-------------------------

In Edinburgh the Council has made some provision for local recycling. In tenement areas, which we have, communal recycling bins are available. In villa areas, which we also have, residents are provided with brown bins for garden waste, blue boxes for tins, glass and paper, and red boxes for cardboard. Green bins are for other household refuse which goes to landfill, but communal packaging bins do take plastic. Plastic bags take up to 1,000 years to decompose so all are urged to use 'bags for life' rather than single use carrier bags or better still good old cotton or other more sturdy shopping bags.

The Red box is for

The Blue box is for

Clean flattened Cardboard Cardboard drinks cartons Cereal boxes Greetings cards and postcards There is also a clear bag for plastic bottles. PLEASE Polystyrene or Styrofoam

Glass Not Cans Not Glass bottles and Glass jars broken glass or light bulbs glass dishes or windowpanes Aluminium, steel or tin cans Empty aerosols Clean aluminium foil crisp packets or sweetwrappers Within the box is a blue bag for Newspapers, Computer paper, Magazines and all directories No cardboard, envelopes, food wrappers or plastics. They are also keen to accept textiles in the form of clothing, towels, clean sheets, and pairs of shoes but please no duvets or pillows.

Recycle Low Wattage bulbs Low Wattage bulbs should not be disposed of in your domestic waste bins. Those of you who started using low wattage bulbs some years ago will be finding them coming to the end of their life and the City Council are looking into setting up recycling bins at some point this year at all of the Community Recycling Centres. Meanwhile Ikea will recycle any low wattage bulbs purchased from them. Remember too that any strip lights can be taken to one of the Community Recycling Centres listed below. Braehead CRC, Craigs Road, EH12 0AA Craigmillar CRC, Old Dalkeith Road, EH16 4TB Seafield CRC, Fillyside Road, EH7 6RD Sighthill CRC, Bankhead Avenue, EH11 4EA

Recycle your batteries Don't just put used batteries in the bin. As of February 2010 all shops selling batteries [except in very rare cases] should collect batteries for recycling. So PLEASE put old batteries aside and take then to a collection box on your next shopping trip. Batteries must not be put in normal domestic bins because of the toxic chemicals they contain, which contaminate landfill sites. Your corner shop or supermarket is handier. Please make use of these facilities and so encourage companies who can help us to recycle and spread the word.

Mobile Phones
Yes - if you do not want to resell your 'last season' model which would be our first recommendation, even these should be recycled and envelopes are available from OXFAM or the Co-op who are working together to recycle those mobiles which no longer satisfy your needs.

They contain so much precious metal some pawn and jewelry shops will buy it from you.

Reuse

Even better than Recycle is Reuse. We all have items we no longer require but have plenty of life still in them. Charity shops will be happy to take things they can relatively easily sell but that doesn't cover it all. There is a group who offers an alternative: Freecycle now also Freegle

The Freegle Network™ is made up of over 4,000 groups with more than 5,000,000 members across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer. Membership is free. To sign up to the Edinburgh branch you need to join their Yahoo Group at

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EdinburghFreegle/