Plastic Free July is here! The global movement that helps millions of people to be part of the solution to plastic pollution aims to create cleaner streets, oceans, and beautiful communities.
The big question is ‘can you refuse single-use plastics throughout the month of July?’ This may seem challenging, but there are often alternatives to the single-use plastics that are now so common in our daily lives.
Some of the things you can do to reduce your plastic use include:
- Bring or borrow a reusable coffee cup, or dine-in at your local café
- Try to find plastic free alternatives when buying fruit and vegetables (buy loose fruit and vegetables where possible)
- Have your own reusable shopping bags
- Bring a reusable water bottle instead of buying plastic ones
- Avoid the plastic trays used for meat, fish and deli items
- Reuse lunchbox containers
- Look to use reusable food wraps instead of plastic film
- Switch to using a bar of soap rather than liquid soap
- Give plastic free household products a go – such as washing-up sponges and refillable cleaning sprays
You can learn more, and get involved by heading across to the Plastic Free July website.
Complete one of our challenges to claim a free reusable water bottle
We have a number of reusable water bottles to give away, but to claim yours you’ll need to complete one of our recycling challenges first!
Our waste strategy team will be at Tŷ Mawr Country Park on Wednesday, July 16 from 12:30pm – 2:30pm and if you want to pick up a free bottle just pop over and show them evidence of your completed challenge. The challenges are:
- Take a screenshot to show us you’re signed up to receive our Recycling Tips and Info emails
- Selfie yourself putting your food waste caddy out on your collection day
- Tell us about an unusual item you’ve managed to recycle recently e.g. cooking oil, mobile phone, mattress, bike
- Take a pic of a meal you’ve made with your leftover food e.g. toastie/omelette with leftover ham, spinach or sliced tomatoes
- Tell us about an item you’ve had repaired or upcycled to give it a new lease of life
- Selfie yourself visiting the Nightingale House Reuse shop based in Bryn Lane recycling centre
- Tell us your favourite recycling ’tip’ or ‘hack’ that makes you a super recycler
You only need to complete one of these challenges to get your free bottle, but feel free to do more.
The bottles are limited to one per person and can only be claimed from our team on the day.
If you enjoy visiting our country parks you should check out the handy water refill stations we have in Tŷ Mawr Country Park and Bellevue Park. They were paid for using Welsh Government’s Local Places for Nature fund and the stations allow you to top up your reusable water bottle as you’re enjoying your walk.
The re-use shop…give your plastics a new lease of life
If you’re looking to get rid of plastics such as garden furniture or toys and they’re in good condition, you should think about donating them to the re-use shop at Bryn Lane recycling centre…as well as recycling the items, you’ll be helping a great local charity too.
The shop is run by Nightingale House Hospice and you can make a donation at any of the three recycling centres in Wrexham. They all have an area set aside for people to donate items…if you’re unsure where these areas are, just give one of our attendants a shout, and they’ll be able to point you in the right direction.
Recycling plastic in Wrexham
Did you know that ANY type of plastic bottles, ALL plastic food trays, plastic pots and plastic tubs can be recycled at the kerbside in Wrexham? Following this should keep you on the right track.
Cllr Terry Evans, Lead Member for Environment, said: “It’s really important to make sure any plastics you use gets recycled, and in Wrexham lots of plastic containers are recyclable. This includes things you mightn’t necessarily think of such as shampoo bottles, cleaning bottles, yoghurt pots and margarine tubs.”
To help you understand this a bit clearer, we’re going to give you some examples of the types of typical household items that can be recycled.
Plastics that can be recycled include…
- Yoghurt pots
- Butter/margarine tubs
- Ready meal trays
- Shampoo bottles
- Shower gel bottles
- Bathroom/kitchen cleaner bottles (including trigger spray ones)
- Fruit punnets (but not the film or bubble wrap)
- The clear containers Chinese/Indian food often come in
- Milkshake bottles
- Meat trays
- Ice cream tubs
- Large chocolate tubs (Quality Street, Celebrations etc)
Just please make sure these are clean and free from any food or drink residue when you recycle them.
What CAN’T I recycle at the kerbside?
The most common things people try to recycle, which AREN’T currently recyclable at the kerbside are all types of plastic food bags, all types of carrier bags, cling film, bubble wrap and crisp packets. Some of these items can be recycled at some front-of-store locations at participating supermarkets.
We also CAN’T accept any polystyrene items, hard plastics (these can be recycled at our recycling centres), toys, Tupperware, sweet wrappers, toothpaste tubes, plastic razors, or microwavable rice sachets.
Can I recycle plastics from my garden?
You can’t currently recycle hard plastics from your garden at the kerbside, such as plant pots, but you can recycle them at any of our three recycling centres in Wrexham.
Other hard plastic items such as CD or DVD cases can also be recycled here.
For more info on recycling in Wrexham, please visit wrexham.gov.uk/recycling
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