Landfill

An Alien Concept?

What would aliens think if they visited Earth to take a look at how humans deal with their refuse? It's a question that a group of youngsters at Kirtlington Primary School have wrestled with for a tongue-in-cheek film entitled The Cherwell Incident. Starring children from Oak Class of 2012, the 15-minute feature pits a pair of aliens from the planet Zong against the inhabitants of a village called Cherwell. Their mission is to educate humans how to deal correctly with their recyclables and protect the planet, but there always lurks the possibility of vaporisation. . . .

But we live in Charlbury which is in West Oxfordshire District NOT Cherwell - so did you spot any differences?!

In WODC we CAN recycle textiles and shoes. Pair up shoes first and put clean, dry textiles, including clothes, curtains, sheets, towels and blankets in an untied bag on top of our blue-lidded bin.

Check below if you are throwing things out as waste in your light grey bin that COULD be recycled!

Light Grey Bin for Incineration

West Oxfordshire District Council is reponsible for collecting our residual household waste (i.e. which cannot be recycled) in the light grey bin, it is collected fortnightly alternating with the blue-lidded recycling bin. Oxfordshire County Council is responsible for disposal of this residual household waste and since Autumn 2014, everything in the light grey bin is sent to the energy from waste facility at Ardley rather than landfilled.

ONLY put non-recyclable things in the light grey bin:

This list is taken from the WODC webpage

  • Animal waste / cat litter
  • Black refuse sacks
  • Bubblewrap
  • Candle stubs
  • Cat food pouches
  • Cat litter and waste
  • Ceramics
  • Clingfilm
  • Coal ash
  • Cotton wool (or home compost)
  • Crisp packets
  • DIY waste (large quantities arrange for Bulky waste collection or take to County waste/recycling centre. There may be a small charge for disposal at County waste and recycling centres. Visit www.oxfordshire.gov.uk  or call 0845 0504550.)
  • Dog waste
  • Drinking straws
  • Duvets and pillows (If these are clean and in good condition try a homeless shelter e.g. The Gatehouse in Woodstock Road, Oxford. Alternatively animal rehousing centres e.g. Blue Cross at Burford and RSPCA  may also take them for using for animals.)
  • Feathers
  • Flyaway plastics eg carriers bags, plastic film
  • Food pouches (foil lined)
  • Frozen food bags
  • Glass: Broken drinking glasses (or take to local recycling banks)
  • Glass: Broken window glass (up to 5 panels of unbroken glass can be booked for collection as bulky waste)
  • Glass: Broken pyrex glass
  • Glow-sticks
  • Hair (or home compost)
  • Horse feed bags
  • J-cloths
  • Jiffy bags
  • Kitchen towel (small quantities eg soaked with blood can be put into Food Waste Bin)
  • Light bulbs old style (but low-energy lightbulbs go into your black box with other WEEE electrical items)
  • Lint from tumble drier (or home compost)
  • Make-up wipes
  • Nappies (If you use disposable nappies, please try to flush solids down the toilet and tightly wrap the nappies into a bundle before putting them in your rubbish bin. By the time your baby is potty trained, you will have changed as many as 4,000 nappies! For more information about reusable nappies, and to request a free trial kit visit the Real Nappies webpage on Recycle for Oxfordshire website. Alternatively have you considered baby-led potty training? See the Born Ready! website.
  • Paint If you have small quantities, open the lid, allow the paint to harden, seal the pot tightly with the lid and put in your light grey rubbish bin or take to a county waste / recycling centre. For larger quantities - if you live in Charlbury - take a photo and email DIYspares AT charlburygreenhub.org.uk so we can include your paint in our virtual DIYspares warehouse.
  • Paper: tissue paper (or home compost)
  • Paper: Glitter paper
  • Paper: Laminated paper
  • Paper: Tissues (or home compost - even if you've blown your nose on them!)
  • Photographs
  • Photo negatives
  • Plant pots
  • Plastics: The following materials are made up of types of plastics or a hybrid of plastics and another material that are currently too difficult for our processors to recycle, so they cannot go in your recycling box: hard plastic (e.g. plumbing pipes, buckets, garden furniture, lunch boxes, toys, CD, DVD or video cases, electrical conduit, plastic cutlery or crockery, toothbrushes) also animal feed bags, black refuse sacks, crisp packets, sweet wrappers, drink straws, frozen food bags and polystyrene.
  • Polystyrene (break up all large pieces of polystyrene)
  • Pringles tubes
  • Printer cartridges (many charities can raise money with your old printer cartridge - just search the web to find a charity of your choice)
  • Pyrex glass
  • Razor blades (wrap well and put in your light grey bin)
  • Rubber bands
  • Rubber gloves
  • Sanitary products
  • String made from man made fibre such as nylon
  • String made from natural fibres (or home compost after cutting into small pieces)
  • Sweet/cake wrappers
  • Vacuum cleaner contents (or home compost)

DO NOT put in light grey bin:

