Great to see so many people at this years Godiva Festival!  The team was on hand giving advice and taking enquires about recycling and and the bin service as a whole.  Young children loved playing our 'What Goes into What Bin' game, we were pleased to see how many children knew more about recycling than the adults! 

Left: Lady Godiva visits the Coventry Recycling Clubs stall at this years festival.  Waste Education Team member Dale said, "It was great to meet Lady Godiva who is a keen recycler!"  He went on to say, "Thank you to all the residents who visited the stall, any enquires have been passed onto the relevant department to look into and we look forward to seeing you again next year."

Here is a list of the top ways to ensure your Halloween is glowing green this year:

1. Don't carve a pumpkin at all, if you aren't planning to eat it.  It's the top answer for being environmentally friendly but won't be the most popular as carving a pumpkin is now firmly part of the Halloween culture in the UK.

2. Buy a vegetable you are more likely to eat.  Turnips are the traditional vegetable for carving at Halloween in the UK, but are quite difficult to carve.  Why not try a butternut squash which is just as nutritious, doesn't require as much water as a pumpkin when grown and is cheaper to buy?

3.  If you buy a pumpkin, eat the flesh. Hollow out the pumpkin as much as possible to create a thin shell - this will help the pumpkin glow more brightly and you will have more flesh to eat.  Don't forget to eat the seeds too.  The health benefits of eating pumpkins are mighty, just like nuts, pumpkin seeds are a great source of protein and unsaturated fats, including omega-3.  

4.  Use as a food caddy.  Once the pumpkin has done its job and scared away any bad spirits, use it as a temporary caddy to collect food scraps ready for composting.  You can compost a pumpkin at home with or without a compost bin. 

5.  Use the food waste collection.  Simply place it in your brown lidded garden wheeled bin.

6.  Please don't buy a plastic pumpkin.  Plastic pumpkins don't biodegrade or compost down and are a waste of precious resources.  

A donation of boxes of recycling club travel mugs have been donated to the Ukraine appeal.

Coventry-based charity Feed the Hungry is now collecting donations of goods to help refugees from Ukraine.  ​The charity is currently collating a shipment of: Sleeping bags and blankets, hygiene/toiletries and nappies, dry food - rice noodles and pasta, snacks and biscuits, travel mugs and water bottles, tea, coffee, sugar and dry milk.

Anyone who wishes to donate any of these items can take them to the Halo Centre, Progress Way, Binley Industrial Estate, Coventry, CV3 2NT during office hours (8.30am to 4.30pm Monday to Friday).

Vehicle manufacturer Linde Material Handling is to supply council-owned Sherbourne Recycling with five X20-X35 electric forklifts for its materials recycling facility (MRF) in Coventry.

Established in 2021, Sherbourne Recycling is to develop and operate the MRF on behalf of eight local authorities.  

Linde says the X20-X35 is “capable of meeting performance standards where conventional electric trucks reach their limits”, including mastering large gradients, achieving long-term high handling rates, and operating in the presence of large amounts of dust and dirt.

Greg Paradowski, technical operations manager at Sherbourne Recycling, said, “This project is all about creating a world-leading materials recycling facility that will be sustainable for the future, so it’s important to us that we have a fully electric fleet of forklift trucks from day one. We thought this would be a challenge, as typically you would see engine trucks operating in such applications, but Linde had the perfect solution.”

This years theme for the Holiday Club based at the Moat House in Wood End part of the City was Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.  Dale and Nicky from the Waste Education Team visited the club twice during the summer holidays to chat to local children.  Children at the club learnt what items are disposed of and which bin to place those items. They also had fun carrying out craft and puzzle activities on recyclable items such as paper straws and putting together a themed coolarge - below centre. 

Dale said, "Most of the children were very keyed up on recycling and were keen to know more, thank you to the Holiday Club for inviting Nicky and I and showing us their work." 

The Waste Education Team teamed up with West Midlands Fire and Rescue and Citizen to help clear one of the most fly tipped areas in Coventry.

As part of a project at Citizen also engaged with customers to help cease dumping at the site, which is consistent.

An event was held last month to clear up rubbish at the site, and Coventry City Council’s waste team agreed to provide a skip for bulk waste dumped on spare land to then take away to dispose of. Waste Enforcement at the Council and the fire service also spoke to customers and door knocked in the area to highlight the problems that arise from dumping waste.

Citizen Estates Services Manager Claire Tumelty said in a recent press release, “This is a joint initiative as part of our ongoing project with Coventry City Council to tackle fly tipping and the dumping of waste in our communities. We are all working together to stop dumping in this area and are educating people living in the area about appropriate disposal of waste. We have also highlighted that this is an offence and can lead to significant fines and actions."

Thank you to all those residents that took the time to speak to the Waste Education Team today. It’s been a very busy morning for us but its fantastic to see so many residents interested in recycling and taking away our bin sticker guides. Those residents that have asked for caddies, we will get them out to you before the end of the week!

Big thanks to the Cov Clean Streets Team that visited and took away fly-tipping and great joint working with the Henley and Longford police as well as the hard working Grub Hub volunteers.

The Cov Clean Streets team was in the Tile Hill area at the beginning on the week after a request from a local resident. Pig wood and Plants Hill wood were both flagged up as places that needed litter picked and fly-tipped removed.  12 bags of litter, various items including a pram, mattress and chairs were collected and after a tip off from a passer-by, fly-tip on the edge of Tile Hill wood was also taken away.

If you want a public area given a good clean and tidy up, please place a request via your local councillor.  To see updates on the Cov Clean Streets team and the work of Waste Education online, see our twitter feed @covrecycleclub.

@RobertEdmiston4: Fabulous job why can’t people dispose of their rubbish properly though      @Marcuslaspa: Thanks for the prompt response, also for the brilliant job in lane between Fir tree and Broad lane

Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) has set up a pilot initiative in Coventry whereby motorists can exchange their old cars for £3,000 of ‘alternative travel arrangements’.

After handing over their cars to be crushed for scrap, owners are given £3,000 of mobility credits to cover the cost of alternative transport including buses, trains, taxis and car hire for the next two years. TfWM, which is part of the West Midlands combined authority (WMCA), hopes the incentive will persuade motorists to use more environmentally friendly transport, helping to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality.

The offer is targeted at those who are looking to change the way they commute and want to reduce the costs of running and maintaining an older car. TfWM teamed up with Coventry city council to work on the scheme. The trial is funded by the £22 million Future Mobility Zone grant, given to the region by the Department for Transport.

The scheme is currently open to people in Coventry who own a car which is more than ten years old.

Want to nip around the city quicker?  The West Midlands Cycle Hire scheme was launched at the end of March to encourage greener travel and help people become more active.

