Your essential recycling guideRecycling basics
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Recycling guide
Start recycling
90% of UK homes have kerbside collection schemes – check with your council
Plastics
Many local authorities offer kerbside collection for recycling plastic bottles
Paper and card
If you can’t recycle card or shredded paper, compost them instead
Organic waste
Only buy what you need – and compost the rest
Household recycling
You can recycle old CDs, clothing, printer cartridges and even spectacles.
Electrical goods
Retailers have to contribute towards the cost of recycling electrical goods
Recycling symbols
The ‘Mobius Loop’ tells you the item can be recycled
Recycling is a cornerstone in the fight against climate change. Just recycling a quarter of all household waste – the target achieved by the UK’s local authorities in 2005-06 – saves the carbon equivalent of taking three and a half million cars off our roads.
Recycling one aluminum can, for example, uses just 5% of the energy needed to make the same can from new aluminum. The advantages of recycling are clear, but how can you get involved?
Recycled cans use less energy than new cans
Start recycling
The great news is that recycling household waste has never been easier.
Kerbside recycling
Nearly two thirds of all household waste can be recycled and nine out of ten UK homes have kerbside collection schemes, so if you don't already have a recycling box or bag provided by your local council, it's worth calling them to check you haven't been missed out.
The government hopes its current aims to encourage people to recycle from home will increase the national recycling rate from 27% to 40% by 2010.
Recycling and your council
Different councils collect different materials for recycling, although most collect cans, glass and paper.
To find out what your council can recycle, contact the authority directly or visit Recycle Now with your postcode to find out which materials can be collected for recycling locally. You can also find out more about what happens to your rubbish here.
Recycling electricals
Not sure what to do with your old iron, DVD player, microwave or blender? Our online recycling tool shows you how to recycle electrical products, including expert tips and schemes available for specific products.
Types of recycling schemes
There are two main types of collection: co-mingled (mixed materials) and kerbside sort. Around 46% of councils use a co-mingled system where recycling materials are collected mixed together, then sent to a ‘materials recovery facility’ (MRF) for sorting.
Around 44% of councils operate a kerbside sort, where recycling is separated into different materials, then loaded on to special recycling lorries with compartments for each type of recycling.
Councils get paid for recyclable materials – around £50 per tonne for newspaper and £425 per tonne for aluminium cans – but have to fork out an average of £53 per tonne to dump rubbish in landfill.
Even if they got 1p per tonne for recycling, it would still be cheaper to recycle than send items to landfill.
What can you recycle?
It’s all very well being encouraged to recycle, but it’s not so easy if your council doesn't collect certain recyclable items from your door.
This chart shows the percentage of surveyed Which? members who can't recycle the listed products via a doorstep collection.
| Which? members who are unable to recycle packaging | |
|---|---|
| Recyclable material | % of Which? members who cannot recycle |
|
Plastic packaging
|
76% |
| Drink cartons |
70% |
| Food waste |
64% |
| Glass |
44% |
| Plastic bottles |
44% |
| Cardboard |
43% |
| Cans/tins |
23% |
| Paper |
14% |
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