This section will provide essential advice about how to dispose of rubbish and recycling.

 

General rubbish

Portsmouth’s residents have their general rubbish collected every week. Check the council website at find your collection dates for the waste collection date for your road or, ask your neighbours which is a nice easy icebreaker when you move in!

Some tips from the Clean City team at Portsmouth City Council to help you manage your rubbish and recycling the best way possible:

 

For flat fronted properties

  • Use sturdy sacks and make sure you tie them properly. You will need to provide these yourselves.
  • Double wrap anything sharp and items that may attract animals e.g. food stuffs.
  • Please store your rubbish correctly prior to collection day. Food and personal waste can spill from torn rubbish bags and attract rats and mice to the street and your home. Bag up rubbish carefully and don't leave it outside on the pavement all week as this will attract pests but also complaints from neighbours.
  • You need to put out your rubbish by 7am on your collection day.
  • Only put out rubbish on your scheduled collection day. Do not put it out on any other day – if you do, you could face enforcement action from Portsmouth City Council.
  • Don’t put your rubbish bags outside the night before as foxes, cats and even seagulls, will rip them open causing rubbish to spill all over your street.
  • If you have your rubbish collected from the front of your property, you should put your rubbish at the boundary where your property meets the pavement.

 

For properties with forecourts

  • Only use official black wheelie bins provided by Portsmouth City Council, they will not collect any other bins.
  • Put all rubbish in tied carrier bags or sacks.This helps to keep the bin clean, minimises smell and makes it easier for the collection team.
  • You need to put out your wheelie bin by 7am on your collection day.
  • The bin lid should be fully closed.

If you live in a flat or another type of communal residence, you will have a communal rubbish collection. You need to put your rubbish in the big wheeled bins that you will find in your bin storage area. You can put your rubbish down a chute if you have one. Communal rubbish bins are usually emptied at least once a week.

Please note that you cannot dispose of large and bulky items, or any garden waste, through your normal rubbish collection.

If you miss your collection day, take your rubbish off the street and store it until your next scheduled collection day or you can dispose of it at the Household Waste Recycling Centre at Port Solent or Havant.

If you put your rubbish out on time but it does not get collected, you need to contact Portsmouth City Council at missed collection form.

The rubbish collection crews cannot take the following items. If you put any of these items out with your rubbish, it won’t be taken and you could be fined:

  • Garden waste
  • Sharp or jagged materials (unless they’re well wrapped e.g. broken glass)
  • Bulky rubbish such as large electrical appliances and furniture
  • Soil, rubble or asbestos
  • Hazardous household waste (including fluids like paint, garden chemicals, drain cleaner and lubricants)
  • Car batteries and gas canisters
  • Old bikes or other scrap metal

You’ll have to dispose of these items yourself at the Household Waste Recycling Centre in Port Solent or Havant, or alternatively, you could arrange a Bulky Rubbish Collection (but not for hazardous waste) via Portsmouth City Council.

 

Recycling

All households in Portsmouth can recycle from home by taking part in the Pompey Recycling Scheme (PRS). All you have to do is a bit of sorting! If everyone in the city puts in a little effort it can make a big impact on Portsmouth’s waste problem.

 

What can be recycled in Portsmouth?

You can recycle the following items from your house or flat under the PRS - take careful note because this might be different to what you recycle at your home address:

  • Drinks cans
  • Plastic bottles (but please don’t include the lids)
  • Paper such as newspapers, magazines, envelopes, junk mail
  • Food tins
  • Cardboard, such as cereal boxes and greetings cards (please break down larger boxes)

 

What can’t be recycled from your home?

  • Glass - find your nearest bottle bank to your home using the “Recycle Now”website.
  • Polystyrene stuff
  • Margarine/butter tubs
  • Yoghurt pots
  • Plastic food trays
  • Other plastics
  • Aluminium foil (including the takeaway foil trays)
  • Cling film
  • The Yellow Pages and other large catalogue-type brochures.
  • Bulky metal items

It is important that you only recycle particular things through your recycling collection – just because an item displays the recycling triangle, doesn’t mean it can be recycled in this area at present!

 

Reduce, reuse and recycle - how to prevent waste

If you have items that are in good condition and could be reused by someone else, consider selling them at a car boot sale, or giving them away to charity.

  • Local charity shops accept donations of items in good condition, such as clothes, appliances (double-check with them first), furniture and other items.
  • Or you can give away items for free on re-use network websites such as Freecycle, Freegle, Reuze and Ecobee.
  • Spare stationery including pens, notebooks etc? Why not see if a local nursery, school or group e.g. scouts/guides, need the materials?
  • For more information on reducing, reusing and recycling please see the “Recycle Now” website here.

For lots more information all about household waste management, please contact the local council:

Rubbish & Recycling website here