To hire a bike, users will need to download the Beryl Cycle Hire’ app. Bikes will cost £1 to unlock and then 5p per minute paying for their ride by linking their account to their debit or credit card. The scheme is offering the first 30 minutes free for anyone who signs up via the Beryl Cycle Hire’ app. The pedal cycles have three gears and are fitted with high quality laser lights. Once finished with the bike, people will need to find their nearest docking station to park up, closing the lock to end your ride.

Where can I get a bike?

Pool Meadow Bus Station, Sandy Lane, Queen Victoria/Rover Road (Market), Butts Road, Moseley Ave, Bishop Street Car Park, Trinity Street/ Ironmonger row, Parkside/Coventry University South, Gosford St Nr Car Park, Gosford Gate, St. Nicholas Street, Millennium Place/Hales Street, Upper Spon Street and Hearsall Common as well as Hill Street, Coventry Park & Ride, Daventry Road, Mile Lane, Belgrade Square, Earl Street, Warwick Row/Grey Friars Green, Binley Road, New Union Buildings New Union Street, Friargate – Bridge Deck and Coventry College.

The Cov Clean Streets team continues its work to help clean up litter and fly-tipping, clean pavements and gullies across the city.

It's part of a £2.1 million spring clean ahead of the City of Culture.

If you want a public area or street tided up, please place a request via your local councillor.

To see photo updates on the Cov Clean Streets team work on twitter follow @covrecycleclub 

Squash it!

Plastic bottles should have their lids removed and be squashed so that they take up as little space as possible.  If you put a pop bottle in your bin that hasn't been flattened and has its lid on that is one big pocket of air wasting space in your bin. Try flattening your bottle and rolling it up from one end. 

Flatten it!

Cardboard boxes are another culprit for taking up more space than needed in your bin.  Flatten thin cardboard boxes like cereal and tissue boxes before putting them in your  recycling.  If you have big cardboard boxes like the ones a lot of online shopping is delivered in they can be re-used for storage in the attic, making a boat or rocket with little kids, as a tempting cat bed for your furry friend or simply to package parcels.  If you aren't going to re-use them these should be cut up into smaller pieces or carefully folded to fit inside your bin.  Be careful not to get cardboard wedged in your recycling bin as that may mean it won't be able to be emptied properly and the collection crews aren't allowed to pull it out.  If you have lots of cardboard, for example from a house move, you can take this to the Household Waste Recycling Centre on London Road, remember you have to book first.

Crush it!

If you have lots of cans, especially drinks cans, in your waste you might find you can save a load of space by crushing these.  Either use a can crusher or make sure you're wearing heavy-duty/sturdy shoes so you don't get hurt and crush them under foot. Be careful, once crushed your cans might be quite sharp.

Stack it!

If you have lots of recycling that is all the same, like yoghurt pots, stack these up before you put them in the recycling bin so they take up a lot less space.  

The Cov Clean Streets team has started its work to help clean up litter and clean pavements and gullies across the city. It's part of a £2.1 million spring clean ahead of the City of Culture.  They will be working to help tackle environmental antisocial behaviour and improve the feeling of pride for those who live in the city.

Extra skips will also be brought in at specific problem areas, while residents will be offered half-price bulky waste collections between February 1st and April 30th - a move which is hoped to tackle an increase in fly-tipping during the pandemic.

More information via the councils Facebook page or on their webpage

Other Council services that can help you keep your street a clean and tidy place:-

* Report fly-tipping - 08085 834333 or www.coventry.gov.uk/flytipping

* Book a bulky waste collection - 08085 834333 or www.coventry.gov.uk/tipbooking 

If you want the Cov Clean Streets team to visit your area, please request via your local councillor. 

Electric taxis are also now available for trial as part of the Council’s ‘Electric Fleet First’ project.  The Coventry-based LEVC Taxi and the 100% Zero-Emission Nissan Dynamo are both being offered for trial as well as The Nissan Leaf to the private hire trade.  

The trial is free and will give local businesses the opportunity to understand more about the long-term benefits of switching to an electric vehicle for their business.

The Electric Fleet First is a try-before-you-buy scheme that allows people to try out a vehicle for up to two months. If you are a taxi driver you can register your interest in the scheme.

It's back to finding a winner a week this January. Balbinder of Coundon was our first 2021 recycling champion winning in week one, Ruth of Cheylesmore for week two, Laura (left) of Walsgrave wins week three and Lesley of Stivichall finishes off January winning week four.

Well done to all of them.

Don't forget, to win, you must be a member of our club, live in Coventry, display our club bin sticker on your blue lidded recycling bin and keep placing the right items into your bin.

All addresses are chosen randomly.

We also run competitions on our twitter site from time to time, so sign into twitter and follow @CovRecyclingClub

A new regional recycling facility has been approved by the City Councils planning committee. The new Material Recycling Facility (MRF) would cut the current £1.6m costs in half as well as producing a saving of £847,000 a year. The MRF will also increase the amount of recyclable material to 175,000 tonnes annually.

The facility will be built at the back of Coventry & Solihull Waste Disposal Company on an overgrown site. This is a joint project between eight local Councils including Coventry which will all part-own the venture proportionate to their funding. Coventry City Council is set to get a 21.5% share.

Electric bin lorries could soon be used in the city after a trial was successful this week, bringing a breath of fresh air to the city.

The bin lorries are fully electric with zero emissions and are able to work a nine-hour shift after just six hours 45 minutes battery charge.  The Council hopes to gradually replace the diesel fleet to help reduce air pollution in residential areas as well as meeting green targets for carbon reduction. 

The Council have been successful in gaining a grant of £2.2 million from Highways England to provide electric vehicles for local organisations to trial in order to give them a real-life insight into the benefits of switching to electric vehicles. Over the next two years the Council will provide vehicles free of charge alongside offering advice and guidance for companies considering the change to an electric fleet

Lost your food caddy?  Caddies are a great way to collect food from your kitchen to transfer to your brown lidded garden or green lidded domestic bin. 

What to do

Keep your food caddy in the kitchen and fill it with your food waste, empty your food waste caddy into your garden/domestic bin. You may want to wash your caddy if you don’t use liners. Your caddy did initially come with a starter pack of compostable liners. You can buy more compostable liners from local supermarkets - look out for the standard number EN13432.

We won't empty food waste caddies. Please do not put your caddy kerbside for collection.

For more information.

For liners via this website. 

Upcycling is the perfect way to refashion or repurpose items you might have otherwise thrown out.  

Before splashing out on a new piece of furniture, why not try to upcycle your current piece? The easiest way to makeover any furniture is with a new coat of paint, you will be able to cover any wear and tear while adding a splash of colour to the room. Swapping out handles, hinges and hooks can also be a simple way to revamp old cupboards, wardrobes and tables.

If you’re interested in starting a new upcycling project, then we have some more ideas for you below. We love seeing and sharing your creations so please be sure to tag us in your photos on Twitter.

