Free water refills on the go!

There are many places all over the country that are joining in the movement to provide FREE refills for water bottles and Suffolk is no exception! They are popping up all over in increasing numbers - all you have to do is download the REFILL App to find out where they are in your area to avoid buying a single-use bottle when you're out and about. And if you are a business or premises and want to offer this service to the public, you can easily register to join the Refill scheme yourself.

Trial Litter Campaign
After a successful bid to the governments Litter Innovation Fund, fifteen 'smart' and many more litter bins are being installed on Suffolk’s major trunk roads. The 'smart bins' are designed to stand out, with bright orange bodies, reflective white signage and the clear message ‘Keep Suffolk Beautiful’. The illuminated word ‘Litter’ at the top of the aperture will be powered by a solar panel so they will be visible to drivers during the day and night. 

They will also be fitted with new remote monitoring devices to help councils coordinate emptying the bins more efficiently and effectively. Find out more about the trial scheme here.

Love nature hate litter! 

In the spirit of practising what we preach, some members of the waste team recently took part in a beach clean along the banks of the River Orwell. This section of the AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) is only about 3 miles from the Suffolk County Council Offices. Over a 100m stretch, we managed to collect 6 bags of litter, a bucket of glass and a crate of hard plastic as well as a traffic cone, a 25L water container, an upholstered boat seat and several pieces of rope! Most of the small pieces of litter we collected were plastic bags, film and sweet and crisp wrappers.

We registered the 100m stretch with the Marine Conservation Society, so that we could record the results for their research. Last year's Great British Beach clean in September, 718 pieces of litter were collected on average every 100mtrs! Why not get involved and do your bit to make #PlanetSuffolk the greenest and cleanest county this year?