recycling
in Medway
Your guide to
Dear resident,
Thanks to you, Medway’s recycling is going from
strength to strength. We’re now recycling more
than ever before – in 2006/07 Medway recycled
almost a third of its rubbish.
While this is a great achievement, there are real
incentives for us to continue to recycle more.
We still bury more than 87,000 tonnes of rubbish
in landfill annually – the environmental and
financial costs of this increase each year.
While recycling is obviously very important,
reducing the amount of waste we produce in the
first place is just as important. By making
informed choices about what we buy and use,
we can all make decisions that help reduce the
amount we have to throw away.
Inside:
Kerbside recycling
2
Garden waste
4
Household waste
and recycling centres
5
Recycling points
6
Bulky items
8
This booklet explains how you can recycle more.
I hope you find it useful. Please keep it in a safe
place for future use.
If you need more information about recycling in
Medway, please contact the council. There are
contact details on the back of this guide.
☎ 01634 333333
www.medway.gov.uk/recyclenow
Cllr Phil Filmer
Portfolio Holder for
Front Line Services
Kerbside recycling – helping y
To help you recycle more, you will now
receive blue bags for recycling
every 13 weeks.
Please put your recycling out in your
blue box or bags by 7am on your
usual recycling collection day. Rubbish
that can’t be recycled should be put out
in black sacks on your usual rubbish
collection day.
You will not receive any more
black sacks and will need to buy these
yourself from local shops.
Your questions
■ What happens to my recycling after it
is collected?
It’s taken to our materials recycling facility in
Rainham, Essex. Here the recycling goes through
a number of mechanical, electronic and manual
processes that separate it into different materials
which are then recycled into new products.
■ Can yoghurt pots, margarine tubs and
Tetra Paks be recycled?
Recycling depends on people or companies
wanting to buy the recycled materials.
Unfortunately, at the moment, there isn’t demand
for some recycled plastics, such as those
used for yoghurt pots, meat trays or margarine
tubs. This means that it isn’t economically or
environmentally viable to collect them for
recycling at the moment. We do not collect Tetra
Paks in blue boxes or bags, although we are
now trialling Tetra Pak recycling at some recycling
points. See pages six and seven for more details.
■ I always fill my blue box up. Please
can I have another?
Unfortunately we can only provide one blue
box per house or maisonette. Don’t forget
you can use blue bags for recycling anything
that won’t fit into your blue box.
■ My blue box has been lost or
damaged. What can I do?
Please phone us on 01634 333333 or email
[email protected] and
we’ll deliver you a new one.
■ I live in a flat. Where should I leave
my recycling for collection?
Many flats now have large recycling containers
in their bin store areas. If this is not the
case, please contact your managing agent or
Medway Council for advice.
2
Your guide to recycling
you recycle more at home
What can
Paper/catalogues
✔ and cannot ✘
Card
be recycled at the kerbside?
Carrier bags
Metal cans
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔
Envelopes
Foil
Plastic packaging
(except bottles)
Cartons/
Tetra Paks*
Plastic bottles
✘
✘
✘
✘
Polystyrene
Glass*
Your guide to recycling
Empty aerosols
Recycling tips
■ Plastic, other than bottles or carrier bags, cannot
be recycled by us so please don’t put them in
your blue bag/box.
■ If you have a blue box use it for heavier items like
paper and cardboard. Blue bags are ideal for
lighter or bulkier items like tins or plastic bottles.
■ Don’t put extra recycling out in black sacks –
these will be treated as rubbish for landfill and
will not be recycled. If you run out of blue bags
you can collect more, free, from Medway Council
contact points, or you can use carrier bags,
cardboard boxes or swing-bin liners instead.
*Glass, cartons and Tetra Paks are not currently collected in
blue bags and boxes but can be recycled at some recycling points.
See pages six and seven for more information.
3
Your garden waste
Garden waste is collected from homes
in Medway every fortnight on the same
day as rubbish for landfill is collected.
The garden waste collection is made on the opposite
week from the recycling collection. Once collected
garden waste is turned into a rich soil conditioner.
You can put out garden waste in a brown bin or
brown sack. You can also use other coloured sacks
for garden waste as long as they are not blue or
black. Please leave other sacks untied so it is easy for
us to check what is in the sack when it is picked up.
If you have a brown wheelie bin we will collect two
additional sacks of garden waste. If you do not have a
brown wheelie bin, we will collect up to four sacks of
garden waste per collection. Brown sacks are
available on request by phoning 01634 333333
or emailing [email protected].
What can be recycled in your brown bin/bag?
✔
Dead plants
✔
Garden prunings
and weeds
Garden waste tips
■ Please don’t put out loose garden waste.
