May 2023 update:

We have now achieved a steady recycling rate at St Mary’s and the bins are being taken for specialist plastic recycling once or twice a month. We’re still looking for volunteers to help with keeping it clean and tidy, appropriately sorted and taking the segregated waste to the plastics recycling collection point in Derby. To volunteer please contact us.

Not only are soft plastics being recycled, but now we are fully using the blue bin in the parish with hard plastics (bottles, trays, etc), card/paper, glass and cans/tins. It is amazing to think that just a year ago, the blue bin was almost always empty and the three black bins were often full with mixed waste. Now the amount of mixed general waste is much reduced. Thank you to all who are helping recycle in the parish!

The soft plastics collection in the foyer of the parish centre is for hard-to-recycle plastics that are not collected by Derby City Council’s Blue Bin scheme. We are collecting the following plastics:

Bin	Desciption
Coat Hangers	Black or White plastic with plastic or metal hooks only
LDPE (#4)	Labelled as “Recycle with Bags at larger Stores” or LDPE or recycle triangle with number 4
Soft Plastics	Washed and Dry but Not Biodegradable or Compostable. Plastic bags, bread bags, frozen food bags, plastic wrappers and film, plastic film yoghurt lids, pasta/rice plastic wrapping, bubble wrap, plastic wrap from paper/card, plastic wallets, all wet food pouches (washed and dried), all dry pet food flexible plastic packaging, all pet treat flexible plastic packaging and pouches, flexible plastic pouches for dishwasher tablets and equivalent flexible soft plastics.
Biscuit/Cake wrappers	Crinkly plastic wrap used for biscuit, cracker and cake wrap. All brands including shiny silver ones and outer multipack wrappers.
Crisp Packets	Crisp, nut, popcorn, pretzel packets. All brands including outer multipack wrappers.
Plastic Pens	All brands and conditions.
Plastic Cheese Wrappers	Any brand of individual plastic cheese wrappers. Any brand of sliced cheese protective film. Any brand of flexible cheese pouches. Plastic labels and plastic nets for mini cheese nets.
Plastic Sweet and Chocolate packaging	Plastic wrappers from sweets and chocolates including inner and outer wrapping including multipack bags. Includes individual wrappers, pouch bags and shiny silver plastic types wrappers. All brands accepted.
Plastic Oral Care products	Plastic toothbrushes (not electric), toothpaste tubes, floss containers and their packaging
Coffee Pouches	NEW! Coffee pouches and foil lined plastic coffee bags
Blister Packs	NEW! Plastic and foil blister packs (please must be empty – unused medicines must always be taken back to pharmacies who will accept them free of charge)

As always, try and refuse excess packaging and re-use shopping bags to cut down on unnecessary plastic waste. Plastic recycling is a last resort to prevent plastic waste being dumped or burnt.

Thank you to all those who are now using the recycling bins!

If you would like to make a donation to help the scheme or other sustainability projects at St Mary’s, please use BACS: sort code: 30 92 59 account: 00428642 (name: St Mary’s Derby RCP NRCDT) and please put your surname and LIVESIMPLY as reference; or cheques to ‘St Mary’s Derby RCP NRCDT’ with same reference on back; or cash in the Rectory’s letterbox or box at the back of the church in envelope marked with “LiveSimply”.

March 2023 update:

Recycling rates at St Mary’s are significantly up. The soft plastics bins are now filling up and being emptied once or twice a month. The parish blue bin is now regularly full and the amount of general waste has decreased substantially as people are now using the recycling bins in the centre. It is possible that we will ask Derby City Council to replace one of the three black bins with another blue bin to help us recycle even more!

We’re currently investigating extending the scheme to coffee pouches. If you have other plastic waste you think we ought to collect please contact us with your suggestions.

Thank you to all those who are now using the recycling bins!

If you would like to help, then we are still looking for volunteers to help with keeping the recycling station clean and tidy, appropriately sorted and taking the segregated waste to the plastics recycling collection point in Derby. To volunteer please contact us using the website form. If you would rather make a donation to help with this and other sustainability projects at St Mary’s, please use BACS: sort code: 30 92 59 account: 00428642 (name St Mary’s Derby RCP NRCDT) and please put your surname and LIVESIMPLY as reference; or cheques to ‘St Mary’s Derby RCP NRCDT’ with same reference on back; or cash in the Rectory’s letterbox or box at the back of the church in envelope marked with “LiveSimply”.

October 2022 update:

The plastic recycling project is up and running. We’re looking for volunteers to help with keeping it clean and tidy, appropriately sorted and taking the segregated waste to the plastics recycling collection point in Derby. To volunteer please contact us.

This is for hard-to-recycle plastics that are not collected by Derby City Council’s Blue Bin scheme. We are collecting the following plastics:

Bin	Desciption
Coat Hangers	Black or White plastic with plastic or metal hooks only
LDPE (#4)	Labelled as “Recycle with Bags at larger Stores” or LDPE or recycle triangle with number 4
Soft Plastics	Washed and Dry but Not Biodegradable or Compostable. Plastic bags, bread bags, frozen food bags, plastic wrappers and film, plastic film yoghurt lids, pasta/rice plastic wrapping, bubble wrap, plastic wrap from paper/card, plastic wallets, all wet food pouches (washed and dried), all dry pet food flexible plastic packaging, all pet treat flexible plastic packaging and pouches, flexible plastic pouches for dishwasher tablets and equivalent flexible soft plastics.
Biscuit/Cake wrappers	Crinkly plastic wrap used for biscuit, cracker and cake wrap. All brands including shiny silver ones and outer multipack wrappers.
Crisp Packets	Crisp, nut, popcorn, pretzel packets. All brands including outer multipack wrappers.
Plastic Pens	All brands and conditions.
Plastic Cheese Wrappers	Any brand of individual plastic cheese wrappers. Any brand of sliced cheese protective film. Any brand of flexible cheese pouches. Plastic labels and plastic nets for mini cheese nets.
Plastic Sweet and Chocolate packaging	Plastic wrappers from sweets and chocolates including inner and outer wrapping including multipack bags. Includes individual wrappers, pouch bags and shiny silver plastic types wrappers. All brands accepted.
Plastic Oral Care products	Plastic toothbrushes (not electric), toothpaste tubes, floss containers and their packaging

Please respect the following rules

Please keep the boxes neat and tidy

Plastic for recycling should be clean and not dirty or soiled

If you are unable to sort your plastic rubbish please ask for help (see below for a table guide). Please do not mix plastics into the bins.

