The bottle bank arcade

Here’s a novel idea from Sweden to get more people to recycle their glass bottles – by making it into a game.

Check out the video.

Have a green Christmas – recycle more!

The festive season results in an estimated 3 million tonnes of waste in the UK  (Institute of engineering and technology, 2011).

Follow these simple tips to turn Christmas into a recycling opportunity and reduce the amount of waste your household produces:

• Send e-cards, or donate your card money to charity
• Turn this year’s Christmas cards into gift tags for next year
• Recycle any cards which can’t be reused in your kerbside recycling collection
• Use re-usable gift bags or boxes instead of wrapping paper
• Buy unpackaged fruit and vegetables
• Home compost your fruit and vegetable peelings
• The average grocery bill for Christmas is £169. Planning for Christmas helps everyone save time and money. Use the Love Food Hate Waste online portion planner whether you’re cooking for family or a party
• Use up leftovers and freeze food that can’t be eaten
• Recycle any unavoidable food waste using your food waste collection, if you have one
• Re-use plastic shopping carrier bags, or use reusable bags, to carry your Christmas shopping
• Buy a re-usable artificial tree or a potted real tree that can be planted in the garden or reused next year
• Get your Christmas tree collected for composting, if available in your area
• Send gift tokens to help reduce waste and allow recipients to choose their ideal gift
• Buy rechargeable batteries, and recycle used household batteries using your red bag at the kerbside or at your local Household Recycling Centre
• Recycle your old Christmas lights, or any other electrical or electronic items at your local household recycling centre

Find out more information about waste and recycling services over the Christmas and New Year period.

Recycling centres to close earlier for winter

Dorset’s 11 household recycling centres (HRCs) will close an hour earlier from Friday 1 November.

Due to the shorter days, the centres will be open between 9am and 5pm seven days a week until April.

The only exception is Bridport HRC, which is open between 10am and 4pm on Saturdays and closed on Sundays all year round. The South Street site has the same opening hours as the other HRCs on weekdays.

The last chance to make use of the later closing time of 6pm will be Thursday 31 October.

You can find your nearest household recycling centre at our website.

 

Recycling symbols explained

Not all packaging has a recycling label but this doesn’t mean you can’t recycle it.

Check out Recycle Now’s handy guide to deciphering those recycling symbols.

Movie: The Clean Bin Project

Could you live completely waste-free?

That’s the question asked by Canadian documentary-makers Grant Baldwin and Jenny Rustemeyer in their multi-award winning film The Clean Bin Project.

The couple undertake a competition to see who can produce the least rubbish in a year. Their light-hearted quest to refuse, reduce and recycle their way to the smallest rubbish bin is set against a darker examination of the large-scale environmental impacts of our ‘throw-away society’.

Check out the trailer now.

Grant and Jen are also embarking on a UK tour. The nearest they’ll be to Dorset will be Warminster on 30 August. To find out more, go to www.cleanbinmovie.com

They’ve also got a blog: cleanbinproject.com

8 different things to do with your old clothes

 Whether its too big, too small or you just don’t like it anymore there is only one thing you shouldn’t do with your old clothes, and thats bin them! Why not try one of our favourite ways to make something more out of the clothes you no longer want:

1. Recycle it – There are loads of recycling banks all around Dorset, and the clothes placed in these are either reused or recycling. You can find out where your nearest clothing recycling bank is at Dorset for you
2. Fix it – A lot of the time clothes we thought were ruined could be fixed with a few stitches or a cleverly placed patch. If you aren’t a dab hand at sewing why not try a seamstress?
3. Upcycle – If you love the fabric, or simply don’t want to let go of it why not try turning it into something new? make-do-and-mend have lots of great ideas for turning your old clothes into something new
4. Donate – Donating your clothes to charity is a really great way to make room in your wardrobe whilst doing something good, you might be suprised at how rewarding a feeling it can be.
5. Swish it – The latest fashion craze to sweep the nation. Swishing is all about swapping your clothes, its a great excuse for a party, visit swishingparties.com to find out more or do it online at swishing.co.uk
6. Exchange it – Some clothing stores are now starting to offer money off vouchers in exchange for you recycling your old clothes with them. Marks and Spencer and H&M are both have great schemes running at the moment.
7. Resell – From e-Bay to carboot sales selling your old clothes can be easy, rewarding and profitable.
8. Refresh – Just like your walls need a new lick of paint every now and again, using some fabric dye can make your clothes look new again.

How is it recycled: Glass

Glass is 100 per cent recyclable, meaning it can be recycled an infinite amount of times without losing its quality, and the process is quite simple:

1. First glass is washed and different colours are separated (glass retains its colour even after recycling)
2. Then it is crushed, any impurities are carefully removed and mixed with raw materials to change the colour or enhance properties
3. Next it is melted in a furnace
4. Finally it is remoulded and makes its way back to our supermarket shelves again

A few facts about glass:

• Recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to power a computer for 25 minutes
• Glass in landfills will still be there in one million years
• The first glass containers were made around 1500BC by the ancient Egyptians

Save on waste when you’re out and about this summer

Do you find that minimising your waste and maximising your recycling is easy at home but a bit more tricky when you’re out?

Did you know you can now recycle your inhalers?

Thanks to a nationwide campaign by GlaxoSmithKline called ‘complete the cycle’  inhalers can now by recycled rather than sent for incineration or landfill.

According to GSK research 512,330 tonnes of CO2 could be saved if every person in the UK returned all their inhalers for one year.*

To recycle your empty or out of date inhalers use the quick postcode search to find out where your nearest participating pharmacy.

* GSK data on file. UK Inhaler recycing & environmental claims July 12

You don’t need to be in for your bins

If you live in North or East Dorset you will shortly be receiving your bins for the new ‘recycle for Dorset’ service.

Here is what you need to know:

• Your new bins may arrive any time between Monday 15 April and Friday 24 May
• You don’t need to be in for your bins
• Your new service starts the week beginning 10 June 2013, please do not use your new bins before this
• We can’t give you a specific delivery date or time, but an indicative delivery schedule and frequently asked questions are available at http://www.dorsetforyou.com/recyclefordorset/delivery
• Please take your bins onto your property as soon as you can
• Your kitchen caddy will be delivered inside your larger food bin (unless you use the current North Dorset brown bin scheme and already have a caddy)
• Take note of the dates marked on your new calendar and keep it somewhere to remind you – the fridge is a good place 
• To report a problem or ask a question, call the DWP customer service team on 01305 221040.
• More detailed information about the ‘recycle for Dorset’ service can be found in your user guide and at http://www.dorsetforyou.com/recyclefordorset.

To read more about the delivery of your new bins please visit the newsroom.