Residents can now recycle plastic pots, tubs, and trays at ten sites across Portsmouth.
Portsmouth City Council has partnered with Biffa Commercial to provide plastic pots, tubs, and trays recycling solutions to Portsmouth residents. The twenty new plastics banks have been installed at ten sites around the city.
The locations of the banks can be found by searching for “local recycling points” on the Portsmouth City Council website [www.portsmouth.gov.uk].
Plastics accepted at the banks include pots, tubs, and trays. Recycling these items saves the reusable materials from incineration. The plastics are taken to one of Biffa Commercial’s state-of-the-art UK facilities where they are sorted, washed, shredded, and pelletised, ready to be turned into other products.
Cllr Kimberly Barrett, Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment, said: “These new mixed recycling banks are an excellent way for residents to recycle plastic pots, tubs and trays, helping to reduce the amount of waste sent to incineration. We have listened to our Portsmouth residents asking us to recycle more plastics and are thrilled to do this to help make our city cleaner and greener.
“We know that people would like to recycle more, especially plastics. We are aware that there are also “wishcyclers” who hope that by putting plastic tubs and trays in the recycling bin at home, they will somehow be recycled at the facilities. This can have the opposite effect, so we urge everyone to only put plastic bottles in the recycling bins at home. For plastic pots, tubs, and trays, use these mixed plastic recycling banks. The more you use them, the more we know they’re a good and useful service to residents.”
The plastics that can currently be recycled at home in resident’s green bins are all the bottle shaped plastics, including cleaner and detergent bottles, milk bottles, drink bottles, toiletries, and shampoo bottles. This is because the facility that handles all of Portsmouth’s household recycling collections can process paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, tins, cans, and aerosols.
The council is working with Hampshire County Council, Southampton City Council, and waste disposal contractor Veolia on plans for a new facility that will enable more doorstep recycling.
Portsmouth City Council continues to review and improve its waste and recycling services, including the introduction of food waste collections in 2019, greener fuel for waste collection vehicles in 2021 and kerbside battery collections earlier this year.