While we may all have good intentions to recycle and live a more sustainable life, understanding the recycling process can be confusing due to all the different information available. In the UK, there are recycling guidelines that can help you understand what to do. This includes information on what to recycle and what cannot be recycled. Recycling can occur through local council recycling collection from your home or via recycling points around the country.
Understanding what can be recycled is extremely important, as even in the UK today, many individuals and businesses are throwing out products to landfills that can be recycled. Reducing the amount of waste that goes to landfills will lead to lower levels of pollution, less of a demand for newer products, a reduction in the need for raw materials, and a decrease in greenhouse gases.
How To Find Out What Can Be Recycled
Every local council’s recycling policy will be different, and therefore, starting on the council’s recycling website page is a good idea to ensure you have the correct recycling bins, understand what should go to in them, and know when they can be collected. Additionally, there are many websites online that summarise recycling collection points in your area, giving you an idea of the location and the materials they collect.
For a big picture overview, consider reading the U.K.’s WRAP guidelines. These guidelines are the industry standard for recycling in the UK, with the Waste and Resources Action Programme working alongside the UK government, environmental organisations and recycling centres to create a comprehensive guide to recycling rules, including what can and can’t be recycled. These guidelines have been agreed upon nationally and a treaty to ensure that across the country, individuals are receiving consistent information in an easy to understand format. Clear guidelines ensure that both businesses and households understand exactly what can be recycled and how to do this. Consistent information is important as this means that the materials submitted for recycling are more likely to be correct, meaning that the recycling centres spend less time sorting through the recycling, saving both time and money. This leads to a more efficient process and an improvement in recycled material quality.
So What Are The Rules Around Recycling?
There are many items that can be recycled within the U.K., with many unaware of the full extent of the list. To create a more consistent approach to recycling processing plants, local councils and waste management companies produced clarification on what should be recycled and in what condition each material should be in to be accepted. These are found within the WRAP guidelines. Materials that can be recycled include:
- Paper
- Card
- Mixed paper and card
Paper and cardboard are one of the easiest materials to recycle and make up the largest percentage of materials that are currently recycled in the UK. This can include newspapers and magazines, cardboard packaging, mail and ready meal sleeves. Generally, both paper and card should be as clean as possible to ensure that there is less contamination. - Plastic bottles
- Mixed plastic packaging
- Plastic film
Plastic is one of the materials that can cause severe harm to the environment as it takes so long to degrade – up to 600 years. Making up a large percentage of landfill waste, plastic products can be recycled into new goods, including clothing, bags and other plastic designs. When recycling plastic in your home, ensure that it is clean and has no food waste on it to again reduce contamination in the recycling process.
- Glass containers
Some glass products can be easily recycled at home, such as glass jars and bottles, as long as they are clean and empty. Others, however, cannot be recycled, such as drinks glasses or mirrors. This is due to the fact that different types of glass have different melting points, meaning that they won’t be able to be recycled with the rest of the glass objects. - Metals containers
Behind paper and cardboard, metal is the next most recycled product in the country, with over 2 billion aluminium cans successfully recycled. Steel and copper are also metals that are commonly reused, having been repurposed in the short time span of 6 weeks. Like paper and glass above, metal tins should be cleaned out and free from any food or drinks residue before being submitted for recycling.
- Food and liquid cartons such as those made by Tetra Pak
In recent years, we have improved how we recycle so that more materials can be reused. Tetra Pak is one of these, as well as long as it is cleaned before recycling. - Food waste
- Garden waste
Many local councils have separate food waste and garden waste bins that are collected every few weeks. Food waste can be repurposed and used for substances such as compost instead of rotting in a landfill.
When it comes to garden waste, some councils will charge extra to collect this over the summer months. This mainly includes cuttings from plants and grass.
The list above covers the materials that are the most easily recycled through the country, however, individual areas may accept other materials and objects, so it is important to check with your local council. as well as household waste recycling, there are also many other recycling points at recycling centres, and supermarket carparks and at many businesses. For more information on how you recycle the objects on our list above, consult the WRAP guidelines. These guidelines can help you understand what can be included and recycling, how to ensure they are excepted (for example, plastic tubs have to be cleaned), and any exceptions to the rules. For example, well glass containers are included on our list, glasses that we drink out of should not be recycled due to the fact that they require different heat levels to recycle compared to other glass products.
Why Is It Important To Follow Recycling Guidelines?
Recycling guidelines are there to ensure that everyone understands what can be recycled and how it is recycled. This ensures that everyone is following a consistent approach so that the recycling process is as streamlined and efficient as possible. Ensuring that there are no dirty materials or incorrect products within the recycling helps improve the quality of recycled products and saves time at recycling centres, which in turn, saves money.
