Many people are confused about what can and can’t be recycled. Some of the confusion comes from the sheer range of materials we use in everyday life and some of it probably comes from the different rules councils apply for what can be put out for collection. A popular holiday destination such as the South West has additional problems when visitors find the local recycling rules are different from their home town.
The problems with this confusion are that it makes people less inclined to recycle and that the recycling chain has to deal with materials that shouldn’t be there, which adds cost.
Research by the British Science Council identified the following as the most common items people don’t know are recyclable:
- Kitchen foil and foil trays that are used but still clean
- Empty deodorant aerosols and hairspray with the plastic cap
- Empty surface cleaner bottles with the trigger spray
- Metal lids
- Empty bleach bottles
- Aluminium tubes such as tomato puree (with the plastic cap removed)
- Window envelopes
There’s an even longer list of things that people wrongly believe can be recycled. This includes greasy pizza boxes, window glass, wine glasses, glass cookware, crisp packets, disposable coffee cups, used kitchen roll, plastic bags and much more.
Recycling is just one part of the waste management solution. Because something isn’t recyclable it doesn’t mean it has to end up in landfill. Our waste handling centre has an incinerator and a digester so that a significant amount of the non-recyclable waste we collect is used to generate energy or reduced to waste water.
Yet another reason why, if you’re planning a DIY project or having a major clearout of your house or garden, it makes sense to hire a skip from Wellington Waste. We make sure that everything that can be is recycled locally and that the absolute minimum goes to landfill.
