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Somerset Waste Partnership News

21st April 2019
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somerset wasterubbish waste environment

In this season of bank holidays, we have a reminder to check collection days. Plus:

  • The revised recycling site schedule continues over Easter
  • Update on the recycling site diversion trial
  • Helping residents save-to-save by working with Somerset credit unions
  • Facts and stats from the latest End Use Register, available on our website
  • Poultry packaging advice to avoid health risks from washing raw meat

All households have bank holiday waste day changes coming. Pick-ups due on Good Friday 19 April will be on Saturday 20 April; no collections Easter Monday 22 April mean all that week's kerbside services are one day later, including Friday pick-ups on Saturday 27 April; and the bank holidays on 6 and 27 May mean all collections in those weeks are a day later, including Friday pick-ups on Saturday.

Remember you can double-check your revised collection schedule via the SWP's website: *Community recycling site with £2 cash entry.

Building work continues apace at the Avonmouth Resource Recovery Centre, where nearly all of Somerset's non-recyclable rubbish will be sent from next year to generate electricity instead of being buried in landfill.

Whilst at the kerbside everything that cannot be recycled will go to generate electricity, the range of unrecyclable materials taken to recycling sites mean that we have to separate out what cannot be used to generate electricity. This includes things like PVC window frames (because of the chemicals they contain) and some bulky items like mattresses.

Having started with Highbridge and Yeovil recycling sites, our 'diversion trial' has recently been extended to Cheddar, Bridgwater, Street and Taunton and will eventually reach all 16 sites. This enables us to learn how to maximise the amount that is sent to produce electricity, and minimise the amount sent to landfill. In each case, suitable and unsuitable materials are split between two skips and we continue to work with the recycling site staff to divert as much as possible from landfill.

SWP is working in partnership with two Somerset credit unions to help residents cut food waste and save money.
Somerset Community Credit Union and Wyvern Savings and Loans are distributing flyers with information about their services and food waste advice, while SWP promotes similar messages about better storage, using leftovers, portion sizes and more. The flyers include information about credit union saving and affordable loans. They suggest that any parents expecting a child could save £500 by investing in cloth nappies using a small credit union loan.

The way people separate their recycling and use our weekly food waste service enables us to produce clean streams of materials. This matters, because it means what we collect can be used in the most environmentally beneficial way ' turning the glass we collect back into glass bottles for example.
This contrasts with the higher costs, lower quality and worse environmental impact of all-in-one-bin (comingled) recycling. impressive performance is down to the efforts Somerset residents and our crews put in ' so thank you.

Plastics packaging and poultry advice

Following an enquiry regarding recycling poultry packaging and whether to wash or not, we suggest residents follow this advice.
To stop the potential spread of food poisoning from campylobacter bacteria, the poultry itself should not be washed, according to NHS Live Well. It adds that you should "thoroughly wash and clean all utensils, chopping boards and surfaces used to prepare raw chicken. Wash hands thoroughly with soap and warm water after handling raw chicken. This helps stop the spread of campylobacter.

We therefore recommend that after food preparation (and if you wish to recycle the meat trays at a recycling site), you wash and clean plastic trays that have contained raw poultry, then wash your hands before recycling.

For NHS advice on poultryclick here:

See our website for lots more information on waste and recycling services and what more you can to do to reduce, reuse and recycle.

Contact your local council customer services helpline if you need assistance with our services.

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