Watch your waste

Give Rubbish A New Lease of Life!
Watch your Waste

In the Derbyshire Dales we produce around 32,500 tonnes of household waste a year! Most of this waste goes to landfill (big holes in the ground) but landfill space is running out.

“Watch your Waste”

By following the simple hints and tips given here you could reduce what goes into your bin by over 60per cent! So Slim your Bin, Watch your Waste and follow the 3R’s.

What are the 3 R’s?

Reduce: Changing how we buy and use things so that we waste less. This is the best way to ‘watch your waste’ as it means you don’t have any to start with.
Re-use: Finding another use for the things you have in your house, using items again or repairing things so they are not thrown away.
Recycle: Taking items away for processing into new products.

But Why?

By watching our waste we can:

  • Save natural resources
  • Protect our local area, habitats and environment
  • Save energy
  • Reduce the need for landfill space or incineration and disposal costs
  • Generate jobs in new businesses and involve communities
  • Reduce litter

An Average Household Waste Bin Contains:

  • 43%Compostables

  • 3% Textiles

  • 10% Plastic

  • 24% Paper and Card or Paper Based Drinks Cartons

  • 8% Glass

  • 5% Cans

  • 7% Other

Below are simple ways to reduce, re-use and recycle each kind of material so that you can really “Watch your Waste” and make a difference.

Good luck!

Compostables

So what are compostables?

This is the biggest portion of the average household bin. Compostables are things that naturally rot down and decompose such as garden waste, fruit and vegetables but also includes things like paper and cardboard in small quantities.

Reduce

  • Only prepare as much food as you need for meals so there is less waste. Use leftovers in another meal or freeze them.
  • Store your food carefully to prevent it going off.
  • If you have too much of your own produce freeze or bottle it so it is not wasted.

Re-use

  • Use garden prunings of twigs, leaves and branches to make a wildlife pile in a quiet corner of your garden for bugs, frogs, newts, toads and hedgehogs.
  • Compost at home this is an east way to transform garden and kitchen waste into a healthy soil improver for your plants and shrubs (it saves you money too!)

To get the best out of your compost

Put these in:

  • vegetable peelings, fruit waste, teabags, plant prunings, grass cuttings, cardboard scrunched up, screwed up paper

Keep these out:

  • cooked vegetables, meat, dairy products, diseased plants, dog poo, cat litter, nappies, perennial weeds, glass, cans, plastic

To get your compost working really well try to get an even balance between nitrogen rich ‘greens’ (vegetable peelings, grass cuttings, tea bags) and mix in with slower to rot, carbon rich ‘browns’ (cardboard egg boxes, scrunched up paper, autumn leaves etc.)

If you want to re-use your cooked food (including meat and fish) you will need an enclosed composting system such as a Wormery, Bokashi system or green cone. For more information visit Rootrainers (opens in a new window) or Green Cone (opens in a new window)

Recycle

We collect waste for composting from properties across the district in 240 litre grey wheeled bins with a green lid. Householders who are unable to have wheeled bins could compost at home or use the local Household Waste and Recycling Centre at Ashbourne for their garden waste. 

What can go in your Green Bin:

  • Cardboard: Cardboard of any type including cereal and food boxes. Please flatten cardboard boxes and remove staples and any packaging tape. Please do not include cartons with plastic, wax or foil coatings such as orange juice cartons.
  • Kitchen Waste: Vegetable peelings, fruit peel and cores, cooked or uncooked meat, fish and bones, tea bags, coffee grounds, any other food scraps (cooked or uncooked). All kitchen waste can be wrapped in newspaper or put into an uncoated cardboard box and placed in your Garden Bin. The paper or cardboard will be composted with the garden and kitchen waste.
  • Garden Waste: Garden plants and weeds, hedge trimmings, small branches and bark, leaves and grass cuttings, house plants and compost, bedding from vegetarian pets (e.g. rabbits, guinea pigs).
  • Loose material only, please. No plastic of any kind. Keep lid closed.

What can't go in your Green Bin:

  • Soil, rubble, stones, plastic sacks/bags of any kind, household rubbish and other recyclables (glass, cans, plastic bottles etc.), plant pots, nappies, ash, cat and dog faeces, cartons with plastic, wax or foil coatings.

It is your responsibility to ensure that your Green Bin does not contain any of the above. If any of the above items are in your Green Bin, it will not be emptied

Textiles

Reduce

  • Try to buy quality, durable products that will last.

Re-use

  • Try online auctions or a car boot sale to make some money out of those unwanted items. Or donate them to a charity shop.

Recycle

  • Take unwanted clothes, shoes, curtains and bedding to the textile banks across the district. Make sure items are posted into the bank and not left on the ground to make a mess.
  • Did you know that your plastic bottles might be recycled into fleece jumpers? Look for recycled fabrics when shopping.  

Plastics and other Packaging

Reduce – Shop Smart!