  • Anything that is recyclable (put into your blue-lidded recycling bin)
  • Batteries: household and car (place household batteries in a used envelope on top of your blue-lidded recycling bin. Car batteries should be left beside your recycling bin.)
  • Chemicals - see Hazardous waste
  • Christmas trees (real trees), holly and ivy - collected by WODC next collection date after Twelfth Night, leave at kerbside (cut up trees taller than 5ft) or fit inside green waste bin, you DO NOT NEED to be registered for green waste collection.
  • Clinical waste (WODC offer clinical waste collections - visit clinical waste and assisted collections webpage or call 01993 861025.)
  • Cooking oil or fat (should be allowed to cool - small amounts can be put in your food waste bin, large amounts should be put in a lidded, plastic bottle, such as an old drinks bottle, and either left in, or next to your food waste bin. (Cooking oil left in a glass container will not be collected)
  • Electric goods and electric cables (anything that is broken and powered by batteries or plugs in to the mains can be recycled in your black box or County waste/ recycling centre. Anything that still works can be saved for the next Bring & Take in Charlbury.)
  • Engine oil  (should be put in a sealed and labelled, non-returnable container beside your blue-lidded recycling bin)
  • Fluorescent tubes & low-energy lightbulbs  (County waste/ recycling centre)
  • Food waste including bones (put into food waste bin or home compost uncooked vegetable waste BUT don't throw out food just because it's past the Best Before Date it could well be usable - find out more  about what dates on packaged foods mean)
  • Garden chemicals - see Hazardous waste
  • Garden waste (should go in your dark grey garden waste bin or home compost bin or take to County waste/ recycling centre. You can buy a discount compost bin for your garden by calling 0844 5714444 or visit our home composting webpage.  * Please note: Due to regulation and control over the disposal of food waste, your garden waste bin cannot be used for organic kitchen waste, including fruit, salad, vegetables, tea bags, coffee grinds, egg shells, bread, or any other food stuffs, even though they might otherwise be suitable for home composting.
  • Gas bottles - Do not place gas cylinders in your rubbish bin as they may explode when crushed. Take them to County waste/ recycling centre (ask a site operative). Gas bottles can be refilled for further use or returned to the retailer. For Calor Gas bottles call 0800 662663 and they will inform you of your nearest outlet. For other gas cylinders call Flogas for advice on 0845 7626379.
  • Hazardous waste - such as household and garden chemicals. County waste/ recycling centre (ask a site operative)
  • Kitchen towel - small quantities of kitchen towel can go in the food waste bin - even with bloody meat juices
  • Leaves (put in your garden waste bin or home compost bin or County waste/ recycling centre
  • Magnets (put in your blue-lidded recycling bin)
  • Medicine (Unfinished bottles of medicines or tablets should be returned to your local chemist. Do not put them in the bin or wash them down the drain.)
  • Metal (put cans, tins & aluminium in your black recycling box, other metal take to County waste/ recycling centre)
  • Mobile phones (place in your black box with other small electrical items. Remember to take your SIM card out and remove any personal data from your phone. Many charities also collect old mobile phones.
  • Plastic bottles, food trays, biscuit trays, tubs and pots (i.e. ice cream, margarine, yoghurt), toothepaste tubes (put in your blue-lidded recycling bin)
  • Shoes (tie pairs together and put in a bag on top of your blue-lidded recycling bin).
  • Smoke alarms (place in your black box with other small electrical items)
  • Telephone directories (put in your black recycling box)
  • Tetrapaks & juice cartons (put in your black recycling box)
  • Textiles (put clean, dry textiles, including clothes, curtains, sheets, towels and blankets in an untied bag on top of your blue-lidded recycling bin OR save for the next Bring & Take in Charlbury.)
  • Tools (Hand tools are collected by the charity Tools For Self Reliance at Redbridge Waste and Recycling Centre in Oxford. Orinoco Scrapstore also reuse hand tools. Call 01865 761113 or visit www.oxorinoco.org.  Save for the next Bring & Take in Charlbury.)
  • Toys (Your local charity shop, hospital or health clinic could benefit from your unwanted good quality toys. Please contact them direct to see if they would like your unwanted items. Save for the next Bring & Take in Charlbury.)
  • Tyres County waste/ recycling centre The County's Waste & Recycling Centres will accept up to five car tyres in one month. There is a small charge.
  • Weeds (put in your garden waste bin, but please do not put noxious weeds eg Japanese Knotweed or Ragwort in your garden waste bin. Contact DEFRA if you need more information about noxious weeds.)

OCC Household Waste & Recycling Centres

Oxfordshire County Council provide the Household Waste Recycling Centres where there are also energy from waste and landfill skips. The closest one to Charlbury is Dix Pit  at Stanton Harcourt which is about 5 miles south of Witney. OCC have published an A-Z to explain what to put into the various recycling containers and what has to be go into the landfill or energy from waste skips. A general rule seems to be that general waste items larger than a suitcase go into the bulky waste skip for landfill and that smaller items go into the energy from waste skip.

WODC Bulky Waste Collection

Bulky waste such as unwanted furniture, matresses, household appliances can be collected by West Oxfordshire District Council for a fee, but before booking a collection please consider your reuse options. There are lots of places that can give your unwanted items a new home for free! Try the charlbury.info website  and also local Freecycle websites.