Recycling at Home
Did you know that in 2008/09, households in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough produced over 383,000 tonnes of rubbish and over 195,000 tonnes - roughly 50% of this, was recycled and composted. Not bad, but we know that potentially 60% or more of our rubbish can be recycled and composted. Your local council provides three ways to recycle and compost rubbish. They are through:
- Kerbside collections
- Recycling sites
- Recycling centres
Does recycling make a difference?
The short answer is yes; even the smallest amount of recycling can make a difference:
- Recycling alumminium requires only 5% of the energy it takes to make new aluminium and produces only 5% of the CO2 emissions. (Alupro)
- Recycling just one aluminium can saves enough energy to run a television set for three hours!
- Producing steel from recycled material saves 75% of the energy needed to produce steel made from virgin material (Scrib)
- The energy saving from recycling one glass bottle will:
- power a 100 watt bulb for an hour
- power a computer for 25 minutes
- power a colour TV for 20 minutes
- power a washing machine for 10 minutes (British glass)
- Recycling just one plastic bottle saves enough energy to power a 60W light bulb for six hours (Recycle now)
Kerbside collections
All residents in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough have separate kerbside collections for recycling, composting and rubbish that cannot be recycled or composted.
We need your help and participation for these recycling collections to be successful.
To request a recycling box or bin please contact your local recycling officer using the number on our local authorities page.
Recycling banks
There are over 300 recycling bank sites throughout Cambridgeshire and Peterborough where you can take paper, glass, cans, aerosols, textiles, books and plastic bottles.
Recycling centres
Most people refer to these as tips! Well, did you know that there are 10 recycling centres in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough area where you can recycle glass, engine oil, organic green material, soil, cans, paper, cardboard, scrap metal, batteries, aerosols, textiles, electrical items, light bulbs, fridges, freezers (and other white goods), timber, books, mobile phones, cartridges and fluorescent tubes. Plastic bottles are collected at Grunty Fen, Milton, Bluntisham and Whittlesey recycling centres.
Recycling centres in Cambridgeshire are now also collecting used cooking oil which is used to generate green electricity.
You can find out more about the recycling performance of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough in our RECAP Partnership section.
