The success of a pilot scheme to recycle more unusual items like toothbrushes, corks, blister packs and cables in Wareham, Dorset, has been rewarded with a £1,200 grant, guaranteeing future monthly events throughout 2025.
Organised by environment group Sustainable Wareham, a trial event called Rethinking Rubbish was held in November 2024 where local residents brought along items that they wanted to throw away but couldn’t be put in their normal household recycling bin.
Lots of people came along to the first Rethinking Rubbish event at the Not Just Sundaes cafe, bringing items to recycle as well as stopping for refreshments
Attracted people from across Purbeck
More than 50 people came along from all over Purbeck with their unwanted stuff, which was sorted to be reused by charities or recycled.
The organisers estimate that 36 kilograms of goods were collected, which would otherwise have been sent to landfill.
Now, thanks to the grant from Dorset Council’s Community and Culture Project fund, Sustainable Wareham can fund the event on the second Saturday of each month for the whole of the year, starting on Saturday 11th January 2025 from 10 am to 11.30 am at the Not Just Sundaes cafe at Trinity Church in South Street, Wareham.
The items to recycle or reuse were sorted into boxes
“The grant has made a huge difference”
Vicky Charles from Sustainable Wareham said:
“We could just about afford to run the event for the first three months of this year relying on donations and the income from tea and cakes, but the grant now makes it possible for us to commit to run it for the whole of the year.
“It’s also great for the community cafe Not Just Sundaes, as it will benefit from the income from our regular booking.
“The grant has made a huge difference and we’ll also be buying more of the boxes to recycle pill blister packs which isn’t able to be done by the council’s household collection.”
Single use blister packs can be recycled but are expensive to do so
Items to bring along
- Babybel wrappers
- Cheese wrappers
- Corks – wine, champagne etc
- Dental waste – plastic toothbrushes, electric toothbrush heads, interdental brushes
- Greetings cards
- Keys and padlocks
- Makeup containers – empty
- Marigold type rubber gloves and packaging
- Mobile phones
- Plastic lunch boxes
- Drinks bottles – rigid type, refillable bottles, not the sort that go into the regular recycling
- Printer ink cartridges
- Stamps and coins
- Watches and jewellery – even broken
- Wires, cables and chargers
- Yeo Valley tokens – unredeemed
Many of these items will be recycled through Win on Waste’s connections with the not for profit foundation Terracycle which recycles traditionally non-recyclable materials.
Terracycle aims to eliminate the idea of waste and says that even complex rubbish is technically recyclable, it’s just that most materials are not profitable to recycle.
As a result, waste is sent to landfill or incinerated while new materials are extracted from the earth to create new products.
Making rubbish into a sociable event
“Successful application”
Vicky added:
“I’d like to thank everyone who came along to our first trial event as it really gave us the firm footing to make a successful application for this grant. It now means that we can continue and we’d like to encourage more people to come along over the year.
“So please bring along your old Christmas cards, old cheese wrappers and other Christmas leftovers that may be reused or recycled to our next event, as we can help save it from going into landfill.”
Further information
- Rethinking Rubbish from 10 am to 11.30 am on Saturday 11th January 2025 at the Not Just Sundaes cafe, Trinity Church, South Street, Wareham
- Every second Saturday of each month throughout 2025
- More about Sustainable Wareham
- More about Win on Waste
- More about Terracycle
- Dorset Council’s household recycling collection items