  • When shopping try to choose products with less packaging.
  • Every year, an estimated 17 and a half billion plastic bags are given away by supermarkets. When you go shopping take a re-useable cloth bag or use the supermarket ‘bag for life’ schemes and SNUB (Say no to unwanted bags)
  • Support your local milk round. The returnable glass bottles will produce much less waste than plastic bottles or waxed cartons.
  • Try to buy fruit and vegetable products loose or in a paper bag. If the shop you use only has plastic bags ask them to swap.
  • Choose products made of recycled materials. Easy options include recycled toilet paper, kitchen roll and recycled glass containers.
  • Avoid single use disposable products such as plastic cups and plates, cameras and nappies (more information later).
  • Buy local food from local shops! Your local butchers, stalls and shops tend to use less packaging on their products. This way you are also reducing pollution by reducing the miles that food has traveled to get to you.

Re-use

  • Use yogurt pots and margarine tubs as seed pots and paint pots.
  • Use ice cream or margarine tubs to keep packed lunches fresh or to store leftovers (this also reduces the amount of cling film or foil you use!)
  • Cut a plastic bottle in half and place the top half over young seedlings as a mini protective plant cloche.

Recycle

Plastic is quite difficult to recycle as there are so many different kinds. Look on the plastic container for a recycling triangle which has either the numbers 1, 2 , 5 or 6 inside or the abbreviations PET, PETE, HDPE, PVC, LDPE, PP. Any of these are acceptable at our plastic banks. This includes bottles from drinks, detergents and milk as well as margarine and ice-cream tubs and most yoghurt pots (generally 'hard' plastic packaging).

Please do not include plastic bags, mixed plastic and foam packaging or cling film wrap (generally 'flimsy' plastic packaging). Please make sure you rinse the containers, remove lids and squash them if possible to save space. It takes the weight of an elephant to crush a plastic bottle with the cap on!

Paper and Card

Reduce

  • Reduce your ‘junk mail’, sign up to the free Mailing Preference Service (opens in a new window) at

    MPS
    Freepost 29 LON20771
    London
    W1E 0ZT,

    Tel: 0845 703 4599 
  • If you have a home computer, view things on screen instead of printing out. If you do print, set your printer to double sided and buy recycled paper.

Re-use

  • Make sure you always use both sides of any paper and make scrap paper pads from spare pieces for family notes and shopping lists.
  • Make or buy re-use labels to get more from your envelopes.
  • Donate magazines to hospitals, doctors or dentist surgeries.
  • Some screwed up or shredded paper and card can be composted.

Recycle

  • Every tonne of paper recycled saves 15 trees. In Derbyshire Dales a Blue Box for glass and a clear bag for paper is provided for a fortnightly recycling collection. Simply put your paper in the bag and put it out at the edge of your property with your blue box by 7am on your collection day. If you do not have a blue box or bag call the Environment Hotline on 01629 761215 or email environmenthotline@derbyshiredales.gov.uk.

What to put in your paper recycling bag

  • Newspapers, magazines, postal advertising, white envelopes, telephone directories (including yellow pages)

What not to put in your paper bag

  • Cardboard, brown paper, plastic wrapping, brown envelopes
  • Or recycle your paper at one of the sites around the district. All of the paper banks in the district will accept Yellow Pages and telephone directories for recycling.
  • Remember you can recycle cardboard in your Green Bin.

Carton recycling

You can now recycle your paper-based drinks and liquid food cartons, such as those made by Tetra Pak, at various points within the District. Carton collection banks can be found at:

  • Ashbourne, Shawcroft Car Park

  • Ashbourne, Sainsbury's Car Park

  • Bakewell, Granby Road Car Park

  • Baslow, Nether End Car Park

  • Darley Dale, Spar Car Park

  • Eyam, Hawkhill Road Car Park

  • Hathersage, Oddfellows Road

  • Matlock, Sainsburys

  • Tideswell, Community Centre

  • Wirksworth, Canterbury Road

Each year, UK beverage carton manufacturers produce 55,000 tonnes of paper-based cartons for milk, juice, sauces and other liquid food/drinks. This equates to around 2.3kg of cartons per household which could be recycled instead of thrown in the rubbish bin.

In response, we are working with Tetra Pak and the carton industry body ACE UK (Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment) to establish carton collection points at key recycling points for residents to take their empty cartons to be recycled.

Once collected, the cartons can be taken away to be baled, transported to a recycling mill. They can be recycled into a number of different products, ranging from plasterboard liner to high-strength paper bags and envelopes.

For more information, click here to visit the tetrapak recycling website (opens in a new window)

Glass

Almost 200 glass jars and bottles are thrown away in Britain every second.

Re-use

  • Use your glass containers again for home-made pickles, jams and drinks.
  • Use glass paints to decorate your glass jars as tea light candle lanterns.
  • Glass jars are ideal for storing nails, screws, paints and odds and ends.

Recycle

  • Use your Blue Box to recycle your glass (see ‘Paper’ for collection details). Remove lids, drain bottles, and rinse jars at the end of your washing up, or
  • Use one of the many glass banks around the District. If you are at the glass bank and are unsure of the colour please put it in the ‘green’ bank.

What to put in your Blue Box or Glass Bank for recycling.

