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Last updated 2 September 2010

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Cans & tins

• See Aluminium.

• Rinse aluminium and steel cans and put in your black box - but please squash them first so that the collection vehicles don't fill up so quickly and don't have to waste fuel making more journeys than necessary.

• Rinse aluminium and steel cans and take to a recycling bank - but please squash them first so that the skips don't fill up so quickly.

Car batteries

• See Batteries.

Cardboard & packaging

• Try to buy products that have the least packaging.

• Put in your black box - but take large corrugated boxes to Dean.

• Leave any unnecessary packaging at the supermarket before you leave (this may encourage supermarkets to produce goods with less packaging!)

• Tear up and add to compost (wet in sink after doing washing-up, if cardboard is difficult to tear) Small amounts of cardboard improve structure and reduce water content if the compost is too wet.

• Waste Recycling Centres - Dean, Dix Pit and Redbridge Waste Recycling Centres recycle cardboard

• Moving home? Bellview Transport of Headington re-use cardboard house-moving boxes - 01865 744993.

Carpets & rugs

• If carpet is in good clean condition, advertise in local shop or post office.

• If the carpet tufts are not glued and if the carpet is not backed with rubber, then cut the carpet to shape to re-use in the garden as weed suppressant (cover with mulch if you don't want it to be visible).

• If the carpet tufts are not glued and if the carpet is not backed with rubber, cover a compost heap with carpet to keep it warm and protect against rain.

• Carpet could be used to put under pond liners.

Carrier bags

• See Bags.

Cartridges (ink-jet, printer, laser & photocopier)

• Only some cartridges can be handled - see the various websites below to check if your particular cartridge is included on their lists.

• Get your printer cartridges refilled rather than buying new each time - Ability Systems in High Street, Witney and UK Cartridge, 45 Corn Street, Witney both refill cartridges.

• Hearing Dogs for Deaf People are collecting inkjet printer cartridges to sell for recycling (they need £2,500 to sponsor each new Hearing Dog) - contact Heather Shute for info (01993 831909).

• Office Green takes printer cartridges and raises money for the National Trust (0800 502050), they will collect free of charge for more than 10 items.

• Environmental Business Products will send you  envelopes for returning cartridges and raises money for several charities (0800 435576).

• Printer cartridges (and mobile phones) are collected in boxes at Charlbury Medical Centre and Charlbury Post Office in aid of the British Heart Foundation and the Oxford Ambulance League of Friends for Community First Responders - contact Carol Hughes for more info (01993 868710).

• Take to Staples in Park End Street, Oxford (they have in-store collection points for Childline).

• Take to Alfred Groves Shop, Milton-under-Wychwood.

Cartridges (water filters)

• To recycle your used Brita cartridges take them to the The Good Food Shop in Charlbury who started collecting them in March 2009. You can also take them to the recycling box at Cargo in Witney (opposite Waitrose). Look out for in-store recycling boxes at  Robert Dyas, Argos, Comet, Sainsbury's Homebase, Asda, and Makro.

CDs

• Take music CDs to your local charity shop.

• Save for a Charlbury "Bring and Take". These are held in the Memorial Hall on the second Saturday morning in both March and October.  Items can be brought along between 9.30am until 11am and taken between 10am and 12 noon.

• Give unwanted CDs and DVDs a new lease of life. CDs can be recycled into burglar alarms, street lighting and lenses. DVD cases can be recycled into birdfeeders. Collect yours, or set up a collection point at work, and send to Polymer Recycling Ltd, Peninsula Business Park, Reeds Lane, Moreton, Wirral. CH46 1DW. They recycle 100% of the CD, case and packaging without the use of chemicals and in a totally secure environment. You do need to pay the postage when sending them.

• Take 'junk mail' or unusable CDs to Orinoco.

• Hang in the garden near seedlings as a modern 'scarecrow'.

Charlbury Chronicle

• Look out for information on upcoming collection events and general information about the work of the Charlbury Area Waste Action Group.

Christmas

• See the Christmas page.

  December 2006 graffiti on a post box in St Giles', Oxford.

Christmas cards

• Show you care by creating your own unique cards out of old cereal boxes, sweet wrappers and old magazines.

• Send an eCard rather than a physical card, the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership have some interesting topical cards.

• Cut up colourful Christmas cards into small squares to make gift tags (use a holepunch to make a hole so you can tie the tag to the gift).

• The Woodland Trust has collection points at WH Smith, M&S, and TK Maxx stores for Christmas cards during January - they recycle them to generate money to plant new woodlands in the UK. In January 2010 you could even tell them which region you'd like the trees planted in! Save greeting cards throughout the year and take them for recycling each January along with your Christmas cards.

