. You can compost this at home or take it to a household recycling centre. Otherwise, please put it in your general household waste bin, for energy recovery.
Shredded paper should NOT be put in your chargeable garden waste bin, as this is unsuitable for the large-scale composting process. You can however compost shredded paper at home.
Recycling Batteries (no change)
Thank you for recycling your batteries. In the first three months of the new kerbside service, we collected 15 tonnes of your used batteries for recycling.
Please ensure that batteries are presented separately to your rechargeable items. When using the kerbside collection service: batteries should be put in a transparent sandwich bag placed on top of your bin; rechargeable items in a supermarket carrier bag placed beside the bin.
Improving the quality of our recycling
We are working hard to improve the quality of the materials we collect for recycling. You can help us by ensuring only the right things are put into your blue-lidded bin. You can add the following items to your Blue-Lidded Bin
Empty aerosol cans – please fully empty them first before adding to the bin.
Plastic pots, tubs, and trays – please always remove the plastic films on the top (pots go in the blue-lidded recycling bins, plastic film in the general waste bin).
Metal jar lids – put them back on the jar and put this in your black box.
Clean aluminium foil – after use, please give it a quick rinse, scrunch it, and pop it in your blue-lidded bin. Ideally, keep adding foil until it is at least the size of a tennis ball.
Plastic bottles
Drinks cartons
Food and drinks cans
Tin foil trays
Paper
Cardboard
Details of what can be recycled in the blue-lidded kerbside recycling bins can be found at: www.wiltshire.gov.uk/recycling
Details of what can be placed in general household waste bins can be found at: www.wiltshire.gov.uk/household-waste
NEVER put gas cannisters in any household waste bin, instead they should be taken your local household recycling centre.
We do not accept carrier bags or plastic films in the blue-lidded bin.
Changes at Household Recycling Centres
Please sort it before you bring it
To help you recycle as much as possible and reduce time on site, please sort and separate your unwanted items into different materials, such as wood, metals, batteries, green waste, and electricals, before visiting the recycling centres. A third of the items put in the general rubbish skips at Wiltshire’s recycling sites could have been recycled, with many items mixed together in black bags.
Check our website for details of what you can recycle at your local site.
Arrangements for Paint
Paint reuse - If you have leftover usable paint and the tin is at least half full, this can be brought to our recycling centres, and set aside for reuse. You can also take away donated paint for free.
Paint disposal – Unusable liquid paint should be hardened before taking it to a recycling centre for disposal. Remove the lid and allow the paint to dry completely or to speed up the process, mix the paint with soil, pet litter, sawdust, or sand. Paint hardening products are also available from DIY stores or online.
Donating Re-usable items
You can now donate good quality reusable items at all our recycling centres to support local charities and good causes. Items suitable for reuse can include:
Furniture
Bric-a-brac
Bicycles
Remember, there are local reuse charities who collect unwanted good quality furniture for free, or a small donation.
Check our website for details of your local reuse charity.
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