Portsmouth City Council, in partnership with Biffa Commercial, have installed mixed plastics banks at five new sites across the city.
This brings the total number of mixed plastic recycling sites to sixteen. Residents can find out where they are by visiting the council’s website at www.portsmouth.gov.uk/local-recycling
Twenty mixed plastic bins were originally installed in September 2022 at sites across Portsmouth. Since then, over 12 tonnes of plastics have been recycled.
Plastics accepted at the banks include plastic pots, tubs, and trays. Recycling these items allows them to be turned into other products. The plastics are taken to one of Biffa’s state-of-the-art UK facilities where they are sorted, washed, shredded, and pelletised.
Cllr Kimberly Barrett, Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment, said: “It is fantastic to see how much residents have been using these plastic recycling banks since the first ones were installed in September last year.
“We monitor these recycling banks regularly to see how much people are using them. Not only are we installing more banks and sites, we’ve also increased collections to twice a week at some of these sites.
“We know that people would like to recycle more, especially plastics. Only put plastic bottles in the recycling bins at home. For plastic pots, tubs and trays, use these mixed plastic recycling banks.”
Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson, Leader of Portsmouth City Council, said: “These mixed recycling banks are an excellent way for residents to recycle plastics and have already diverted 12 tonnes of plastic from incineration to be turned into other products. It’s not only good for our planet, but smart for our economy as well as we create resources, rather than importing from elsewhere.
“We are thrilled to help our residents do more of what’s right for the planet and make our city cleaner and greener.”
The only plastics that can currently be recycled in the home green bin are any bottle-shaped plastic, such as cleaning product bottles, drink bottles, and toiletries bottles. This is because the facility that handles all of Portsmouth’s household recycling collections can handle paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, tins, cans, and aerosols only.
There are more than 100 recycling points around the city where people can recycle items which can’t be collected from home such as glass, cartons, clothes, books, and DVDs.
The council is working with Hampshire County Council and Southampton City Council on plans for a new site that will enable more doorstep recycling.
Portsmouth City Council continues to review and improve its waste and recycling services, including the introduction of food waste collections in 2019, greener fuel for waste collection vehicles in 2021 and battery collections in 2022.