Christmas presents

• Although a celebration of peace and goodwill, the rubbish produced at Christmas time is double that produced the rest of the year. Prepare for a less wasteful Christmas - buy Green Guide For Christmas (ISBN: 0-9526841-0-1 £4.99) or go to: www.greenguide.online.com. Consider buying charity presents  from Oxfam on behalf of your friends that go directly to the people that need them and make a real difference to their lives.

• Get creative and make your own gifts by rethinking rubbish and using your personal style.

• Unwanted or old Christmas presents can be donated to charity, or nurseries, clothes banks.

• Try to buy presents with least packaging - and put cardboard packaging out for recycling.

• Agree with your family and friends not to exchange presents - just love!

Christmas trees

• For info on recycling Christmas trees, call WODC (01993 861020).

• Take your tree (undecorated!) to the Charlbury Christmas tree shredding event at the Spendlove carpark - usually on the first Saturday in January  after Twelfth Night.

Clinical Waste (hypodermic needles & out-of-date medicine)

• See Hazardous waste.

Clothes

• Clean, wearable clothes can be taken to charity shops, second-hand shops and clothes banks. There is a Salvation Army clothes bank at the Spendlove Centre, Charlbury - they need clothes, underwear, accessories, bags, shoes & trainers (please tie in pairs) - please put in bags before putting into the container.

• Put clothes into the black recycling box, this includes shoes which need to be tied in pairs. Put good clothes in bags to prevent them being damaged.

• Save for a Charlbury "Bring and Take". These are held in the Memorial Hall on the second Saturday morning in both March and October.  Items can be brought along between 9.30am until 11am and taken between 10am and 12 noon.

• Take jeans, T-shirts, jumpers, trainers to The Gap Project, 23 Park End Street, Oxford (01865 201818), they give resettlement help to homeless people.

• Take socks, hats, scarves, gloves, men's underwear to the Oxford Night Shelter, Luther Street, Oxford (01865-304600).

• Reuse un-wearable clothes as rags or put in the black recycling box.

• See Textiles.

Coffins

• These can now be made from reclaimed timber or biodegradable recycled cardboard - see www.greenfieldcoffins.com or call 01376 327074

• Fairspear is a new natural burial ground at Leafield near Charlbury. The site was planted with trees in 2000, it is part of the old Wychwood Forest area and has views over the Evenlode to the Rissingtons.

Coins

• Donate to Oxfam charity shops.

Comics

• See Magazines.

Community Action Group

• Join the Charlbury Area Waste Action Group to raise awareness of how to reduce rubbish locally - and share new ideas. For more info about other CAGs in Oxfordshire, contact: Simon Kenton on 07793 647190 or email Simon.Kenton@Oxfordshire.gov.uk.

Compost

You will be amazed at how much you will reduce the waste in your wheelie bin - up to 30% of the content is usually kitchen waste. There are also many further benefits for the environment:
Reduction in generation of climate changing gases, such as methane, produced when organic matter breaks down in the absence of oxygen in landfill sites.
Reduction in generation of leachate liquid which can pollute our water courses when washed out from landfill sites.
Reduction in use of peat-based compost will protect rich and diverse wildlife habitats from destruction.
Reduced need for chemicals and artificial fertilizers will protect your soil and wildlife.
Increasing life span of existing landfill sites, therefore reducing the need for more.

NEWS FLASH - From November 2010, WODC will be collecting kitchen food waste and also garden waste from every hosusehold BUT if you prefer to carry on with your home composting then environmentally that is much better (reduction in transport and processing) and WODC want you to continue to home compost.

• Order a composter at the special discount prices.

• Make a compost bin from old pallets.

• Buy a wooden compost bin from Pathway Workshop, Oxford where they are made from recycled wood by people with either physical disabilities or learning difficulties.

• As well as the usual food items and garden waste, the following can be composted: hoover lint, tissues, cotton wool, inside of toilet rolls, postcards, envelopes, pet & human hair, cardboard or paper food packaging, stamps, pet bedding, tea bags.

 • Do not compost meat and large amounts of dairy products unless you have a Green Cone or a Green Johanna which can both compost meat and dairy products safely (0800 7312572) or look on the web: www.greencone.com

• Worried about flies, smells and vermin? Call the Compost Hotline to order a free compost trouble-shooting leaflet (01865 815796) or look on the web: www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/index/environment/waste.htm.

