Waste management in Portsmouth
Last updated: 31 October 2012 11:53 UKWe aim to provide general information to residents of Portsmouth about waste and recycling. We receive a lot of specific enquiries for detailed information about our service from students and residents. In the first instance please visit the websites we've listed below to carry out general research. If you then have further specific questions, please email the city helpdesk or call the number at the end of this document and we'll be happy to briefly discuss them with you.
Portsmouth City Council is committed to increasing recycling across the city
Portsmouth City Council is a unitary authority and has responsibilities to both collect and dispose of domestic waste. Waste collections are contracted out to Biffa and the disposal contractor is Veolia Environmental Services. The Portsmouth Recycling Centre is contracted to Hopkins Recycling Limited. Find out what happens to your rubbish and recycling here.
Portsmouth City Council has a small team of environment and recycling officers (EROs) who actively engage with the public to promote recycling through education. This provides information on the benefits of recycling and what the service does. The aim is to increase participation rates and improve capture rates from those who already recycle. The ERO team attend schools and various events throughout the city, as well as organising promotions of their own to improve public knowledge of recycling. Promotions such as the Green Grotto, which ran during the lead in to Christmas 2008 and 2009, and the Waste Less Challenge were nominated for national awards. For more information on our current promotions, visit our news and events section.
The EROs also work closely with the recycling collection crews to ensure that the correct items are placed in the recycling wheelie bins. The recycling collection crews themselves work to maximise recycling and reduce contamination from non-recyclables. This improves the quality of the recyclables collected and has resulted in Portsmouth City Council having the lowest contamination rate in Hampshire at 5.01%. The crews hang feedback leaflets on bins where there may be a contamination problem. There are two hangers in use, red and yellow, which explain what the problem was.
Recently the council switched to collecting mixed glass as opposed to colour separated glass. This was to make it easier for residents to recycle glass, and it is hoped that this will result in a long term increase in the quantity of glass collected for recycling.
The Portsmouth Recycling Centre has undergone a £750,000 redevelopment making it easier for Portsmouth residents to recycle their waste. Hopkins Recycling Limited, who manage the site for Portsmouth City Council, promote recycling with incentive schemes for sites and site managers. Hopkins Recycling Limited currently have the contract to manage all of the household waste recycling centres in Hampshire.
Portsmouth City Council also works in conjunction with a number of organisations and charities to promote recycling throughout the city. We promote groups such as Freecycle and Free2collect on our website, with the aim of increasing re-use and recycling of items.
There is a network of bring banks in the city for the collection of recyclables such as books and textiles. Organisations with bring banks in Portsmouth include Air Ambulance Service, British Heart Foundation, Oxfam, TRAID and the Salvation Army.
Portsmouth City Council is a part of Project Integra which is a partnership of local authorities in Hampshire working together to improve waste collection and disposal. This allows local authorities to maximise recycling through collective bargaining on contracts for the sale of recyclable materials and to make the best use of shared infrastructure.
Further information
Biffa – Portsmouth’s domestic waste collection contractor
Veolia Environmental Services - Hampshire's waste disposal contractor and their infrastructureHopkins Recycling - the contractor that runs the Portsmouth Recycling Centre
Project Integra - a partnership Hampshire's local authorities, working together to improve waste services in the county
Recycle For Hampshire - Project Integra's communications project
WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) - an organisation that supports local authorities on waste issues
DEFRA - Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs - Waste management and recycling
Recycle.co.uk - As well as giving information on what you can recycle and where, this site also has the facility for you to sell your unwanted items for cash.
You can also register for public access to the Waste Data Flow website, which is where local authorities report their data on waste and recycling to the Government. For more information and to register please go to http://www.wastedataflow.org/.
If you still need further help, please call Portsmouth City Council helpdesk on 023 9283 4092
Further information
What we do with your rubbishWhat happens to your kerbside recycling?
Where and when is my rubbish and recycling collected?