# Sweet and biscuit tins make for the perfect kitchen storage.

# Plastic milk cartons can be transformed into watering cans, simply cut off one of the handles – the one that is left works as the spout.

# An old ladder can double up as a bookshelf – with the right adjustments.

# Plastic bottles can keep your spaghetti safe.

# Empty jars make perfect candle holders, you can even decorate them with paint, string or ribbons.

# Mount old books onto the walls for some vintage-inspired shelves.

# Shipping pallets can be refashioned into an indoor herb garden or a plant wall.

#CDs and DVDs quickly turn into new coasters.

# Leftover fabric can be used to wrap presents.

This Saturday marks the 80th anniversary of the Blitz.

After the anniversary you may wonder what to do with your poppy? Rather than recycling your poppy in your blue lidded bin, the Royal British Legion are urging people to recycle used paper poppies which will help make your donation go further. Sainsbury's supermarket is the only place to offer poppy recycling which will help The Royal British Legion keep vital funds by reusing or recycling the poppies donated.

To find out more about the Blitz events going on in the city and how to get involved with them see here. 

The answer is yes, you can dispose of pumpkins in an eco-friendly manner.

Pumpkins are organic waste and are full of nutrients, which makes them a great fertilizer. Just make sure you remove the seeds before you add them to a compost pile (unless you want baby pumpkins cropping up in your garden next year). Also be sure to remove any candles or other decorations before you toss it in the pile.

No compost? Pumpkins can also be buried in your winter garden. It will decay quickly and enrich the soil.

Or you can always eat them!  Every year in the UK, 18,000 tonnes of edible pumpkin go to waste! There are lots of delicious ways to eat your pumpkin – Looking for inspiration? Check out www.hubbub.org.uk

While many people think of left over food scraps such as carrot tops, onion bottoms, cabbage leaves or pineapples as waste, however … these items can be enjoyed all over again.

You can reduce waste and save money by re-growing many of the common vegetables and herbs you use in the kitchen.

Below are just a few examples of vegetables and herbs that you can re-grow;

Potatoes/Sweet Potatoes, Onions, Garlic, Leeks and Shallots, Celery, Bulb Fennel, Carrots, Turnips, Parsnips, Beets and other root crops, Lettuce, Bok Choi and other leafy greens, Cabbages, Basil, Mint, Lemongrass, Cilantro & other herbs

Check out the YouTube video by Daisy Creek Farms for advice and re-grow!

If you and the kids like to dress up you can make lots of great costumes from things you have around the house. Hold onto the items and add them to the dressing up box for future use.  You may find that because kids just keep on growing, a costume won’t be suitable for next year so could you:

• Donate to a local amateur dramatics group
• Sell them online or locally – they have only been worn once!
• Donate to a nursery/pre-school/after school club
• Donate to a friend or relative who can use it next year
• Give to charity
• Reuse/Recycle into something else… like a scarecrow?
• Borrow/Share costumes from friends or via a freecycle group

The Council will be making the current booking system at the Household Waste Recycling Centre (tip) on London Road permanent.  This is due to residents reporting that the booking system makes a trip to the tip much easier and safer.

To book a slot by using the booking form or by call 0808 5834333.  When booking you will be asked to provide the car’s number plate ensuring that only visitors who have booked are allowed access to the Centre. 

For more information, see the councils full press release.

Last year the Council collected over 23,000 tonnes of recycling from blue lidded bins across the city. This represents around 18% of all waste produced by our residents. We are always keen to encourage people to recycle as much as possible. The Council would like to know how we can help you to recycle more so please take the time to complete the survey on this link.

It will only take a couple of minutes and the findings will be used to help improve the services the Council deliver and to ensure that residents are able to participate fully and confidently in the recycling service.

The deadline for responses is October 14th

You may have noticed that we have been a bit quiet lately.... That's just about to change! 

A brand new team has been put together to help tackle the issue of recycling in Coventry.  Nicki and Dale have joined the recycling education team; so keep an eye on the website and twitter feed @Covrecycleclub.... it's all about to jump alive!  Remember to Reuse, Reduce and Recycle :-)

Coventry’s successful bid to become UK City of Culture in 2021 sees the city preparing to take centre stage and show the world what it has to offer.

As part of this initiative, a new pilot scheme has been launched by the Council which hopes to tackle the long term problem of fly tipping and contamination. The Council has identified its top 50 streets that have had on-going issues with fly tipping and contaminated recycling bins.  

Photo left: Two new Education Assistants (Sophie & Andy) have joined the City Councils Waste Education Team to help educate members of the public who are not sure of what goes in what bin.  The team will be working closely with Enforcement and Streetpride within the top 50 fly tipping hot streets. 

Sophie said, “It’s the little things that can confuse people, for instance, people haven’t realized that any take out wrapping stained with grease such as a pizza box can’t be recycled.”   Andy added, “It’s good to get such a positive response from people who want to see a change in the area.”

Between 2018-2019 Coventry City Council received nearly seven thousand reports of fly tipping within the city, mostly on the highway. Total fines issued last year came to £1,530.

Coventry City Council has announced that the brown-lidded garden waste bin collection will re-start tomorrow, Tuesday April 28th.  Please leave your brown lidded bin out as normal. If you have lots of garden waste, you can spread it over multiple collections to avoid overloading your bin.

Council press release 

Bulky waste collections, new bin/additional requests and bin repairs remain suspended.

What goes into your garden bin?

Grass cuttings, Hedge-trimmings, Twigs and small branches, Leaves, Weeds and flowers, Straw and hay and Food waste. 

Plastic is so ingrained in our everyday lives that it can be difficult to avoid. Why not challenge yourself to try and go plastic free!

• Get a refillable bottle. Carry a stainless steel bottle with you. You're entitled to request tap water for free as a customer at any licensed premises, or look at the Refill campaign for friendly places to refill your bottle.
• Use a reusable cloth shopping bag. Leave cloth bags in your car, and a fold-up one in your handbag or rucksack so it's always handy on the go.
• Carry a reusable flask for hot drinks. Ask coffee chains to fill your flask. 
• It's the last (plastic) straw!  Say NO to plastic straws when ordering a drink out, or take a reusable one with you. 
• Choose natural fibre clothing, like organic cotton, hemp or bamboo. Polyester, lycra and nylon are all plastic fabrics and cause micro fibre pollution. Sustainable clothing choices can be more expensive, so consider waiting for the sales to purchase. Nevertheless, they last longer, and the 'per-wear' cost works out much cheaper than fast fashion.
• Go for cloth nappies instead of disposable. If you have a baby, you could save money by opting for cloth nappies. 
• Swap wet wipes for a flannel and water. Switch your makeup wipes and baby wipes for a flannel, and any cleaning wipes for rags or towels.

The London Road tip is reopening for Coventry residents only, next Monday - 18th May. So we can ensure everyone’s safety, there will be changes to how it normally operates.

