Recycle everywhere!

It’s easy to recycle bottles, cartons and cardboard in the kitchen, but what about discarded items in other parts of the house?

Bathroom
We get through a lot of health and beauty products, so take the time to recycle them. From old bleach bottles to toilet roll tubes, here’s a handy mustn’t-forget list. ● Toothpaste boxes – flatten ● Toilet roll tubes – flatten ● Plastic shampoo and conditioner bottles – empty and rinse items, replace lids/tops ● Shower gel containers – empty and rinse items, replace lids/tops ● Liquid soap bottles – empty, rinse and remove pump dispenser (throw pump into the rubbish bin) ● Bleach bottles – empty, replace lid ● Bathroom cleaners – rinse and replace the trigger spray

Bedroom
Some materials, such as metal, have a lot of energy embodied within them. Take aluminium deodorant cans, for example – if everyone in the UK recycled just one of these, enough energy would be saved to run a television in more than 150,000 homes for a whole year! Look out for these items. ● Empty tissue boxes – remove any plastic insert and flatten ● Old magazines ● Empty deodorant aerosols and hairspray – ensure empty then remove plastic caps to recycle separately

Living room
Recycling can happen quicker than you might imagine. For example, on average it takes just seven days for a recycled newspaper to be on the newsstands once again – as a new paper! Scour your living room for these recyclable items. ● Envelopes ● Newspapers ● Cardboard packaging from online shopping – remove packaging tape and flatten to save space

Is your recycling on the list?

Putting the wrong items into your green recycling bin costs money and makes the process less efficient. Worse still, heavily contaminated recycling may be completely rejected when it arrives at the Materials Recovery Facility for sorting, undoing all the effort and good intentions of others in the neighbourhood. Make sure you get it right. If it ain’t on the list, it ain’t going in!

YES PLEASE
● Plastic tubs, trays, pots, plastic film, carrier bags or bottles ● Food tins and drink cans ● Foil, aluminium trays, aerosols, large metal sweet/biscuit tins ● Junk mail, envelopes, telephone directories, catalogues, newspapers, magazines or holiday brochures ● Milk, juice and squash cartons, cardboard and packaging card ● Glass bottles, jars or jam jar lids

NO THANKS
● Polystyrene, shredded paper, black bags, Pyrex or ceramics ● Food – please use your food waste caddy ● Textiles – can be taken to the Household Recycling Centre ● DVDs, video tapes and CDs ● Energy saving light bulbs or household batteries – can be taken to the Household Recycling Centre ● Oil cans, paint tins or small electricals – can be taken to the Household Recycling Centre

Image: www.freepik.com/free-photo/water-bottle_1178148