■ If you have wood or bulky materia
ls, the
smaller you cut it up, the more room
you
will have in your bin.
If the bin
■ Don’t overload your brown bin.
as it can
is too heavy it will not be emptied
.
break when it is lifted to be emptied
bin can
■ Compacted garden waste in the
tied.
easily get stuck and may not be emp
■ We can’t accept plant pots/trays/t
ags,
stones, plastic bags/sacks, domestic
waste, logs, soil, hardcore, metal,
kitchen
waste or vegetable peelings.
■ Paint your house number on your
4
✔
Grass and hedge
clippings
✔
Small branches - less
than 7.5cm (3”) across
Your questions
■ Where should I leave my garden
waste for collection?
Leave it at the boundary of your property by
7am on collection day. Brown bins should have
their lids closed and be left with their handles
facing the road. Once emptied, bin lids will be
left open and brown sacks will be left near the
collection point where they can be secured.
■ Why don’t you collect food waste too?
The way we process garden waste to make it
into soil conditioner means we can’t accept
food or animal waste. Some other councils use
different techniques to process garden waste,
which means they can accept food waste.
bin neatly.
Your guide to recycling
Household waste and
recycling centres
You can recycle more by taking unwanted
items to one of Medway’s three household
waste and recycling centres.
As well as accepting electrical equipment (including
freezers, fridges, televisions and computer monitors),
the sites also recycle household batteries and
fluorescent or low energy light bulbs. Check out
the full list below to see what you can recycle at
the centres.
What can be recycled or disposed of?
What you can take for recycling at the three sites:
glass bottles and jars
tyres (Capstone only)
fluorescent light tubes/
garden waste
car batteries
energy saving light bulbs
shoes
plastic bottles/carrier bags
wood
textiles
electrical equipment (including
hardcore and soil
cans
freezers, fridges, televisions
household and garden
metal
and computer monitors)
chemicals (Cuxton only,
paper and cardboard
household batteries
ask staff on site first)
What you can take for disposal at the three sites:
household waste
gas bottles
asbestos
Where and when to go
■ Ambley Road, off Hoath
■ Shawstead Road,
■ Sundridge Hill, Cuxton
Way, Gillingham ME8 OQH
Capstone, Chatham ME7 3JL
ME2 1LF
Mon to Fri, 8am to 4.30pm
Sun/bank hols, 9am to 4pm
Mon to Fri, 8am to 4.30pm*
Sun/bank hols, 9am to 4pm
Mon to Fri, 8am to 4.30pm*
Sun/bank hols, 9am to 4pm
*Site open until 6.30pm on Mondays between April and September
Please note There is no access to the sites for vehicles taller than 1.85 metres or pedestrians. Transit-type, panel
vans, open-back or pick-up type vehicles are also not permitted as these are considered to be commercial vehicles.
Your guide to recycling
5
Recycling points
There are 56 recycling points
throughout Medway providing local
facilities for recycling materials
including glass bottles, paper and cans.
The table below shows what other facilities are
available at each recycling point.
Many recycling points are close to homes, so please
be considerate and do not make noise between 7pm
and 7am when using the recycling points.
Paper: Cardboard boxes can now
be placed in the paper banks for
recycling. Please fold the boxes flat
first to ensure there is enough space in
the bank for everyone's recycling.
Glass: Bottle and jar recycling.
Green and blue bottles can be
deposited in the green bank and
white coloured glass can be
deposited in the clear bank.
Cans: Recycle your metal food and
drink cans.
Textiles: Please note, this
does not include duvets, pillows
or carpets.
Shoes: Please try to deposit them
in pairs.
Plastic bags
Cartons: Paper-based milk, juice,
liquid food and beverage cartons.