~ We’re anticipating lots of you will want to use the tip. To avoid overcrowding and to make sure everyone can social distance properly, we’ll be asking you to book a time slot in advance. You can book here or on the 'Book now button' below.

~ In order to maximise space and capacity, we will only be letting cars into the Tip. Vans and trailers will not be allowed inside yet.

~ Security personnel will be at the entrance of the Tip. They will be checking the number plates of vehicles to make sure that they have booked. Anyone who hasn’t booked will be refused entry to the site.

The Government has advised that anyone who is self-isolating with symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19), including those with a diagnosis of the virus, should treat their household waste as follows:

• Personal waste e.g. used tissues, and disposable cleaning cloths can be stored securely within disposable rubbish bags. These bags should be placed into another bag, tied securely and kept separate from other waste within your own room. This should be put aside for at least 72 hours before being put in your usual external household waste bin.
• Other household waste can be disposed of as normal.

The advice also says that when cleaning you should use your usual household products like detergents and bleach as these will be very effective at getting rid of the virus on surfaces. Clean frequently touched surfaces.

For more information, read the Government’s stay at home guidance for people with confirmed or possible coronavirus (COVID-19) infection.

Please share this information with your neighbours, particularly any that you know are not online.

We’re doing everything we can to keep bin collections running as normal during the Coronavirus pandemic. But it’s likely that services will be impacted soon because of staff shortages due to parental leave or sickness. To help us prepare, here are some things that you can do to help:

Help bin crews operate

• Due to reduced traffic, your usual collections time may change. Please put your bins out early and leave them out until they’ve been emptied.
• Please be considerate when parking your car on a collection day, this will help to ensure the collection vehicles can access your road.
• Please make sure your bin lids are firmly closed to help prevent crews unnecessarily touching them.
• Wash your hands before and after touching your bin.
• Compact your recycling into bins as much as possible to maximise space and only put bins out when they are full.
• Bin crews are working hard to keep this essential service going during this difficult time. If you see them, please let them know you appreciate what they’re doing and give them a wave or a smile!

Bin tags have been given a fresh new look by the City Council in order to help local residents with recycling.  The ‘Oops..’ tags will be used to help residents understand that something which cannot be recycled has been put in their blue bin and give them the information they need to identify the items and remove them.

If residents put the wrong type of waste in their blue bins it can contaminate a whole lorry load of recycling. Contaminated loads cannot be recycled and are much more expensive to dispose of as waste. Any resident that finds an ‘Oops…’ tag on their recycling bin should check it to see what should be removed, remove the items which shouldn’t be in the recycling bin and the recycling will be collected as normal on the next collection day. More information can be found at coventry.gov.uk/bins.

Similar tags have been designed for Garden bins. The Oops Tags are now in use. 

In the light of the challenges raised by Coronavirus, our waste and recycling service are working hard to ensure the service continues with minimal disruption. So, if you have had your bin collection missed, please leave it out. Our crews will be returning to pick them up throughout the week and into the weekend. Thank you for your patience.

In line with government advice, the tip on London Road is now closed. Please store any extra waste and recycling safely at home until it re-opens. The Council has also suspended the bulky waste collections service. Customers who have already paid for a collection will get a full refund.

For more information on changes to Council services.

The Recycling Club receives quite a few emails asking what happens to plastic bottles once they are collected. A special feature of the Materials Recycling Facility we use is their advanced process for sorting recycled plastics. They use technology to separate polymer types – PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) and HDPE (High Density Polyethylene).

They make sure that PET bottles are separated out and sent to re-processors to make new plastic bottles. This is called “closed-loop recycling”. This is the process by which waste is collected, recycled and produced to make something new. Effectively, the waste does a full circle without having a negative impact on the environment.

They also process other types of plastics: cleaning it, ensuring it is free of waste material and shredding it into “flakes”. The plastic flake is then ready for manufacturers to use to make new products.

Romance maybe in the air, but don't forget to love your environment this Valentines Day

You can reduce the amount of waste you create by sending an e-card and choose chocolates that have minimal packaging. Luxury gift items such as spa days can be sent electronically which also cuts down on waste. If you’re giving a present, use a reusable gift bag or secure your wrapping paper with a ribbon so it can be used again.

After Valentine’s Day, get creative and use your card to make a gift tag, or even to make a new card. Valentines cards and cardboard packaging can all be recycled from home using the blue lidded bin. Once they have past their best, roses can be turned into compost using a home compost bin or placed into your Garden bin.

Recycling Bin

wine bottles, beer cans, Amazon and other USPS/UPS boxes, cardboard boxes from flowers, envelopes.           

Domestic Bin

Sweet wrappers, rings, cellophane from flowers, cards that play music or with glitter/decorations.

Garden Bin

Flowers and plants.

Complete the Cycle is the first national recycling and recovery scheme for respiratory inhalers. The scheme is an easy and convenient way to recycle inhalers, which helps to reduce waste and greenhouse gas emissions.

Complete the Cycle gives you an easy way to make a difference to the environment and allows you to breathe new life into your old inhalers.

All you need to do is locate your nearest participating pharmacy, hospital or dispensing doctor, then simply hand in your empty, out of date or unused inhaler to a participating pharmacy.

TerraCycle® and Walkers® have partnered to create a free recycling scheme which accepts all crisp packets. Once received by TerraCycle®, your crisp packets are sorted and separated by material composition. The separated items are then cleaned, shredded, and made into new recycled products. Learn more about the recycling process.

You can drop-off your used crisp packets at public drop-off locations across the UK and Ireland.

Why not get involved today and earn TerraCycle® points for the local good cause of your choice? Almost anywhere can be set-up as a public collection point, including shops, supermarkets, community centres and schools etc. Simply register by joining the programme and filling in a application form.

They are also offering reward points, which means you could help raise money for local good causes.  

Love Your Clothes have launched Donation Generation

A campaign encouraging people to pledge to donate their unwanted clothing.

Every year an estimated 300,000 tonnes of used clothing goes to landfill in the UK.

To find out more online see, twitter:@loveyourclothes ~ facebook.com/LoveYourClothesUK ~ Instagram.com/loveyourclothes_uk

Printed bin calendars for December 2019 - November 2020 are being delivered to homes across the city until 20 December 2019.  You can view your calendar, download a calendar to print or sign up for a bin collection reminder email, by searching for your street on this link.

The top question we get every year is can you recycle wrapping paper? While all brand themselves as paper, many ranges are difficult to recycle thanks to the addition of glitter, shining foils and shimmery add-on's, as well as layers of sticky tape and accessories. To help you determine which types of wrapping paper you can recycle, all you need to do is perform the 'scrunch test'... and this is how it's done;  

The wrapping paper scrunch test

# Hold the wrapping paper in your hand and scrunch it into a tight ball.

# Open your hand to see if the paper stays scrunched or bounces back open.

# If the paper stays scrunched in a ball, then you know it can be recycled. If, however, it bounces back open, then it can't be recycled.

