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PLASTICS AMNESTY

Saturday 19 October 2024 10.00-11.30
The Anchor Inn

[Article updated 29 October 2024]
PLASTICS AMNESTY Saturday 19 October 2024  A huge THANK YOU to everyone who came along to our second Plastics Amnesty on Saturday 19 October at The Anchor Inn.
WASUP members and Carol Philpott from Plastic Products Recycling at St Peters Church in Sandwich were on hand to collect your hard to recycle items and provide help and advice on where these and many other items can be recycled in future.  WASUP have produced a really useful flyer (see below) giving details on how and where to recycle certain items which was also made available through the Community Newsletter.  

Joining us on the day were the The Refillable Van and the DDC Community Roots Van who were on hand to refill your containers (The Refillable Van) and provide information and advice as required (DDC Van).

Items being collected on the day were:-
• Batteries (household – not large batteries)
• Coffee pods (currently only plastic ones via Podpack)
• Digital Kent electrical items including: Laptops, Desktop, All in One PCs, Tablets, Phones,  Monitors (NOT: TVs, Printers, Desk Fans, White Goods, Fax Machines, Servers). For more information on the Digital Kent recycling scheme see: https://www.digitalkent.uk//information/projects/recycling
• Health and beauty products (any brand) bought from Boots – just ‘hard to recycle’ items that you can’t already recycle at the kerbside. For example: toothpaste tubes, lotion pumps, make-up palettes, compacts, lipsticks, travel minis, samples, mascaras. For more info see: https://www.boots.com/shopping/boots-recycling-scheme/recycle-at-boots-accepted-items
• Pens & biros – used
• Pill blister packs - empty please
• Plastic Products Recycling for St Peter’s Church will collect: Biscuit wrappers, bread bags, cheese wrappers, dishwasher pouches, laundry products, pringles tubes, marigold gloves, disposable gloves, storage containers, Ferrero Rocher, Dental products, used ink cartridges, jewellery, watches, mobile phones, tablets, cameras, coins, stamps (NOT: Home phones, Laptops, Batteries, Tetrapaks, Glass). Click HERE to read their full list with further details.
• Tetrapaks - empty and flattened.  The recycling scheme is being run by Ace UK https://www.ace-uk.co.uk/ and there are several places locally that currently have one of these collection bins:- Canterbury HRWC, Vauxhall Road; Tesco, Millstrood Road, Whitstable; Tesco Extra, White Cliffs Park, Dover; Tesco, Manston Road, Ramsgate.
PLEASE NOTE: Items NOT collected were: items you can easily recycle at the kerbside or at your local supermarket; large items that should be taken to the local Household Waste Recycling Centre.



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WASUP is a group of residents who want to reduce the amount of plastic used and then discarded. We would like to make our village plastic free in order to help our environment, save wildlife and reduce waste.

Wingham Scouts and their leaders were the catalyst for WASUP when they came to the 2018 Parish Assembly to talk about how to make Wingham ‘plastic clever’ and they suggested residents could make a pledge to reduce the amount of single-use plastic in the village.  They had found that some Wingham businesses were already looking at ways they could cut down which was really encouraging. Following that presentation, the Parish Council met with Dover District Council (DDC), the primary school made plastic their focus that term, DDC visited the school to talk about recycling and a small group of residents come together and had their first meeting of WASUP on 21 March 2019.  The Group was then formally launched at the April 2019 Parish Assembly.

The main aim of the group is to raise awareness and find ways that help all of us do something to reduce our reliance on single-use plastic and to make our environment a nicer place to live.

Useful Tips & Information

What can you do to help?

