Category: Recycling

Food waste

Did you know that around one third of our household waste is food?

Fare Share, who do lots of good work in getting food to those who need it, have a short section on ‘tips to reduce food waste’ here

There are loads of great schemes aimed at reducing waste such as the ‘Community Fridge’ where you can get food for free. You can just type in your postcode here to find your nearest one. In Newhaven there are schemes both at Denton Island and at Havens Community Hub in Denton. Havens Food Cooperative aims to prevent food waste and feed the community- minimising food insecurity. They run a community pantry from Havens Community Hub (2A Thompson Road, Denton, BN9 0RS) everyday from 9am- until stocks last where they distribute surplus food from supermarkets, free of charge.

And if you’re not already, do make use of the council’s food waste collection service where even cooked food can be turned into great fertiliser:
lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/bins-waste-and-recycling/food-waste-scheme/

Electrical recycling

Did you know that you should avoid throwing ALL electrical items in your bin? They count as hazardous waste which can leak dangerous chemicals, contributing to water and air pollution. You can read more here

Alternatives?

You can recycle ALL electrical items at the Waste Depot site in New Road. They have a bin for recycling small electrical items at the entrance during opening hours which is accessible to people without cars. Most shops who sell batteries take them for recycling. And B&Q have a chute at their entrance for unwanted electrical items.

Tech-Takeback is a scheme where you can take broken electrical items to.
They now have a branch in Pavilion Buildings in Castle Square, Brighton (just next to Pavilion Gardens) which is open Wednesdays-Saturdays where you can take things and also buy refurbished items at a low cost.
You can find out more here

And they’re offering workshops in things including bicycle maintenance, knitting with plastics, electrical Disassembly and repair, basic sewing and more besides on Saturdays 11-1pm. Find out more here

Change your lifestyle habits and save money

Change your lifestyle habits and save money

At NGC, we’re great believers in buying second hand where possible. It creates less waste and packaging, it means that there’s less need for new stuff, and it saves you money!

You can check the local Freegle  & Freecycle groups or Facebook ‘everything free‘ pages.

Newhaven has some great charity shops including Sense and the SCDA main shop and their children’s shop. And if you need furniture, there’s always Age Concern at Units D1 and E on Ranalah Trade Park, New Road, Newhaven, BN9 0EH.

Any primary school uniform you can get from the Newhaven Uniform bank or the Uniform lady

And there’s always ebay, Music Magpie and World of Books for second hand online shopping.
Music Magpie will even pay you to send them old phones / CDs / laptops too.

Of course, sometimes you have to be buy new – you can’t always find what you need when you need it.
But there’s a huge amount of good quality second hand goods around if you have time to look.

More recycling tips

Now we have a storage facility and are doing regular stalls we’re able to start accepting items for recycling. Here’s a list of things we can take:

Any plastic items – including broken toys – we can recycle them through Reworked

Corks – we’re in touch with someone who can take these to Recorked

Spectacles – these can be sent to Peep Eyeware

Contact lenses and Blister packs (the packaging most tablets and contact lenses come in) – we can take these to Boots Opticians for recycling.

Packaging and strong boxes : We are now accepting any kind of packaging and trying to coordinate with people moving house or selling things online who are in need of packaging.

Worn-out clothes and shoes: These can be put in the TRA bins at the waste depot or given to the SCDA shop in Newhaven in bags marked ‘rags’. They will then be processed and either sent to countries who can mend / make use of them or be turned into waste products such as insulation, mattress filling. (Or come along to our Repair Cafes to find out how to mend them).

Anything else – we’re in touch with people who run art workshops with kids so if there’s anything we can’t recycle we can donate it to them to turn into artwork.

What should I throw into my bin? Not very much! Make sure all your food scraps go in your doorstep collection.
If you have any questions about anything you want to avoid putting in your bin drop us an email and we’ll see if we can help.

info@newhavengreencentre.com