Council offices, with the exception of some statutory and essential services will be closed from Wednesday 25th December 2019 and reopen on Thursday 2nd January 2020.

Staff will be taking annual leave to cover the closure.

The City Council are delivering extra clear bags with the Christmas calendar. 

Please use the bags for any extra recycling items.

The Council will collect any extra 'clear' bags on your first recycling collection after Christmas. 

The summer sun is performing its last dance of the year and our gardens will soon become wastelands of winter, but before the snow starts to fall, it’s time to take autumn by the bronzed leaves and get out there, prune, trim and prepare the garden for next year. So, what should you do with all the extra garden waste? GetComposting of course!

You really shouldn’t look at it as waste; your garden debris has the potential to give you a free supply of top-quality compost to get your garden blooming next year, with very little effort. Simply throw it into a compost bin and over the winter months it will rot down to produce environmentally friendly compost that when added to the garden will suppress weeds and retain moisture throughout the dry months.

Benefits of home composting: • It’s easy to make and easy to use. • Produces a free continual source of the very best compost. • Improves soil structure. • Maintains moisture. • Helps the soil PH balance. • Suppresses plant disease. • Reduces the need for polluting bonfires. • Reduces carbon emissions. • Helps to divert organic waste from landfill. • Reduces refuse collection costs.

To encourage residents to get composting, Coventry City Council has teamed up with Getcomposting.com to offer compost bins at special prices from only £18.50. 

There is also a buy one get one half price offer to purchase a second bin from only £9.25, a massive saving! Getcomposting have exclusive offers on a range of other great green products, including special offer water butts with buy one get one half price and a selection of gardening accessories.

To see what’s available in your area visit www.getcomposting.com or call 0844 571 4444.

Studies commissioned by Knorr and environmental charity Hubbub, found that in the UK, eight million pumpkins are binned after Halloween, the equivalent of enough pumpkin pie to feed the entire nation! 

If you buy a pumpkin, eat the flesh. Hollow out the pumpkin as much as possible to create a thin layer of flesh, which will help give you more flesh to eat. Even the seeds can be eaten. Anything that can’t be eaten such as the hard skin and stem, should be composted at home or placed in the garden bin for recycling. There are two ways you can compost your pumpkin; 

Without a compost bin

# Smash the pumpkin into pieces or use a spade to chop it up.

# Find a shady spot in your garden and dig a hole big enough to fit the pieces.

# Place pumpkin into the hole and cover it with soil. Nature will take over and rot it down nicely, fertilising the soil.

With a compost bin

# Smash up the pumpkin or use a spade to chop it up.

# Place the pumpkin pieces in the bin.

# The pumpkin has a high water content so you will need to balance this out with some dry materials. Leaves are great, but if you are without leaves you can substitute with cardboard, egg boxes or scrunched up newspaper.

# Let nature do its work and rot the pumpkin down to some great home compost to be used in the spring. 

Check out Gordan Ramsay's Punmkin Soup below 

Reuse - an item’s life should be extended by using it and reusing it as much as possible or donate your unwanted items to give them a new lease of life.

Together we can do even more to reduce, reuse and recycle. Whether you use reusable shopping bags, compost at home or buy products with less packaging. It’s estimated that up to 90 per cent of what we throw away is recoverable, and could be used for something else. The best way to deal with waste is by not producing it at all. There are many ways of reducing the amount of waste we produce and the energy we consume.

Photo: A sound wall put together by a Tile Hill mum for her two year old daughter - Email us any photos of items you have given new life too!  See the following websites below to see some great examples of re-using.

Reuse Glass Bottles In A Creative Way

Home Items You Can Reuse Over and Over Again

This once-loved cuddly teddy bear is set to end its days in landfill, despite being placed in a recycling bin.

It’s another sad end to a beloved toy, wrongly placed in the recycling bin. It could have been sent to a new home at a charity shop. We can't recycle toys not even teddy bears. Pre-loved toys can bring delight to other children. You could even try and sell them, below are some ideas that you could do with unwanted toys;

NCT Sales  ~  You don’t have to be a member.

Charity shops  ~  Check out your local high street.

Car boot sales  ~  See your local paper.

Jumble sales  ~  Ask at your local church or look in the paper.

eBay  ~  Online site of classified ads.

Preloved  ~  Online site of classified ads.

Freecycle  ~  A free site where you can post ads for items you want to give away.

Teams4u Shoebox appeal  ~  Check them out on Facebook (small toys only - must fit in a shoebox)

The team will be carrying out a bin 'stickering' campaign in some areas of the City to help try and tackle the higher levels of contamination.

The stickers that will be placed on top of the blue lidded recycling bin are designed to highlight some of the 'worst offending' items that are incorrectly put into recycling bins which can be dangerous or contaminate other items,  making them unsuitable for recycling too.

The items highlighted to residents are nappies, food waste, clothes and bedding and polystyrene  – none of which should ever go into recycling bins.

If you see us, come and say hello! 

Unfortunately due to lack of funding, we can no longer support good causes.  The point system has now been removed from the website. However, we will be still running competitions in the run up to Christmas, which you have the chance of winning Love to Shop vouchers. 

Your Waste Education Team were at the RWM (Recycling Waste Management) Expo today. The Expo is the UK’s leading trade show for recycling and waste management; providing the biggest platform for the latest innovations shaping the sustainability sector.

Practically the entire sustainability and environmental industry meets at the NEC, Birmingham, boasting exemplary seminar schedules delivering expert advice, live demos of pioneering new technology as well as hundreds of market leading companies coming equipped with their finest solution led products and services.

Alongside a notable speaker line up, including NASA, TerraCycle, Costa Coffee, Keep Britain Tidy, Procter & Gamble, Coca Cola, The Co-Op, BBC Studios, and Clean Up Britain patron Jeremy Paxman; this year is set to be bigger than ever with the launch of new features like the dedicated Waste Tech Theatre, the evolution of the Zero Emissions Zone, and the return of Materials World.

At the moment Coventry City Council cannot recycle plastic carrier bags, this includes black bags.  When the wrong items or non-recyclable items are placed in your blue lidded bin, we refer to this as contamination. The crew will tag the bin advising why it cannot be collected.  You may have to wait until your next collection day to get your bin emptied.

We are finding bottles and cans inside of plastic bags in recycling bins. Items for recycling should never be placed in a plastic bag. Council recycling collections are limited to items that are accepted at the recycling sorting facility. Plastic bags are one of the most problematic items at recycling centres. The sorting staff simply don't know what's inside so the whole bag is rejected and sent to landfill.

Find out what can and cannot go into your blue lidded recycling bin and your brown lidded garden bin.