  • Pick up rubbish each time you go into the village or go for a walk.  There are ample bins across the whole village and two recycling bins in the main High Street;
  • Become a Community Caretaker here through Dover District Council to make use of the litter-picking equipment in the Wingham Community Store;
  • Use alternatives for plastic straws, cutlery, bottles and cups; It became law on 1 October 2023 that businesses like shops, restaurants &takeaways won't be able to supply, sell or offer certain single-use plastic items to customers. They could face fines and criminal charges if they don't comply. The ban includes cutlery, polystyrene cups and food containers, and balloon sticks. More info here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-bans-and-restrictions-on-polluting-single-use-plastics-come-into-force ;
  • Recycle all the plastic you use wherever possible. An easy way to find out what is recyclable is to visit this site: https://www.pledge2recycle.co.uk/kent and to find out what you can recycle at the roadside, visit: Recycling Waste Collection Service
  • Rinse, squash and replace the cap of all plastic bottles before putting in your roadside collection bin;
  • Scrunch together metal foil to the size of a tennis ball before putting in your roadside collection bin. This is so that small individual pieces, such as milk bottle tops, don’t fall through the holes in the sorting drum and end up in landfill;
  • Take your soft plastic such as bread bags, clean wrap & film, toilet roll film, bubble wrap, etc, to your local supermarket for recycling. From January 2022 most supermarkets will also take your crisp packets, metalised snack and chocolate wrappers and you can check RecycleNow’s recycling locator here:  https://www.recyclenow.com/local-recycling to find your nearest facility;
  • Cartons & Paper cups can now be recycled at some Kent Household Waste Recycling Centres (Canterbury) through a scheme run by Ace UK (https://www.ace.co.uk/) or enquire at: enquiries@ace-uk.co.uk. This includes: Juice cartons, paper cups, milk cartons, paper coffee cups, other beverage cartons, soup & other food cartons.  Tetrapak & Elopak, etc.  They can also be recycled at Tesco stores:- Tesco Extra, White Cliffs Park, Dover; Tesco Milstrood Road, Whitstable; and Tesco Manston Road, Ramsgate.
  • Recycle your technology.  For more information see the Digital Kent site: https://www.digitalkent.uk/news/detail/digital-kent-launches-its-device-recycling-scheme-184 
  • VAPES: Any used or discarded units from personal use can be taken to your local Household Waste Recycling Centre. Look for their WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) container where they can be disposed of for no charge.  Many supermarkets also take these and some vape shops too.
  • Make use of other local recycling facilities, i.e. Plastic Products Recycling at St Peters Church, Sandwich Facebook Page ; Wingham Village Stores take back certain used coffee pods (in the appropriate bag); or take to your nearest Household Waste Recycling Centre HERE; Many stores take back products/packaging to recycle now: Boots take toothpaste tubes and many other products that are hard to recycle elsewhere, see: https://www.boots.com/shopping/boots-recycling-scheme/recycle-at-boots-accepted-items , Boots also take empty blister packs and daily çontact lense packaging; Canterbury Superdrug recycle blister packs (see their box near the pharmacy); The Refillery in Canterbury recycle non-branded as well as branded used ink cartridges; Canterbury Ryman recycle used biros, batteries and ink cartridges;
  • Use local businesses to stock up by refilling your own containers, i.e. Wingham Country Market offer a range of dried fruit, pulses, rice and oats as refills as well as Faith in Nature shampoos, conditioners and shower gels and Ecover washing up liquid, laundry liquid, fabric conditioner and multi-surface cleaner bottles, and much much more! The Refillable Van visits Wingham Village Hall car park every 3rd Saturday of the month 10am to 10.30 and you can take along your own empty containers to refill again;
  • Sign up to apps that encourage litter disposal and recycling, such as the Litter Lotto through Dover District Council; or Bower where you get rewarded for recycling, see their website for more info HERE;
  • Follow national recycling groups for further hints and tips, such as: RecycleNow!; Recoup; Pledge2Recycle; Clear on Plastics; A Plastic Planet; WRAP.

Products and suppliers WASUP members recommend

WASUP members have tried and used various products and suppliers which help to cut down their use of plastic, and so would like to share this information with others. Please feel free to inform the Group of any products you would recommend:-

LAUNDRY: Ecover, EcoEgg, True Earth, Norwex
WASHING UP/DISHWASHER: Splosh, SMOL, Who Gives a Crap (cloths)
WASHING UP LIQUID: Splosh
CLEANING PRODUCTS: Norwex, Splosh
SHAMPOO: Earthbits
TOOTHPASTE/MOUTHWASH: Geologic; Brushd (from Refillable Van)
DEODORANT: Earthbits
TOILET ROLL: Who Gives A Crap, Cheeky Panda
KITCHEN ROLL: Who Gives A Crap
CRISPS: Two Farmers (available from Wingham Country Market)
PET SUPPLIES: VeggiePets


To contact the group, please email the Wingham Parish Council Clerk: clerk@wingham-pc.gov.uk or use the contact form on this website
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