We do not recycle compostable or biodegradable plastics. Compostable plastics can go into the Derby City Council Brown Bin scheme (if they carry the seedling compostable logo). Biodegradable plastics can go in the Black Bin (biodegradable plastics will break-down quickly in landfill).

Further development: Now we use the Blue bin in the parish centre too!

The parish centre previously only had a black bin. Thanks to a generous donation, now we have a set of recycling bins in the main hall and two bins in the kitchen.

See the poster on what can be recycled in Derby’s Blue Bin here.

See the poster on what can go in the Derby Brown Bin here.

This recycling project is a private plastic waste collection scheme providing temporary storage for hard-to-recycle plastics prior to transfer to specialist plastic recyclers. It complies with the requirements for a Non Waste Framework Directive (NWFD) exemption (waste exemption: NWFD4 temporary storage at a collection point). Small amounts (<5m³) of clean and segregated waste is temporarily stored (< 3 months) in sealed boxes. This scheme is not available to the general public and there is no charge for using this.

Any issues or ideas? Use the contact pages with reference “St Mary’s Derby Plastic Recycling”.

Thank you

July 2022 update:

Thank you for your interest in this plastic recycling scheme

This is for hard-to-recycle plastics that are not collected by Derby City Council’s Blue Bin scheme. See the poster on what can be recycled in Derby’s Blue Bin here.

Please respect the following rules

Please keep the boxes neat and tidy

Plastic for recycling should be clean and not dirty or soiled

If you are unable to sort your plastic rubbish please ask for help (see below for a table guide). Please do not mix plastics into the bins.

We do not recycle compostable or biodegradable plastics. Compostable plastics can go into the Derby City Council Brown Bin scheme (if they carry the seedling compostable logo). See the poster on what can go in the Derby Brown Bin here. Biodegradable plastics can go in the Black Bin (biodegradable plastics will break-down quickly in landfill).

Any issues or ideas? Use the contact pages with reference “St Mary’s Derby Plastic Recycling”. The St Mary’s team are looking for volunteers to help maintain the scheme with the local recycler. Financial contributions are welcome via St Mary’s Parish with reference “LiveSimply”. Giving details are on the parish website. BACS: sort code: 30 92 59 account: 00428642 (name St Mary’s Derby RCP NRCDT) and please put your surname and LIVESIMPLY as reference; or cheques to ‘St Mary’s Derby RCP NRCDT’ with same reference on back; or cash in the Rectory’s letterbox or box at the back of the church in envelope marked with “LiveSimply”.

Thank you

June 2022 update:

We are launching the plastics recycling collection this month. We are collecting the following plastics:

Bin	Desciption
Coat Hangers	Black or White plastic with plastic or metal hooks only
LDPE (#4)	Labelled as “Recycle with Bags at larger Stores” or LDPE or recycle triangle with number 4
Soft Plastics	Washed and Dry but Not Biodegradable or Compostable. Plastic bags, bread bags, frozen food bags, plastic wrappers and film, plastic film yoghurt lids, pasta/rice plastic wrapping, bubble wrap, plastic wrap from paper/card, plastic wallets, all wet food pouches (washed and dried), all dry pet food flexible plastic packaging, all pet treat flexible plastic packaging and pouches, flexible plastic pouches for dishwasher tablets and equivalent flexible soft plastics.
Biscuit/Cake wrappers	Crinkly plastic wrap used for biscuit, cracker and cake wrap. All brands including shiny silver ones and outer multipack wrappers.
Crisp Packets	Crisp, nut, popcorn, pretzel packets. All brands including outer multipack wrappers.
Plastic Pens	All brands and conditions.
Plastic Cheese Wrappers	Any brand of individual plastic cheese wrappers. Any brand of sliced cheese protective film. Any brand of flexible cheese pouches. Plastic labels and plastic nets for mini cheese nets.
Plastic Sweet and Chocolate packaging	Plastic wrappers from sweets and chocolates including inner and outer wrapping including multipack bags. Includes individual wrappers, pouch bags and shiny silver plastic types wrappers. All brands accepted.
Plastic Oral Care products	Plastic toothbrushes (not electric), toothpaste tubes, floss containers and their packaging

Project Background:

A large proportion of plastic packaging is not currently recycled by kerbside recycling schemes. However, some of this plastic that is generally thrown away can be recycled fairly easily. This project is looking into collection of some of these other plastics.

To start off we propose to collect plastic marked as “recycle with bags at larger stores”. This type is LDPE (low-density polyethylene) and marked on packaging with the triangle recycle symbol and the number 4. The idea is that once we have collected a full carrier bag of clean LDPE waste, a volunteer will take it to a large supermarket collection point.

Our main proposal is to look into recycling plastics that are marked as “not at kerbside” and where a scheme exists but requires effort (e.g. Terracycle). We are investigating collaborating with other local collection sites to start with.

We will keep you updated on the status of the project here.

If you have any questions or suggestions, you can leave a comment below or use the contact page on the website and quote “plastic recycling project” in the form. Many thanks.