Residents are reminded that overfilled bins like the one below cannot be emptied. You can request an additional blue or green lidded bin.

If you are asking for an extra green-lidded bin, please note that we only provide extra green-lidded bins for houses with six or more people living there, five or more people including a child/children in nappies, or where a resident has a medical condition that causes the production of extra waste. If you qualify for an additional green-lidded bin you will be given a small (140 litre) bin. You will only be given an additional bin where we are confident that every reasonable effort is being made to recycle or compost.

If you are asking for an additional blue-lidded bin (recycling) or brown-lidded bin (garden waste) we will provide these free of charge.

Each request for an additional bin will be assessed individually and a visit may be carried out by a waste officer to confirm your application. Applications will only be accepted by those living in the property, i.e. property owners or tenants, not landlords.

One of the most common complaints we hear about recycling is that the on pack logos and symbols on supermarket packaging is confusing. However, the new environment secretary has pledged to introduce a clearer labelling system for packaging to inform people what can and cannot be recycled.

A study by the consumer group ‘Which?’ found that only half of supermarket packaging such as glass, cardboard and plastics could be easily recycled. The consumer group has called on the government to make labelling of packaging simple, clear and mandatory, and ensure the necessary infrastructure is in place to make it easy for everyone to recycle, regardless of where they live. The current system, involving dozens of symbols is confusing and can be one of the factors holding back the recycling rate, which has stalled in England at around 45 per cent.   

To read the full press release from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.

Garden and food waste collected from households in Coventry is taken to an In-Vessel Composter (IVC) treatment site at Ufton, near Southam.

IVCs treat the material and ensure that composting takes place in an enclosed environment, with accurate temperature control and monitoring. The material is turned into compost to be used as a soil conditioner in as little as two weeks. In comparison, this takes around three months using traditional outdoor composting.

The composted material is used for agricultural use and land fill site restoration.

However, there is still quite a lot of bins that have been contaminated with plastic bags. You can put your food waste directly into your green bin or buy compostable bio bags from various supermarkets as well as online stores like Amazon and Ebay.

While more and more of us in Coventry are recycling there are still other items we should be thinking about. Many of us recycle items from our kitchen without thinking about it but there are many things from our bathroom we can recycle to.

Try placing a bag or second bin in your bathroom or hanging a bag on the back of the bathroom door to collect empty shampoo and toiletry bottles, cardboard boxes or empty toilet roll tubes these items will soon mount up and can be recycled as part of your blue lidded bin collection. 

We’ve recently been to a number of schools to talk to students about the three R’s but have you ever wondered what do they actually mean? 

Reduce - when we talk to students about rubbish we often ask them to start by reducing their waste. A good example of this is the use of reusable shopping bags as a means to reduce the amount of plastic they are using. However there are many other examples of things you can do. When out shopping especially for food it can be useful to make a list of what you need to buy to reduce the purchase of unnecessary items.

Reuse – Many items can be reused before being thrown away. Water bottles can be refilled and taken to work and school. Glass jars are great storage solution. An old envelope can be used for writing a shopping list before going food shopping.

Often items of clothing or furniture that are still in good condition can be resold or donated to charity.

Recycle is last step in the three R’s process. Ensuring items that can be recycled go into the right bin ensures they can be made into something new.

Plastics

With so many different types of plastics on the market knowing which can go into your blue lidded recycling bin can be confusing here is a handy guide to help you.

Plastic Bottles

The types of plastic bottle you can recycle include:-

Milk bottles, drinks bottles for example water, smoothies and fizzy drinks, cleaning product bottles including those with spray nozzles, skin and body care bottles, detergent and hand soap bottles (please remove the pumps first we can’t recycle those).

Please rinse bottles out before recycling them this will prevent contaminating other items in your bin with residues.

Other plastics you can recycle include

Pots for example they may have held yogurts, deserts or soups

Tubs, for butter/other spreads or, ice creams

Plastic trays or punnets for meats, fish, fruit & vegetables remember to remove plastic films or absorbent pads from the bottom of trays before recycling them.   

Often plastics can be numbered this helps to identify the type of polymer they are made from. A general rule for your blue bin is if the plastic held a food or drink it can be recycled as part of your blue lidded bin collection these are traditionally types 1 polyethylene terephthalate (PET)  and  type 2 high density polyethylene (HDPE)

If you have any questions about composting at home you can come and talk to us Wednesday 9th of May at the Central Library in the city centre 11:30 - 15:30. 

We'll also be at the Retail Market Friday 11th of May 9.30 - 11.30. 

We asked one of our master composters for some feedback on how they were getting on composting. Here's what they had to say... 

"Here is a photo of my lovely compost! I got the Green Johanna composter last November and, hey presto, here is the lovely compost. It is quite chunky so I could sieve it if I needed it to be finer. A really good sign is that it was absolutely packed full of worms, big and little. That means the adult worms must have found it suitable to breed in. A compost full of life means it will be great stuff for the garden."

"I planted some Early Purple Sprouting Broccoli seedlings in it.  Fingers crossed they grow bigger before the slugs find them!"

 We will be at the sustainability market at the Lower Precinct on Saturday 10th March 9am - 5pm. Come and ask us your questions about recycling and home composting.

Since the introduction of plastic bag charges the use of single  use carrier bags has decreased more than 85% this is fantastic news. Keeping reusable bags in your car boot or work bag is a great idea for cutting down unnecessary plastic waste. There are a number of options available for reusable bags as they come in a range of materials and sizes.

Another tip while out shopping is avoiding any unnecessary Buy One Get One Free offers ensuring items can be used before they go off which will cut down on both food and packaging waste. 

Reuse drinks bottles to cut down on plastic waste. 

Charity shop will often except donations of furniture, toys and clothing if they are still in good condition. Pre-loved items can even be sold or given away through a number of different website. 

If you have questions about recycling or composting you can come and talk to us. We will be at

Bell Green Library Thursday 1 February 9:30 - 11:30

Coventry Market Friday 2 February 9:30 - 11:30

Central Library Saturday 17 February 11:00 - 15:00

Central Library Monday 19 February 13:00 - 16:00 

We were recently able to undertake a talk about recycling to a group of individuals through the Carers Trust.

