We’re launching a city-wide campaign to improve recycling rates in Plymouth.
Over the next few weeks, every single household in the city will be receiving a leaflet with information that clarifies what can and cannot be recycled.
In addition, residents will start to see stickers appear on their bins to ensure that at the point of taking out the recycling, there's a reminder of what should be getting recycled.
A social media campaign, which began at Christmas with festive recycling suggestions, will also be expanded.
Based on #RightStuffRightBin it will feature helpful tips and some myth-busting about what should be going in your green bin.
Councillor Tom Briars-Delve, Cabinet Member for the Environment and Climate Change, said: “I’m really pleased to launch this campaign and start to improve the amount that we recycle across Plymouth.
“We know that our residents want to recycle – it’s evident from the sheer tonnage we get from green bins. But too often we are seeing things that can’t be recycled in the green bins and things that can be recycled in the brown bins. This leads to contamination and sometime means we have to ditch a whole load of what would otherwise be perfectly good, recyclable materials.
“We have one of the easiest recycling systems in the country in Plymouth – one bin for everything – and that's the way we want to keep it. We just need to make sure we're putting the right stuff in the right bin and hopefully, this campaign will help that."
We recently commissioned an agency to look at our waste and recycling service because we had experienced a rise in household residual waste, increased side waste/contamination and a drop in recycling rate.
They did a host of activities, including surveys and focus groups as well as spending time with our waste crews and found that although the increase in waste was consistent with the national picture, we did have a problem with side waste and recycling contamination, which is why we are rolling out with campaign.
The leaflets are now being distributed across Plymouth, with the first landing on doorsteps this week.
If in doubt, you can find out what goes in each bin at plymouth.gov.uk/WhatGoesInEachBin