Easy ways to build recycling into your day-to-day routine
- Tried and tested!
Written by Sarah Carroll, WCA Communications Executive
In my August Wimblecomm blog, in support of ‘Sustainable September’, I wrote about the ‘Seven Steps to Sustainability’ and shared my useful ‘SUSTAIN’ methodology for living more sustainably.
This month’s blog takes a practical look at how we can all fit recycling into our daily routine, without really going out of our way.
Most items have a ‘recyclable value’ beyond their life-span in our homes. Not all items are recyclable ‘curb-side’ through Merton’s municipal collections, so it’s important to check product labels. We also need to avoid “wish-cycling” – throwing unsuitable or soiled items in with the household recycling, and contaminating the load. This is where checking labels and using alternative facilities around the borough can help. Taking recyclable items with you as you go about your daily routine is an easy way to go green (and clutter-free!). It takes very little effort to put items aside, instead of throwing them in the bin or chucking them in the drawer that becomes a dumping ground for clutter, and disposing of them sustainably. Here are some tried and tested options…
These tips are best shared in pictures; they aren’t glamorous shots, there’s no stock imagery, re-touching or AI. These pics are all quick snaps, taken on my phone, of the recycling drop-bins available in various locations around the Merton borough, which help us to help the planet. Once you know where they are, you’ll see how easy it is to “recycle it rather than bin it” (or avoid leaving items to gather dust, wasting space) to give more items the chance of a 2nd life!
1. Recycle Your Running Shoes in Merton: Located at Civic Centre reception, Canons Leisure Centre, Morden Leisure Centre (where we spotted this drop-bin) and Wimbledon Leisure Centre.
2. Recycle your plastic bags – carrier bags, bread bags, produce bags, magazine wrap: Morrisons supermarket exit to Hartfield Road carpark.
3. Recycle your old batteries: Also at Morrisons supermarket exit to Hartfield Road carpark.
4. Recycle Your Beauty Empties: Space NK, 39 High Street, Wimbledon Village.
5. Recycle Food Pouches: Pets At Home, New Malden (80 Bushey Road, Raynes Park).
6. Drop off your sports kit (‘kitround’): David Lloyd, Bushey Road, Raynes Park.
(Sweaty Betty also provides a leggings recycling service, High Street, Wimbledon Village.)
7. Recycle Your Makeup (all brands): Sainsbury’s Superstore, 1 Merton High Street, Colliers Wood.
(Sainsbury’s Superstore also has recycling facilities for household batteries, as shown in the photo below. And Boots and Superdrug stores across Merton also have makeup recycling facilities.)
8. Plastic bag recycling facilities also available at Sainsbury’s Superstore, 1 Merton High Street, Colliers Wood
(And Tesco Superstore, and Waitrose larger stores, also have recycling facilities for plastics.)
Other recycling options
Many other high street retailers have on-site drop-bins for popular household items, e.g.,
- Robert Dyas and Ely’s Wimbledon have water-filter recycling drop-bins
- Electrical stores such as Curry’s offer an appliance or device recycling (or sometimes a trade-in) option when you buy a replacement item.
- Larger Tesco and Sainsbury’s stores also offer an appliance recycling option when purchasing new.
- Clark’s will recycle your old shoes.
- Boots Opticians will recycle contact lenses.
- Specsavers will recycle your old glassses.
- Superdrug will recycle medicine blister packs.
- There’s a vast amount of charity shops in the borough, which accept bagged donations in-store of clean, wearable clothes, shoes, bags, and other items intact.
- Clothing that’s seen better days can be bagged and disposed of in the large clothes bins around the borough, to ensure the material itself gets reused (there’s a monetary value in “rags”, sold by the kilo).
- Electrical stores like Cex pay cash for trade-ins of old, working electrical items such as phones, laptops, gaming and sound equipment – they can usually offer a quote while you wait.
- And local schools regularly accept donations for uniform sales to raise money for the school or a nominated charity. The options for circularity really are everywhere!
So what’s next?
As you can see in the pics, these recycling drop-bins (and the other options mentioned above) are in the places we regularly visit or have easy access to, meaning we can build recycling into our everyday lives with very little effort to go out of our way. It’s always best to check product labels for recycling / disposal guidelines, to ensure items end up in the appropriate place. And of course, if we all make a conscious effort to choose products with less packaging, or packaging that can be recycled at home, then even better! But we want to be practical, and we know that consumer packaged goods and other product manufacturers don’t make things easy for us. We also appreciate that some people are less mobile than others, which is where teaming up with neighbours or community groups can help – there’s usually at least one green ambassador within every community who’s willing to help others. And involving the younger generation helps green actions to become habit from an early age.
Merton Council is also making more updates to its curb-side recycling facilities, and every Merton household can now benefit from free bulky item collections (up to three per year). They’ve also introduced occasional pop-up skips in certain locations, in addition to the Garth Road Reuse & Recycling Centre at Amity Way, Morden (which recycles garden waste, wood, plastics, electricals, books, CDs, batteries and lightbulbs, etc). Check the Merton Council website for full details of council-run recycling and waste services: https//www.merton.gov.uk
And, before you recycle and replace, consider whether items such as appliances and clothing can be repaired. Sustainable Merton has partnered with local venues such as St Mark’s Church Wimbledon, at St Mark’s Place SW19, and The Shed, at 267 The Broadway SW19, to rollout the new Repair Cafe – more details of this initiative on our ‘What’s On’ (Events) page: Events 24 – Wimbledon Community Association
If you have other recycling or sustainability suggestions to share with our Wimblecomm community, please email us at: general@wimbledoncommunity.org
Let’s recycle and reuse what we can – and Go Greener together!