If you would like more information about recycling contact us by emailing recyclingclub@coventry.gov.uk 

There are so many things you can do to reduce, reuse and recycle at home. Starting in your living room 

• Newspapers, card and magazines can all be recycled in your blue lidded bin. 
• You can opt out of receiving junk mail. By registering with the Mail Preference Service (MPS) can have your name removed from advertising lists and is supported by the Royal Mail. More information can be found here. The Royal Mail can also help you opt out of unaddressed mail, more information of how to register for this service can be found here. 
• Glass and plastic bottles can be recycled in your blue lidded bin. You can even compost any cork bottle tops in a home compostin bin. 
• If you have any old furniture items, Coventry City Council working in partnership with Emmaus Coventry and Warwickshire can collect bulky household waste for a small fee. Further details of the types of items that can be collected an be found here. Alternatively you can take old furniture to the Household refuse and reuse centre (the tip)

There are a range of items that can be recycled from your bathroom including 

• Product leaflets made from paper and cardboard
• Toilet roll tubes can be recycled or can be reused to plant flowers and seedlings. The rolls are compostable so can be planted straight into the ground eventually breaking down. They are also a great item to add to your compost heap. 
• Empty glass bottles can be recycled. Any unused, unopened and out of date medicines should be returned to pharmacies for safe disposal.
• Plastic shampoo and shower gel bottles can be recycled however please rinse and squash them before placing them in your bin. 

Top tip: to try and help you recycle more items from your bath room try hanging a small reusable bag off a coat hook. Fill it with all your recycling waste then transfer to your blue bin once full. 

There are a number of items that you can recycle at home from your kitchen.                                   

Food Waste ~ You can now recycle your food waste using your food caddy. All your cooked and uncooked food waste can go into your caddy. The caddy can be lined using a compostable liner or newspaper alternatively you can put food straight into it. Once your caddy is full empty it into your brown lidded bin.

Know your dates - A lot of food is thrown away across Britain making sure you know the difference between what dates mean on food labels as it is really important and can help you waste less.

"Use by" - is used for safety guidance. Food should not be eaten after its use by date as there is a safety risk. It can however be used or frozen right up until this date to be used at another time.

"Best Before" is used as a guide in relation to the items quality, you can eat something after this date however it may not be at its best.

"Sell By" or "Display Until" are for the retailers’ reference and refer to internal stock control.

Further information on making the best use of leftover food can be found be visiting love food hate waste.

Cardboard - Including cereal boxes, washing powder boxes, cardboard sleeves all can go in your blue topped bin ready to be recycled. You can also recycle Takeaway Pizza boxes as long as there is no food left in them and the card isn't greasy.      

Glass bottles / Jars - Rinse any glass before you recycle them. Lids and tops can be left on however corks should be removed. Natural cork can be composted by slicing it thinly and placing on a compost heap.

Plastic Bottles, Butter and Margarine tubs - Many plastics can be recycled including bottles tubs and trays. Remember to wash and squash any  plastic items this will make more room in your recycling bin. Plastic films however need to be disposed of in your green lidded household waste bin.

Metal cans and tins - Metal food tins including pet food tins, larger tins used for storing biscuits and sweets can also be recycled. Drinks cans can also be recycled.

Much of our household waste comes in the form of packaging. Here are some tips to cut down on excess packaging waste. 

• Fruit and vegetables can be bought loose rather than in packets
• Takeaway food containers can be washed out and used again to transport snacks or be used as lunchboxes
• Foil wrap can be washed and re-sued. 
• Wrapping paper, bows, ribbons and cards can be reused to make tags or other craft projects
• Plastic egg boxes can be used as paint pallets 

Do you have a waste or recycling tips? We would love to hear your ideas on reducing waste you can email them to us at recyclingclub@coventry.gov.uk or tweet them to us @covrecycleclub 

Your new waste collection service will start next week. Please read through your new waste collection calendar carefully as your collection day may have changed. You can also now compost your food waste in your brown lidded bin all year round. Simply use your food waste caddy to separate all your food waste and once the caddy is full empty it into your brown lidded bin. You can line your caddy with a compostable liner, sheet of newspaper or alternatively put the materials loose into your brown lidded bin.

Go Green Week will be happening between the 6th - 12th of March this year. There are a number of events planned for the week. 

We'll be at the Lower Precinct on March 11th along with some of our Master Composters. Come and talk to us about how to start composting and for information on what you can recycle at home.

Visit our home composting page fro more information about special offers available on food digester's and compost bins. 

International Compost Awareness week starts on May 7th to celebrate we'll be at Coventry Central Library May 10th between 12-4pm and at the War Memorial Park Educational Room May 13th between 10 - 2pm to talk to you about how you can get started composting.

In September we offered each primary school in Coventry an educational workbook for every pupil in year five. The book focused on teaching children the importance of recycling and living sustainably and was produced by Skips Educational. 

The workbook featured a crossword competition there were many entries from across the city. Our winner came from Manor Park Primary School

Photo: We recently visited Tyrese at school to present him his ipad mini and certificate. 

assist-Mi and CSWDC are excited to announce that the Coventry & Solihull Waste Disposal Company on Bar Road has joined the citywide assist-Mi app pilot, allowing disabled users the ability to request assistance in advance of turning up at the recycling centre.

The assist-Mi team have been working in conjunction with Coventry City Council to make their revolutionary disability access solution available at over 55+ service providers in the Coventry area including the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, the Central Library, all the Council Offices and the Belgrade Theatre.

The Recycling Centre is the latest service provider to join the pilot and it means that users are able to request assistance when turning up when recycling their unwanted items and waste materials. They are also able to view contact information for the site, and talk to staff via a two-way messaging functionality in the app.

CSWDC Managing Director Karl Starkey explained “we are thrilled to be able to offer the ability to better serve our customers that may need a little extra help with the assist-Mi app. We want everyone to be able to benefit from the services on offer the at the CSWDC”

 If you have a child in year five we hope you've enjoyed our Dennis to the Rescue workbook. The books were design to help introduce primary school pupils to the importance of recycling. If you have had chance to make a Dennis the Dustcart we would love to see the results email or tweet them to us.

Do you ever forget to put your bins out? Maybe you're sometimes unsure whether to put out the blue-lidded recycling bin or the brown-lidded garden waste bin? Or are you ever unsure whether you can recycle certain items of rubbish?

Your Rubbish, a new smartphone app has been developed by Coventry University in partnership with the Coventry City Council helps all residents living in Coventry know what, when and how to recycle and dispose of their waste.

• Collection reminders - you can set up reminders so you'll receive a notification every week to remind you of which bins to put out, and when to bring them back in
• What goes where? - an alphabetical list of common household wastes, with information about how to recycle or dispose of them
• How to dispose or recycle other wastes
• What items to put in each type of bin
• Cancelled collections - if bin collections are cancelled for any reason, such as heavy snow, the app will let you know not to put your bins out

Your Rubbish can be downloaded for free from the iTunes app store for iPhone and iPad or the Google Play store for Android

This year we are very thankful for our Master Composters who have helped us at a number of events across the city. We recently had an evening to celebrate Christmas and share ideas.

We'll be planning some more road shows in the new year to talk about both recycling and home composting. If you are looking to start composting we still have compost bins available for as little as £5 excluding p&p.

Understand dates and take control

Dates on food labels are there to help us use food when it is safe and at its best. By understanding what the dates mean we can take control and make really effective use of the food we buy. 

Mixed Messages?