 • Compost needs both 'green' material rich in nitrates and quick to rot and 'brown' material which have lots of fibre and carbon and are slower to rot:
YES please GREENS: Tea bags, coffee grounds & filter papers, vegetable peelings, fruit scraps, young annual weeds, pond algae, grass cuttings, flowers, nettles, comfrey leaves, rhubarb leaves, bedding plants.
BROWNS: Cardboard & paper too dirty to go in for recycling, egg boxes, cereal boxes, torn up corrugated cardboard, wet paper, wet cardboard, tissue paper, wool, vacuum cleaner contents, tumble drier lint, dust, cotton wool, tissues, paper towels, paper bags, napkins, cardboard stem cotton buds, wooden toothpicks, shopping receipts, natural fibre string & twine, toilet & kitchen roll tubes, hair, feathers, shredded confidential documents, natural corks (cut up first), natural fibre clothes (cut up first), bedding from vegetarian pets, crushed eggshells, wood & charcoal ash, hedge clippings, dry leaves (if lots of leaves then best to pile up separately since they can take a year to rot).
NO thanks - Glossy cardboard, litter tray contents, coal ash, hard biodegradable plastic, biodegradable plastic bags, dairy products, cooked food, bones, meat.

Computers

• Unfortunately, most working computers that people want to get rid of are too old to be of use to other people or organisations. You can recycle computers at all the Waste Recycling Centres, see Electrical Equipment

• Find out about passing computers to other organisations such as Computer Aid International in North London (0208-361 5540) who pass on computers to developing countries. Have info on your computer and any other hardware at the ready, as they may ask you for details.

• Addresses of computer reuse organisations can be found on the Environmental Information Exchange website.

• NCER's Bytes Twice (0870 243 01326).

• If anyone lives near Gloucester, Hemplan Design in Gloucester (01452 730 015) collects all PC equipment (monitors, keyboards, towers) and also offer a data protection service.

• Advertise in a local shop or post office.

• Contact local schools or community education centres who may need a computer.

Cookers

• For cookers in reasonable working condition Cookers & Co (01993 823 426) refurbishes and sells second-hand cookers and will also collect for free.

• Contact WODC (01993 861020) for bulky waste collection.

• See Electrical Equipment.

Cooking Oil

• Do NOT pour down the sink, as this is not easily treatable and can cause marine pollution.

• Put small amounts on compost heap.

• For larger amounts see Oil.

Crockery & cutlery

• Save for a Charlbury "Bring and Take". These are held in the Memorial Hall on the second Saturday morning in both March and October.  Items can be brought along between 9.30am until 11am and taken between 10am and 12 noon.

• Charity shops, second-hand shops.

• Donate curtains and household items (but not furniture) to ex-homeless people (English Churches Housing 01865 243071).

• Donate to the OCVA Furniture Store, Oxford (call 01865 763698 to arrange collection/delivery) or email furniture@ocva.org.uk.

• See Bric-a-brac.

Curtains

• Take to charity shops or second-hand shops.

• Take good condition, clean curtains to a Charlbury "Bring and Take". These are held in the Memorial Hall on the second Saturday morning in both March and October.  Items can be brought along between 9.30am until 11am and taken between 10am and 12 noon.

• Take to textile bank at Spendlove Centre, Charlbury and at Dean Recycling Centre.

• Donate to the  OCVA Furniture Store, Oxford (call 01865 763698 to arrange collection/delivery) or email furniture@ocva.org.uk.

• Donate curtains and household items (but not furniture) to ex-homeless people (English Churches Housing 01865 243071).

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DIY waste

• Old doors/fireplaces/floorboards/timber can be reclaimed by builders and architectural salvage companies:

• See Architectural salvage.

• See Bricks.

• See Tiles.

• See Wood.

• See Baths & bathroom fittings.

Duvets

• Save clean good condition duvets for a Charlbury "Bring and Take". These are held in the Memorial Hall on the second Saturday morning in both March and October.  Items can be brought along between 9.30am until 11am and taken between 10am and 12 noon.

• Take to charity shops, donate to local homeless charities such as the Oxford Night Shelter, or animal sanctuaries .

• See Textiles.

DVDs

• Save them for the next Charlbury "Bring and Take". These are held in the Memorial Hall on the second Saturday morning in both March and October.  Items can be brought along between 9.30am until 11am and taken between 10am and 12 noon.

• Donate them to charity shops, or give to friends

• Take to Book Banks at Eynsham, Chipping Norton, or Witney.

• Instead of buying DVDs, hire them by post, from rental shops, or the public library.