Features

Summer Bank Holiday waste collection arrangements

Please remember that your waste collection dates will change during the late Summer Bank Holiday week (Monday 31 August - Friday 4 September 2009).

For details of your revised collection day, please see the table below.

• Kerbside collections of garden waste will also be a day late this week. Please place your pre-paid clear sacks by the vehicle kerbside on the same day as your black bin or black sack collection. Clear sacks are now priced ?3.50 for a roll of 10.

• Clinical waste collections will take place on Wednesday 2 Thursday 3 September as normal.

Please ensure you put out your refuse or recyclables by 6.30 am on the revised day of collection.

For further information, help or advice, please contact Woking Borough Council on 01483 755855 or visit www.woking.gov.uk

Send your old phone to a good home

Batteries from mobile phones have a negative effect on the environment, but rather than leave them to gather dust at home or throw them away with your household rubbish, you could donate or recycle them.

Next time you upgrade your mobile phone, why not give your old one back? Many mobile phone retailers, such as O2, T-Mobile and Vodafone operate take back schemes for your old handset and its accessories. The national Fonebak scheme also offers a Freepost service for unwanted mobile phones and accessories. Simply contact the customer care centre at your local Virgin Mobile, Orange, Currys, Dixons or PC World store and ask them for a Freepost envelope.

Mobile phones and their batteries can also be taken to Kestrel Way recycling site, where a special purpose bank is located. Most of the Community Recycling Centres, like Martyrs Lane, can also accept mobile phones, batteries and chargers. These will be taken by a member of staff to be donated to the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford to raise money for treating children.

Alternatively, you can donate your mobile phone directly to charity. Oxfam shops will accept them, as will Help the Aged. They can also be sent by Freepost to CRUMP, a fundraising project run by Child Advocacy International (see www. childadvocacyinternational.co.uk). Child Advocacy International work to alleviate the suffering of mothers and children in countries where there is extreme poverty, armed conflict or other disasters.

The Rainbow Trust works with Greener Solutions to recycle old mobile phones and turn them into funds to help support families of children with life threatening or terminal illnesses. The Rainbow Trust receives £3.50 for each mobile phone from Greener Solutions no matter what condition the phone is in. Please telephone 01372 220023 for further information.

For general enquiries about waste and recycling, please contact Woking Borough Council on 01483 755855 or see the website www.woking.gov.uk/environment

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