If you live Christchurch or parts of East Dorset, you should be receiving a letter and leaflet in the next few weeks about changes to your recycling and rubbish collections.

The changes come into place in October, when the new ‘recycle for Dorset’ service will replace existing services in these areas.

With the new service you will be able to recycle more at home, including cardboard and plastic packaging, will have food waste collected every week and have the option to subscribe to a fortnightly, paid-for garden waste collection.

Your leaflet explains what the new service will look like, including the new containers, and what will happen next. Most people will be able to use the ‘standard’ service, but if there’s a reason this won’t work for your property or needs, you can apply for a non-standard service.

The new service is being introduced in phases across Dorset (not including Bournemouth and Poole) between this October and 2015.  Keep an eye on this blog for updates.

Which part of East Dorset?

The part of East Dorset that will change to the new service in October includes Ameysford, Ashley Heath, Colehill, Ferndown, Longham, Parley, Stapehill, St Leonards and St Ives, Three Legged Cross, Verwood, West Moors and Wimborne.

Today’s ‘recycle for Dorset’ roadshow at Christchurch Market has been postponed due to inclement weather.

The Dorset Waste Partnership would like to apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

We will return to Christchurch Market on Monday 21 May. A full list of roadshow dates can be found at www.dorsetforyou.com/recyclingevents

Photo: Battersea Cogs Home / www.eta.co.uk

Ever wondered what happens to those bicycles you see abandoned padlocked to lamposts, stripped of their working parts? Some of them end up being recycled and sent to new lives in Africa. Check out this Guardian blog post about some inventive schemes for repurposing those unwanted bike carcasses around the country.

Children from Sturminster Newton are doing their bit this Easter to save valuable aluminium from landfill by recycling their Easter egg foil packaging.

Local community group, the Stourcastle Centre based in Sturminster Newton, are asking local children to save all the foil packaging from their Easter Eggs to boost recycling and help raise funds for the group.

Ruth Meeke, Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro) programme manager said: “Recycling Easter Egg foil and other aluminium packaging is easy – just rinse any items like foil trays and take all of your recycling to one of the recycling banks situated around Sturminster Newton.

“Remember – items like crisp packets look like aluminium but are actually plastic – if you’re not sure, take the scrunch test. Just scrunch the packet up in your fist and if it springs back, it cannot be recycled, if it stays scrunched it is!”

Foil recycling banks in North Dorset can be found at:

• Sturminster Newton Factory Shop car park
• Blandford Tesco recycling centre
• Gillingham Library car park
• Shaftesbury Tesco
• Stalbridge Library car park

See our full list of mini recycling centres across Dorset and what you can recycle there.

The Stourcastle Centre helps adults with learning disabilities to work with local businesses, schools and clubs to collect and process aluminium foil and other metal packaging to raise funds for the community group. The recycling banks are emptied regularly by the group, who then sort and compact the aluminium before it is sold for recycling.

Working in partnership with the Alupro, the Stourcastle Centre has raised funds to develop new learning programmes and community services. Aluminium and other metal packaging for recycling can also be taken directly to the Stourcastle Social and Education Centre, Stourview Close in Sturminster Newton.

Dorset Countryside Rangers, who organise the annual event, are calling on volunteers to help make sure our beaches are beautiful for the London 2012 sailing events and the thousands of visitors who will flock to our shores this summer.

This will be the first time mixed plastics have been collected for recycling in the Dorset Waste Partnership (DWP) area.  Residents in Christchurch and part of East Dorset will be the first to change to this new service this autumn, with other areas following between spring 2013 and 2015.

We will be able to collect mixed plastics when the new service is rolled out because it will have overcome difficulties in sorting them from other materials.  However, it will not be possible to collect them as part of current services.

With the addition of mixed plastics to the new collection service, households will be able to further reduce the amount of rubbish they throw away which gets sent to landfill sites or other treatment facilities.  The types of plastics that residents will be able to put in their recycling collection as part of the new service include:

• Fizzy drink and squash bottles
• Milk bottles
• Detergent bottles
• Shampoo and shower gel bottles
• Yoghurt pots
• Margarine tubs
• Ice cream containers
• Meat trays (non-polystyrene)
• Fruit punnets

Residents whose collections are due to change this autumn – which includes the borough of Christchurch and the part of East Dorset including Colehill and Stapehill, Ferndown and Ameysford, Longham, Parley, St Leonards and St Ives, Three Legged Cross, Verwood, West Moors and Wimborne – will be sent a leaflet through the post in May which will explain the new service and what it means for them.