Confusion over date labels is common. Just under half of the good food and drink that we end up throwing away (worth £5.6 billion) is because we don’t use it in time: thrown away because it has either gone off or passed the date on the packaging.  By getting the dates to work for us, we can eat safely, take control, and also save money.

Hot Dates to Remember

The most important dates are the following:

• The ‘Use By’ is there for your safety and is only found on foods where there is a safety risk.  Therefore food should not be eaten past this date, but it can be eaten or frozen right up to it.
• The ‘Best Before’ date relates to quality – it will be at its peak condition at this time – food will still be safe to eat after the date, but it may not be at its best.

The ‘Sell By’ and ‘Display Until’ dates are just for the shops for internal stock control not shoppers so they can be safely ignored.

For hints, tips and recipes on how to make the best of the food that we buy and save up to £60 a month, visit lovefoodhatewaste.com.

As part of International Compost Awareness Week, Coventry City Council is encouraging more residents to get composting with a fantastic offer promoted in partnership with getcomposting.com.

Residents can purchase discounted compost converters from as little as £17.98 and with the fantastic “Buy One Get One Half Price” offer, residents can purchase a second compost converter from only £8.99 (RRP £39), a massive saving!

Home composting is an easy and effective way of recycling some of the daily waste we produce, while providing significant benefits for our gardens, reducing waste sent for disposal and improving our carbon footprint. It is simple to do and once you get started, you will be surprised at just how much daily household waste can be recycled. Home composting also has the added benefit of producing a FREE supply of top quality compost that will put some life back into the garden. 

Olivia Childs, Waste Incentive Officer at Coventry City Council said, “More than 30% of the average household waste can be composted and although many households already compost at home, we want others to get involved. This is a great incentive to encourage more residents to get composting and set up their own composting communities sharing the rewards. Home composting organic waste also helps to significantly reduce carbon emissions and can also be used as an effective and sustainable waste management method.” 

When garden waste is collected by Coventry City Council’s Waste team, it is taken to a local open windrow composting site in Brinklow and turned into soil improver. This is then used by farmers as an alternative to fertiliser. The process takes around 6 weeks. There are a range of compost bins and accessories available to suit new recruits and seasoned gardeners alike. For full details or to order visit www.getcomposting.com, or call 0844 571 4444. 

The buy one get one half price offer is available on selected products. A one-off delivery charge of £5.99 applies. 

Two weeks ago we held our first Master Composters social evening.  The evening was attended by five of our volunteer Master Composter and waste officers from the Council. (Photo left)

Garden Organic hosted the fun social evening, where Master Composters shared their stories and achievements, helped to plan future events and promotions, and gain a bit of extra knowledge. This time the training session focussed on weeds!

Refreshments and super made for a pleasant evening in the sun. Are you are interested in becoming a Master Composter?

If the answer is yes then why not look out for our next recruitment drive coming this autumn. It is estimated that around 39% of household waste in Coventry can be composted. Why not learn how to make your own compost, and help in the fight to reduce the amount of waste we produce.

This course is available to Coventry residents and is a great way to learn how to put biodegradable waste to good use. The Master Composter Programme operates as a partnership between Garden Organic and Coventry City Council, all training is fully funded by the Coventry Recycling Club. As part of the program you are required to give back 30 hours of your time prompting composting in the community. This can be done by yourself or in support of Coventry Recycling Club events.

Maybe you have an event coming up you would like the Coventry Recycling Club and or Master Composters to attend. Why not email us at recyclingchampions@coventry.gov.uk.

Master composters are volunteers who support and encourage others in their community to compost or start composting.

Anyone can be a master composter, you don’t have to be an expert as you will receive training in ‘how to compost'. We will support you as you spread the composting word through working in the community, talking to local groups, attending events and even encouraging family and friends to take up the challenge! We would like you to lead the way encouraging others to compost. Training is free and covers the basic elements of home composting and related environmental issues.

It’s not just training that you will receive, we will support you! You will receive a volunteer manual and updates, free Garden Organic membership, volunteer name badge, access to the compost website and a friendly voice at the end of the phone for support and advice. In return for your training we ask that you spend at least 30 hours a year promoting compost activities in the community. That's around 30 minutes a week!

To find out more and apply contact us

Your brown lidded bin is for your garden waste and is collected every two weeks between March and November

You can use your brown lidded bin to recycle organic waste from your garden. In this bin you can put:

• Grass cuttings
• Hedge-trimmings
• Twigs and small branches
• Leaves
• Weeds and flowers
• Straw and hay

Thanks to the success of the bike recycling project you can now recycle your bike whenever the Recycling and Reuse Centre (the tip) is open. 

Bikes dropped off at the Recycling and Reuse Centre (the tip) on London Road will be refurbished for re-sale in the community by Coventry City Mission to encourage more people to cycle by making it more affordable. Any profits will go towards Coventry City Mission's work.

For more information about the Recycling and Reuse Centre (including vehicle restrictions and booking) please visit www.coventry.gov.uk/tip

Don't look at it as waste; your old garden debris has the potential to give you a free supply of top quality compost with very little effort.

Simply throw it into a compost bin and over the winter months it will rot down to produce environmentally friendly compost that when added to the garden will suppress weeds and retain moisture throughout the dry months.

Benefits of home composting:

• It's easy to make and easy to use
• Produces a free continual source of the very best compost
• Improves soil structure
• Maintains moisture
• Helps the soil PH balance
• Suppresses plant disease
• Reduces the need for polluting bonfires
• Reduces carbon emissions

To encourage residents to get composting we've teamed up with Getcomposting.com to offer home compost bins at special offer prices from only £17.98. There is also a buy one get one half price offer to purchase a second compost bin from only £8.99, a massive saving! There are exclusive offers on a range of other great green products, including water butts and garden accessories. To see what's available visit www.getcomposting.com or call 0844 571 4444.

We've linked up with Emmaus Coventry and Warwickshire so your unwanted furniture and electrical items can be re-used and at the same time help formerly homeless people.

Items such as sofas, wardrobes and dining tables collected as part of the bulky waste collection service which are reusable, will sold in Emmaus’ shop on Red Lane raising vital funds for the charity. The charity provides formerly homeless people, known as Companions, with a home, food, basic essentials and full time work. Items which cannot be sold will be recycled.

For a small fee, residents can get rid of their unwanted pieces of furniture or electrical goods and these can be sold to benefit a great charity. Items don’t have to be in perfect condition either as the Companions will repair and restore items giving them the opportunity to learn new skills and raise the greatest amount of money for the charity. For safety, sofas and mattresses should carry the fire label to be able to be resold.  The bulky waste collection service operates six days a week. Monday to Saturday.  Up to five items costs £26.25 with 20% discount for people on qualifying benefits.

For more information and to book a collection visit www.coventry.gov.uk/bulkywaste