To recycle, or not to recycle (and how) - an A-Z guide

Plastic film belongs in your REFUSE bin.

Examples: Film lids from microwavable meals and clingfilm

Please Remember: Left-over liquid or food residue can contaminate other recyclables so please empty your containers. It does not need to be spotless, a quick rinse will do.

Hints and Tips: Swap clingfilm for wax wraps and reusable tubs. Purchase a microwavable container, and fill it with home cooked food that you can microwave at work or on the go.

Plastic film is a soft plastic which cannot be recycled at home.

Fact:

• Plastic rubbish in the British countryside kills thousands of land animals every year.
• 8 million tonnes of the world’s plastics end up in our oceans each year, creating a garbage patch three times the size of France.
• Plastics from items such as carrier bags and bottles that end up in our oceans kill around 1,000,000 sea creatures every year.

Plastic pots, tubs, trays and punnets belong with your RECYCLING.

Examples: Soup or yoghurt pots, meat or fruit/veg trays (including black ones), margarine and plastic ice-cream tubs (cardboard ice cream tubs cannot be recycled).

Please Remember: Left-over liquid or food residue can contaminate other recyclables so please empty your containers. It does not need to be spotless, a quick rinse will do. Firm lids can be recycled, plastic film (and soft plastic which can be scrunched) goes in your refuse bin.

Hints and Tips: Try to buy fruit, veg, and meat without packaging where possible, take your own containers to farmers markets, butcher, and deli counters.

Fact:

• Plastic rubbish in the British countryside kills thousands of land animals every year.
• More than 15% of the money we spend on products pays for packaging – most of which goes straight in the bin.
• 8 million tonnes of the world’s plastics end up in our oceans each year, creating a garbage patch three times the size of France.

Plastic toiletries and bathroom bottles belong with your RECYCLING.

Examples: Shampoo, shower gel, soap dispenser bottles.

Please remember: Check they are empty first as left-over liquid can make other recyclables dirty.
Lids and labels can be left on.

Hints and Tips: Try putting a bag or bin in the bathroom to remind you to recycle your bathroom bottles and toilet roll tubes. Some shops now sell ‘refillable’ toiletries, or why not use shampoo/soap/conditioner bars instead?

Fact:

• More than 15% of the money we spend on products pays for packaging – most of which goes straight in the bin.
• 8 million tonnes of the world’s plastics end up in our oceans each year, creating a garbage patch three times the size of France.
• Only 50% of recyclables from the bathroom are actually recycled.

Polystyrene belongs in your REFUSE bin.

Examples: Polystyrene coffee cups or packaging.

Hints and Tips: Remember your reusables!! Use a mug/reusable coffee cup where you can.

Fact: It takes Styrofoam over 500 years to decompose.

Pringle-style tubes belong in your REFUSE bin.

Examples: Pringle tubes or chocolate powder tubs.

Please Remember: Products with mixed materials (e.g. the card & metal in a Pringle tube) means they cannot be recycled.

Hints and Tips: You can still recycle the plastic lid at home!! TerraCycle collect Pringle tubes in some areas, have a look at their website to see if you have a local recycling station.

Fact: Around 15% of the money we spend on products pays for packaging – most of which goes straight in the bin.

Rigid plastic belongs at your local RECYCLING CENTRE, or in your REFUSE bin.

Examples: Plastic toys and clothes hangers.

Please Remember: Please donate these items to charities if they are in good condition, otherwise, please take them to a recycling centre if possible so the items can be recycled and reused.

Shredded paper belongs with your RECYCLING.

Please Remember: Put shredded paper into a paper bag or envelope to stop it blowing away.

Shrink wrap and ring joiners belong in your REFUSE bin.

Examples: Shrink wrap around multipacks of water bottles and baked bean tins, and plastic rings used to hold multipacks of beer.

Please Remember: Shrink Wrap and Ring Joiners are a soft plastic, and cannot be recycled at the kerbside.

Sweet, biscuit, and chocolate packaging belongs in your REFUSE bin.

Examples: Jelly Tots, McVities biscuits, Kit Kat, Dairy Milk, and Haribo wrappers.

Hints and Tips: These wrappers are a soft plastic, and some major supermarkets now have recycling points for them, so look out for carrier bag collection points and collect it at home to recycle it next time you shop. TerraCycle also collect confectionary packets in some areas, have a look at their website to see if you have a local crisp packet recycling station.

Fact:

• More than 15% of the money we spend on products pays for packaging – most of which goes straight in the bin.
• Plastic rubbish in the British countryside kills thousands of land animals every year.
• 8 million tonnes of the world’s plastics end up in our oceans each year, creating a garbage patch three times the size of France.
• Plastics from items such as carrier bags and bottles that end up in our oceans kill around 1,000,000 sea creatures every year.

Telephone directories belong with your RECYCLING.

Examples:  Yellow pages and catalogues.

Textiles can be COLLECTED FROM YOUR HOME, taken to a TEXTILES BANK, or DONATED to a charity shop.

Examples: Clothes, shoes, bed linen, bags, and blankets.

Please Remember: For home textile collections, please bag them in a clear bag, and tie it tightly so the clothes do not get wet or dirty, and leave them out by 6am.

Hints and Tips: Why not learn to fix and upcycle old items with Love Your Clothes. You could also attend a Swishing event, or hold an event yourself to swap clothes in your communities to get something new in a more sustainable way.

Facts:

• 95% of clothing is recyclable, yet 41% of people are not aware of textile recycling facilities.
• It takes 700 gallons of water to make just one T-Shirt. This is enough water to keep one person hydrated for 300 days.
• 350,000 tonnes, that’s around £140 million worth of used but still wearable clothing goes to landfill in the UK every year. This equates to more than 30% of our unwanted clothing currently goes to landfill.
• We Great Britons send 700,000 tonnes of clothing to recycling centres, textile banks, clothes collections and to charity each year. That’s enough to fill 459 Olympic-size swimming pools.