Public roadshows are being held across Christchurch and East Dorset where residents can see the new bins and speak to DWP staff about the new service.  More information about the service including roadshow dates and when it will be introduced across Dorset can be found at www.dorsetforyou.com/recyclefordorset

All the councils who make up the Dorset Waste Partnership have now said ‘yes’ to a new kerbside waste collection service for Dorset.

Weymouth and Portland was the seventh partner to sign up to the service, completing a full house of DWP members who’ve backed the move aimed at boosting recycling to 60 per cent and saving £2m. 

People in Christchurch and parts of East Dorset will be first to get the new service this autumn.  It will be introduced across Dorset (not including Bournemouth and Poole) by 2014/15.

The new service will consist of:

• A weekly food waste collection (using a kitchen caddy and larger, lockable container for outside)
• A fortnightly recycling collection (using a 240-litre wheelie bin, a box for glass and a small bag for batteries)
• A fortnightly rubbish collection (using a 140-litre wheelie bin)
• An optional, fortnightly garden waste collection for an annual charge of £25 for a bag or £35 for a wheelie bin

Before that, the DWP will be sending information to every household in the first area to get the service, giving details of how to apply for a non-standard service if you don’t have outside storage space, have a big family or would need help moving bins.

There will also be a series of road shows where people can see the new bins, ask questions and discuss their needs.

The DWP has prepared a list of frequently asked questions giving answers about the service and what it will mean for people in Dorset.

You can read the full press release here.

Use a fridge thermometer to make sure your fridge is at the right temperature

Storing food in the right way helps keep it fresh and tasty for longer. Here are some tips to help you keep food fresher in the fridge: 

• Remember to keep your fridge temperature below 5^oC. 
•  It’s best not to put bread in the fridge as it goes stale much quicker here.
• The fridge is the ideal place to store most of your fruit and veg. Exceptions are bananas, pineapples, potatoes and onions. 
• Fresh fruit and veg need to breathe in the fridge so don’t store them in completely sealed containers. Fruit and veg packaging has been designed to help it stay fresh for longer, so don’t take the packaging off until you’re ready to eat the food.
•  Once opened, food like cheese and ham keep better if they’re well wrapped by re-closing the pack, wrapping in cling film or foil, or putting it in an air tight container.
•   If you aren’t going to eat it, remember you can freeze food before the ‘use by’ date. Defrost when you need it and use within 24 hours.
• Wrap lettuce, carrots, courgettes etc. in kitchen paper then put them in plastic bags in the salad compartment of the fridge. They keep fresh for ages. The paper stops the condensation from softening the veg and stops mould.

 There are lots more fridge storage tips at: www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/storage_and_tools/tips/keep_your_cool

Over the 12 days of Christmas, you can limit the impact on your waste by following the Dorset Waste Partnership’s top tips:

• Avoid goods with unnecessary packaging.
• Buy food and drink packaged in recyclable materials.
•  Compost vegetable peelings and raw kitchen waste.
• Buy rechargeable batteries for electrical goods and toys.
• Remember to always shop with reusable shopping bags.
• Buy Christmas wrapping paper and cards made from recycled paper or try to buy gift paper that can be recycled – this should be plain with no glitter, holograms or foil.
• Buy gifts that are made from recycled materials – log onto http://www.recycle-more.co.uk/ or http://www.recycledproducts.org.uk/ for some gift ideas. Or alternatively buy an “experience” as a gift.
• Keep your recycling bin next to the rubbish bin and remember to tell your Christmas guests where it is and what can be recycled.
• Don’t forget you can freeze all sorts of food including bread, meat, ready meals and homemade leftovers and keep for later. For more helpful tips go www.lovefoodhatewaste.com.
• Recycle your Christmas cards via your kerbside recycling service or support The Woodland Trust Christmas Card Recycling Scheme by taking them to your nearest Marks and Spencer store during January 2012. Nearly 10 million cards were collected last year, which equates to 200 tonnes.
     

For more information about kerbside collections over the festive period and household recycling centre locations and opening times visit www.dorsetforyou.com/christmasrecycling.

“We are so pleased that all our hard work is beginning to make a difference” said Victoria Humphrys, deputy head teacher.

For more information about free waste education visits from The Dorset Waste Partnership visit www.dorsetforyou.com/schoolsrecyclingeducation.