Recycled spectacles for TCP

TCP Recycling in 2024

Tollesbury Climate Partnership (TCP) want to reduce the amount of waste that is going to landfill.  Correctly disposing of waste allows it to be reused or recycled, reducing carbon emissions.  As a small village Tollesbury residents have had limited ways to recycle items outside of our doorstep collection bags so we wanted to provide a scheme that provides this opportunity.

So, in June 2024 we introduced a new collection scheme.  At various locations in the village we started to gather in items dropped off by residents which are not suitable for our pink bag doorstep collection. TCP volunteers then collect the items and take them to local recycling points so that they can either be re-used or recycled rather than going to landfill. Trips to recycling points are combined with routine trips made by the volunteers to not create extra journeys.

The scheme has had a great response from the village.  In fact because there was so much enthusiasm for the scheme we increased the number of different materials collected . We now collect at least 17 different items as summarised below. As part of these new items we were fortunate to have been supported by councillor Emma Stephens and councillor Mark Durham to secure funding through our application to ECC’s Locality Fund to enable blister pack recycling to be included in this scheme. Blister packs are currently not able to be recycled locally.  Therefore we will collect them, box them up and send to a specialist recycling plant. There are very significant costs associated with this and unfortunately further funding will be required to allow TCP to keep this service going into the future.

We also had a great presence at Tollsfest (Tollesbury’s very own music festival for those that don’t know) running a competition for festival goers to bring us their recyclable waste, which was great fun and a great success.

Up until the end of 2024 we have collected over 250 kg of materials. We want to thank everyone who has used the scheme, our volunteers and our fantastic host locations for offering the space to collect the items.

If you have a question about waste or would like to find out more about the scheme or get involved then contact Adam & Caroline on reduce@tollesburyclimate.org

See our TCP Recycling Poster for what we collect and where. For more details see below.

Light Bulbs

What we collect: Household light bulbs including halogen and led bulbs.
How we dispose: All light bulbs are taken to Maldon recycling centre for recycling.

Make up

What we collect: All types of branded make up
How we dispose: Make up recycling drop off point at Tesco store Tiptree.

Household ink cartridges

What we collect: Ink cartridges from home printing or toner
How we dispose: ink cartridges are sent off to be refilled and re-used.

Water filters

What we collect: water jug filters and fridge filters accepted
How we dispose: Water filter are taken to Tesco store recycling collection point.

Batteries

What we collect: household batteries including cell batteries.
How we dispose: Batteries are taken to Maldon recycling centre or Tesco store recycling point.

Pens / Pencils

What we collect: Pens & pencils of which are in working order.
How we dispose: Working pens and pencils are donated to local groups and others are recycled.

Bras

What we collect: Used or new bras
How we dispose: Taken to Bravissimo in Chelmsford for recycling.

Spectacles & Contact Lens Cases

What we collect: Spectacles, their cases and contact lens cases
How we dispose: Taken to recycling point at Specsavers stores.

Soft plastics

What we collect: Plastic bags & packaging
How we dispose: Taken to Tesco stores recycling drop off.

Clean Plant pots & compost bags

What we collect: Clean compost bags and plastic plant pots
How we dispose: Taken to Perrywood Garden Centre, Tiptree for recycling.

Vapes

What we collect: Disposable vapes
How we dispose: Taken to Maldon recycling centre for recycling.

Crayons

What we collect: Used, new or broken
How we dispose: Crayons are melted and turned into new crayons to be sold or given to local groups.

Candles

What we collect: Used or new as well as leftover wax
How we dispose: Wax is melted down and made into new candles which will be sold or used again.

Small electrical wires

What we collect: any small wires, charger cables etc
How we dispose: Small electrical wires collected and taken to a local recycling merchant.

Blister medication packs

What we collect: Empty blister medication packs
How we dispose: Disposed in our specific “Mygroup” blister pack collection boxes which are sent off for the materials to be separated and recycled.

Rubber bands

What we collect: Any size rubber band
How we dispose: Given to local groups

Corks

What we collect: Any bottle cork
How we dispose: Used to be made into cork boards to be repurposed and sold locally.

 

Other locations & items which are ran by other organisations within Tollesbury are:

Egg boxes – Fruit & Veg Van (In the square Tuesday & Friday)

Clothing – Tollesbury Freebies Facebook Page or clothes bank in Tollesbury Primary School Grounds

Medication & Asthma Pumps – Tollesbury pharmacy

Used Stamps – The Lighthouse to be sent off for charity

Thank you

We want to take this opportunity to thank those of you who have used this scheme to divert your items from landfill and not to mention our fantastic hosts that house our collection points and have been so supportive of this scheme to make it such a success.

Collection Points

To see where you can recycle your items click on the link below:

TCP Recycling Poster

If you want to get involved or have any questions about our scheme then contact us at reduce@tollesburyclimate.org

Tollesbury Climate Partnership is a registered waste carrier with the Environment Agency.

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