  • Green, brown, clear and blue glass bottles and jars (please remove caps, tops, lids and corks)

What not to put in your blue box or Glass Bank

  • MIlk bottles, glasses, crockery, window glass, ovenware, saucepans, lightbulbs or tubes.

Cans and Foil

Reduce

  • Re-use a plastic box, or a bowl with a plate over instead of aluminium foil.

Recycle

  • we have can recycling banks across the district. Please rinse cans and squash if possible to save space. The can banks will take aluminium and steel food and drink cans, clean aluminium foil and trays, metal lids from jars and aerosol cans (please do not pierce or crush these).

Other: The rest of your waste

Nappies – Time for a change?

We are supporting a countywide scheme offering £25 cash back for families choosing to use washable nappies or a nappy laundering service. For more information call Derbyshire County Council on 01629 580000 ext: 7051 or email realnappies@derbyshire.gov.uk. Derbyshire residents can also hire a 'Nappy Lending Kit' for £5 and a refundable deposit. This allows parents to try out a range of brands and styles of real nappies to find out which suits their child best. Real nappy advisors are on hand for lending kit borrowers to provide guidance, advice and support. 

Electrical Goods and Furniture

Reduce

  • Buy quality products that will last and don’t replace or upgrade unnecessarily.
  • Buy wooden products made from sustainably managed forests.

Re-use

  • Have items repaired professionally or hire rarely used items.
  • Give items to friends or family, use a free website swap shop like free2collect (opens in a new window), efreeko (opens in a new window) or rag-and-bone or try an auction house or online auction for valuable items. Try 'Freecycle' (opens in a new window); The Freecycle Network™ is made up of groups across the globe who give (and get) stuff for free in their own towns. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer and membership is free. Follow the link above to find your local group.

  • Furniture Re-use Network:

    • Several organisations across the district will collect furniture and electrical appliances for re-use and pass them on to people who desperately need them.

    • Encore: Covers the entire Derbyshire Dales district area. Tel/Fax: 01335 300907 or email: encore_reuse@btconnect.com or visit the Encore Website  (opens in a new window) (no charge for collection). The items need to be in a reasonable, clean condition without rips or stains, especially in the case of mattresses. Soft furnishings must meet the 1988 fire regulations and electrical items must be in working order. Please no 60's or 70's style sideboards, gas appliances, fridges, freezers, washing machines or other white goods over 5 years old. We cannot accept large bedroom fitments, large display cabinets or flat-pack furniture.

    • Heanor Salcare: Cover the south of the district, west to Ashbourne and north as far as Rowsley. Tel: 01773 764562, or email mail@salcare.org.uk (please note no fridges, freezers or TVs. Only small, working electrical items).

  • Computers:

Recycle

  • If you have a mobile phone you do not use bring it to any of our offices or Leisure Centres. Please include the battery and charger but remove the SIM card. Many charities also collect mobile phones for example Help the Aged - please send unwanted phones to FREEPOST FONEBANK RECYCLING, please write "Help the Aged" on the top left hand corner. Or you can drop off mobile phones at your nearest Help the Aged shop (see below for details). Help the Aged offer a free collection for more than 30 mobiles.
  • Household electrical items can be taken to any of the Household Waste and Recycling Centres operated by Derbyshire County Council. Try the site at Ashbourne or visit Derbyshire County Council's (opens in a new window) website for information about your nearest HWRC (Household Waste Recycling Centre), opening times and what you can recycle.

Dispose

If you still have items of bulky waste that nobody wants take them to the Household Waste and Recycling Centre at Ashbourne or request a bulky waste collection from us by calling the Environment Hotline on 01629 761215. Bulky waste collections are a chargeable service (residents over 65 or registered disabled are entitled to one free collection of up to 6 items per year).

Odds and Ends

  • Books: Sell to a second hand bookshop; donate to a charity shop or book bank.

  • Ink Cartridges: Many charities have post back schemes for ink cartridges to raise money. Call your favourite charity and ask them if they collect cartridges.
    The British Red Cross receive £1 for every HP and Lexmark Ink-jet cartridges recycled, send your ink jet cartridges to

    Used Inkjet Appeal
    FREEPOST NATE223
    Newmarket
    CB8 7BR

    or apply for freepost bags for your home, workplace or school by emailing freepost@redcross.org.uk calling 01638 552082 or visit the British Red Cross website (opens in a new window).

  • Ashbourne Household Waste and Recycling Centre: Mayfield Road, Ashbourne will take wood and a wide range of other recyclables as well as excess household waste for disposal. Open from 8.30am to 6pm daily.

  • Other ideas: Organise a "give or take day" where items can be swapped free of charge, visit the wen.org (opens in a new window) website for ideas or make use of your local toy library.

So what's left?

Very little!

For more advice on any of the suggestions given here please contact us at

Environmental Services
Derbyshire Dales District Council
Town Hall
Matlock
Derbyshire
DE4 3NN

Environment Hotline: 01629 761215
email: environmenthotline@derbyshiredales.gov.uk 

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