Isle of Grain, Upnor, Stoke, Hoo,
Cliffe, Cooling, High Halstow
Strood
Brompton Farm Shop,
Brompton Farm Road, Strood
Hoo village Shops,
Main Road (Stoke Road) Hoo
Civic Centre, Strood
Main Road, Cooling
Commercial Road, Strood
Lower Upnor Car Park, Upnor
Strood Leisure Centre, Lower
Car Park, Humber Crescent, Strood
Mockbeggar Farm Shop,
Town Road, Cliffe Woods
Sycamore Road, Strood
Parkside, Cliffe Woods
Tesco, Charles Street, Strood
Pottery Road,
Hoo Village Hall, Hoo
The Bounty Pub,
Bligh Way, Strood
Village Hall, High Halstow
COMING SOON: Hogarth Inn,
Isle of Grain
6
Your guide to recycling
Rochester, Chatham,
Walderslade, Lordswood
Gillingham, Rainham, Twydall,
Hempstead, Brompton
Admirals Walk,
Lordswood Lane
Balmoral Gardens, Gillingham
Asda, Maidstone Road, Chatham
Bank Street Car Park, Chatham
Capstone Farm Country Park,
Capstone Road
Black Lion Leisure Centre,
Mill Road, Gillingham
Concorde Pub, Wakeley Road,
Rainham
Croneens Car Park,
Railway Street, Gillingham
Christchurch, Luton Road,
Chatham
Darland Avenue, Gillingham
Doust Shipyard Car Park,
High Street, Rochester
Dewdrop Pub, Begonia
Avenue, Twydall
Historic Dockyard, Chatham
Hempstead Valley Shops
Car Park
Homebase, Horsted Retail
Park, Maidstone Road
Kestrel Road, Lordswood
Longley Road Car Park,
Rainham
Medway Maritime Hospital
Lordswood Leisure Centre,
North Dane Way
Middle Street, Brompton
Lower Robin Hood Lane,
Walderslade
High Street, Rainham
(opposite Mierscourt Road)
Priestfields Recreation
Ground, Rochester
Municipal Buildings,
Gillingham
Silverweed Road Shops,
Chatham
Parkwood Green, Car Park,
Rainham
Solomons Road, Chatham
Sappers Walk, Gillingham
St Mary's Island
Community Centre
Splashes Leisure Pool,
Bloors Lane, Rainham
Stirling Centre, Maidstone
Road, Rochester
St Albans Close, Gillingham
The Old Ash Tree Pub,
Rainham Road, Chatham
Union Street Car Park,
Rochester
Warren Wood Social Club,
Warren Wood Road, Rochester
Wayfield Road Shops, Chatham
Whiffens Avenue, Chatham
Your guide to recycling
Station Road Car Park,
Rainham
Tangmere Close, Gillingham
Tesco, Courteney Road,
Rainham
Twydall Shopping Centre,
Twydall Lane
Vidal Manor, Lock Street,
Gillingham
7
Getting rid of large
or bulky items
Dumping unwanted household goods
makes Medway untidy and is illegal.
Instead you could find them a new
home by advertising with the following
internet-based reuse and recycling
schemes. Goods are given away for
nothing but the new owner collects.
■ Freecycle (www.freecycle.org.uk/groups/
unitedkingdom). There are local Freecycle groups in
Chatham, Gillingham, Strood and Walderslade.
■ Rag and Bone (www.rag-and-bone.co.uk).
■ Reuze (www.reuze.co.uk).
■ VSkips (www.vskips.co.uk).
If a large or bulky item is beyond reuse, Medway
Council can collect it from your home and dispose of it.
■ Collections must be booked well in advance by
phoning 01634 333333.
■ We will collect up to three items per collection.
■ Items must be left at the boundary of your property
by 7am on the booked collection day.
■ The first collection booked in any six-month
period is free but each additional booking (of up
to three items) costs £15 per booking.
■ An express service is available for collection
within 48 hours at a cost of £24.
Large or bulky items we will collect
■ Armchair
■ Barbecue
■ Bath (not cast iron)
■ Bed
■ Bicycle
■ Bidet
■ Cabinet
■ Carpet
■ Central heating radiator
■ Chairs - dining room or
garden (two items)
■ Chest of drawers
■ Computer
☎
■ Cooker
■ Cupboard
■ Desk
■ Dishwasher
■ Electric fire
■ Extractor fan (kitchen)
■ Fridge or freezer
■ Garden gate
■ Garden table
■ Gas fire
■ Hi-fi system
■ Internal door
(without glass)
■ Ironing board
■ Lawn mower
■ Mattress
■ Microwave
■ Musical instrument
■ Ottoman
■ Pram
■ Settee
■ Sewing machine
■ Shower tray
■ Sideboard
■ Sink
■ Strimmer
■ Table (not glass)
■ Television
■ Toys
■ Tumble dryer
■ Underlay
■ Vacuum cleaner
■ Wall unit
■ Wardrobe
(not mirrored)
■ Washing machine
■ WC
■ Wheelbarrow
■ Worktop (up to 6ft)
Who to contact
Customer First: 01634 333333 8am to 8pm (Mon-Fri) 9am to 1pm (Sat)
Calls may be recorded or monitored for security and staff development purposes.
Customer First, Medway Council, Civic Centre, Strood, Rochester, Kent, ME2 4AU
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.medway.gov.uk/recyclenow
Minicom: 01634 333111
This information can be made available in other formats by calling 01634 333333
If you have any questions about this leaflet and you want to speak to someone in your own language please ring 01634 335577
G2785 01 08 Designed by Medway Council’s Communications Team. www.medway.gov.uk/communications
Printed on recycled paper