My green wheelie bin keeps getting nicked, so I was wondering if people could help me locate with the best recycing facilities. The map on lewisham.gov is not very accurate.

I have clothes, books, pillows and electricals. I don't think can do anything with electricals as danger of being zzzzapped.

Could you give your stuff to the Red Cross shop on London Road?

When I moved house from Devonshire Road only 5 months ago I did not have a car so wanted someone near. I carries bags and bags to The Red Cross Shop. Got to know the people very well. They took everything including 35years of National Geographics .

With clothes, I always take the decent stuff to the Red Cross shop, but I have some other things i really don't think should go there. There used to be a big green clothes deposit by the station, anyone know where the nearest is?

Thanks!

There's a clothes/rag bin in the Harvester car park next to the bottle bins.

There used to be a clothes bin at the savacentre at Bellgreen, Lower Sydenham.

There still is - at least I used it fairly recently (a couple of weeks ago).

Savacentre it is! Thanks again.

P

Electrical stuff (if you dont think its suitable for the charity shops) should go to the Council's recycling plant in New Cross, but this of course requires you to have a car. Address details for this plant on the Council's website.

Regarding clothes, there are quite a few 'bins' around SE23 into which you can dump shoes and clothes, but please beware that the majority of these are not operated by charities, such as the Red Cross, but commercial companies. So although your clothes will be recycled (it will probably be sold on to countries in the third world or poorer parts of Eastern Europe), the profit the companies make from this will not go to charity. Organisations like the Red Cross, Oxfam etc will sell the best clothes in their shops in the UK, and much of the rest to the third world for donations or re-sale there, but at least their profits will go to charity.

There are loads of charity shops in Sydenham, SE26 I know, who will take clothes, shoes, books etc. Just in case you live on that side of Forest Hill.

I hope you get rid of your stuff without having to trawl around SE London too much.

Now we are the world olympic cycling champions may be we could become the recyling champions as well.

Think there is a Humana bin (for clothes) in the Co-op car park on Stansted Road.

No one seems to have mentioned FREECYCLE. I first joined when I discovered that many charity shops wouldn't take electrical items ( I had a couple of old lamps at the time). It's been a great way of passing on useful things that I wouldn't expect the charity shop to take e.g small furniture, magazines etc. and I don't even have to leave the house!

Note: most charity shops won't take electrical items even if they're still working. However, some specialist British Heart Foundation shops will. I think that our nearest one is on the Old Kent Road so that's only practical if you've got a car or van.

Better phone ahead to check with them though.

Actually http://www.gumtree.com is good for getting rid of stuff too - they have a 'free' section.

I've found that if I put stuff into my communcal bin, it usually gets taken out pretty quickly, and then shortly after that I see in on someone's windowsill. I'm glad they can make use of it!

Can some-one, preferably from LBL or councillor, please tell me why I have to take drinks cartons down to the recycling point at Sainsbury's but can't include them in the doorstep collection? Is recycling in the borough not carried out exclusively by LBL? If it is, why make it more difficult? I walk down with a bagfull but I doubt if everyone does, so I suspect most cartons end up in landfill. Senseless!

I'd suggest using recycling bins for most of your used items. However, the electricals need to go to a local council recycling centre as it's now the only legal way of getting rid of them.

http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/NewsAndEvents...ycling.htm

http://www.reducereuserecycle.co.uk/gree...the_uk.php

It's a more difficult process to recycle these drinks containers than regular card due to the aluminium & polyethylene parts in them, but Tetrapak in particular seems to be working hard to make their collection more accessible. I agree that it is difficult to get them to the recycling points, especially when those bins are almost always full to the brim or overflowing, and hope Lewisham will do something about it.

I've just been to the Forest Hill library and they now have a Battery recycling bin Not sure how long it has been there.

Also, the latest copy of Lewisham Life contains all the current information about what you can (and cannot) put in your green bins. It also explains why the TetraPaks have to be taken to Sainsbury's

brilliant - I've been stockpiling old batteries without knowing wghat to do with the things!

Is there a place in Forest Hill (town centre, I don't have a car) to recycle glass bottles?

I know I can put them in the green bin, but I am not a big fan of them: you always have to remember what can go in there, milk bottles yes, orange juice cartons no, shampoo yes, margarine tub no,... it's such a nightmare! And who's going to separate the different kin of items anyway?

I'm quite happy to separate glass and paper myself and put them in the appropriate recycling bin... if there is one of course...