Recycle Now (how and where to recycle everything!)
Recycle Now is the website to bookmark, when you want to know how and where to recycle nearly everything. Just enter your postcode, and what you want to recycle, and you’ll find all the answers in a flash!
This helps to avoid so-called ‘wishcycling’ when you just ‘guess where it should go’, then throw it in the best recycling bin, in the hope that someone else will sort it out (they won’t, it’s done mostly by machines).
Some surprising things you can’t recycle are:
- Black bin bags (machines don’t recognise the colour). Switch to white biodegradable bin bags.
- Instant porridge sachets (they may look like paper, but they have a plastic lining).
- Greasy pizza boxes (you can recycle empty pizza boxes, but rip off the greasy part first, and bin)
These are the things that make recycling most difficult, when items are a blend of different materials. Previous culprits were Lucozade bottles and Pringles packs (as both had different kinds of materials). Apparently they are now trying to make more effort?
This site is very well done. Once you start to ‘search for an item’, it ‘finds it before you finish typing’. For instance, search ‘clothing’ and it will default to ‘clothing and textiles’, then bring up lots of places to recycle them (in this case mostly Salvation Army banks) within 25 miles.
It also shows what you can recycle in the same place (say a car park) so you are not making several trips to recycle different items. You can also find a map and directions to each place.
Most supermarkets now have soft plastic recycling bins (packaging, crisp packets, sweet wrappers etc). These help to avoid litter, but many are burned to make energy, as mixed plastics makes them difficult to recycle.
Most Boots branches have boxes to recycle beauty packaging, ideal if you’re using them up before switching to plastic-free brands of beauty and dental care items. This is good news, because many toothpastes contain pet-toxic xylitol, harmful if licked when littered.
Understand Recycling Symbols
Recycle Now also has a page to simplify recycling symbols.
Know that it’s UK law for all stores that sell you an electrical appliance, to take the old one back for recycling. This is useful to know: if you want to swap a bulky plastic blender you never use for a modern stick blender (good for homemade soups). Or swap your greasy chip fat fryer (the biggest cause of kitchen fires) for a safer modern air-fryer.
Compostable plastics should not go in your home compost. They are designed to break down in industrial composting systems, so unless your council collects, put them in the bin.
Read our post on making garden compost (unless you’re an expert, avoid adding tea/coffee grounds, or scraps from onions, garlic, leeks, shallots, chieves, citrus, rhubarb or tomatoes, as acids could harm compost creatures, without enough 50/50 balance.
