Knowing what to recycle or not can be confusing. We hope to dispel myths and give answers to these common questions to help you carry on recycling.
What's the point in recycling, it only ends up in a landfill
False
All the recyclable materials you put into your green bin have value. Materials that cannot be recycled are incinerated. Incinerating waste is very expensive – even when energy is recovered from this process. To offset the cost of disposal, we sell your recyclable materials to sustainable markets. The money we get back supports council services.
Only materials that don’t fit in the incinerator get sent to landfill. This makes up about 4.2% of all waste collected in Portsmouth. Portsmouth’s landfill rate is one of the lowest in the country.
It's got a recycling symbol on it. That means I can recycle it at home.
False
Most packaging will have a recycling symbol on it. The recycling symbol means it can be recycled, but not always by us. In Portsmouth, just remember thesefive things that can be recycled in your household recycling bin or box:
- paper
- card
- plastic bottles
- metal cans/tin
- aerosol cans.
There’s more information onwhat can be recycled from homeandyour nearest recycling bank.
Other places recycle other plastics so you must be able to
False
What each council can recycle depends on the technology available at their sorting facilities and on the partners they are working with.
Our Portsmouth sorting facility can only handle plastic bottles. This is why the only plastics you can put in your green recycling bin are bottles.
However, we have recently partnered with Biffa Commercial who own specialist plastic recycling facilities in the UK. We have installed orange plastic banks around the city, which accept plastic pots, tubs, trays and bottles. Find where the banks are located here.
Biffa Commercial collects these and take them to their plastic recycling facilities directly.
We are also working with Hampshire County Council and Southampton City Council to build a new sorting facility which will allow us to collect and recycle more items.
It doesn't matter if I put the wrong things in the recycling bin
False
When we take recycling to the sorting facility, anything that is not a material we recycle gets removed from the sorting process. The non-recycling is then taken for incineration or landfill. This costs the council tax payer a lot of money each year – money which could go towards providing extra services.
The worst things to put in your recycling bin are soiled items (such as nappies and food covered packaging) and glass. If these enter the lorry, the whole load can be contaminated and rejected for recycling. This means other people’s recycling efforts are wasted, as well as your own.
The most common incorrect items in green recycling bins are plastic pots, tubs and trays. These cannot successfully be sorted by our Portsmouth facility. If you want to recycle these, take them to one of our orange plastic recycling banks.
If you cannot get to a recycling bank, place them in your rubbish bin.
The only plastics you can put in your green recycling bin are bottles. For example drinks, cleaning products and shampoo bottles.
If we throw plastic away in the general rubbish, it could end up in the ocean and harm sea life.
False
In Portsmouth, we incinerate the waste we pick up from your black bags/bins, recovering energy. This means it’s burned to produce heat. This heat is then used to make steam which turns turbines and produces electricity. The electricity is then put into the National Grid. So, plastic you put in your general waste bin will not end up in the ocean.
Plastic litter that is left on beaches or in the street could end up in the ocean, so please take your rubbish home with you or put it in a public litter bin.
Frequently asked questions
The most recycled items are paper and cardboard. If glass enters the recycling vehicle, it smashes and gets into the paper and cardboard. This lowers the quality of the paper and card and it can get rejected for recycling.
To collect glass kerbside, we’d need new vehicles and crews for a separate collection. This would take time and investment, but it’s something we hope to provide in the future.
You can recycle glass containers by taking them to a bottle bank.Find your nearest glass bank.
This is because the plastics that make pots, tubs, trays, polystyrene and plastic bags are made out of a large variety of plastics. Our sorting plant does not have the technology and equipment to separate all these different types of plastics.
Some of these plastics also do not have a sustainable market for them. Although, we are working with Hampshire County Council and Southampton City Council to build a new sorting plant which will be able to handle a bigger variety of materials.
In the meantime, if you want to recycle more plastics, you can take pots, tubs and trays to one of our orange plastic recycling banks and take soft plastics to some larger supermarkets.
Because our sorting facility can only successfully separate paper, cardboard, tins/cans and aerosols. It does not have the technology or equipment to sort other materials.
We are, however, working with Hampshire County Council and Southampton City Council to build a new sorting facility which will be able to handle a bigger variety of materials.
These are difficult to recycle as they are made of several different materials. Our facility can’t sort between cartons or card/paper. This means we could end up with a lower quality card/paper product.
You can recycle cartons at four sites in Portsmouth:
The best way to deal with waste is to reduce and reuse what you can. If an item can’t be re-used, the next best thing to do is to recycle it. We send materials we can’t recycle for incineration. This is better for the environment and more cost-effective than landfill.
The incineration process produces heat energy which can be turned into electricity. Also, the bottom ash is used in construction and any metals that come out the end of the process is sent for recycling.
We analysed the rubbish thrown out in Portsmouth and food waste made up the biggest part of our waste – about 40%. If we can recycle it instead, then that’s a big win.
Food waste is made into biofuel and soil improver for farmers. For information to help you reduce food waste, visit Love Food Hate Waste.
Greasy paper and card cannot be recycled because the paper and card fibres cannot be separated from the oils during the pulping process –when paper is turned into fibre.
Therefore, please do not place dirty/greasy takeaway containers such as pizza boxes into the recycling.
Our recycling infrastructure was cutting-edge at the time it was built, however, technology has continued to improve since. Other councils in the country may have more up-to-date technology to sort between different materials.
We are working with Hampshire County Council and Southampton City Council to build a new sorting plant which will allow all the councils in our region to collect and recycle a larger variety of materials.
We have over 200 recycling banks around the city which acceptglass,mixed hard plastics,textiles,books and CDs/DVDs. Visit ourLocal recycling pointspage for further information and map of recycling locations managed by Portsmouth City Council.
Check out our batteries, small electrical/electronic items, food waste and garden waste webpages to find out how you can get these collected from your doorstep.
Our Portsmouth Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) accepts a large variety of materials for recycling. Visit the HWRC webpage to see what is accepted and to book a visit.
Some supermarkets now have collection points to recycle soft plastics. Check your local supermarket for more details on the materials they accept.
Further information
- Hampshire County Council waste prevention and recycling
- Sign up for recycling and rubbish updates
