Recycling – Waste not Want Not
A recent article in the Guardian said that the UK just doesn’t recycle enough. As a family, I think we’re quite good at recycling. That said, we do have some hot debates on whether certain items CAN be recycled, or not?!
Most of us know that plastic bottles can be recycled. But did you know that your plastic bottle lids can’t be included in your curbside recycling? Plastic Bottle tops are made from a different type of plastic, with a higher melting temperature. They cannot be mixed with your curbside recycling. Sigh! So, what can you do with them?! I save them and take them into my local LUSH store. Lush recycle them to make new pots for their products. Or you can take them along to your local dump, or try crafting with them?
Plastic bags, bread bags and frozen food bags, most councils do NOT accept these for recycling, these can go to a plastic bag recycling centre. The nearest place for me to recycle these is actually my local supermarket.
Plastic food trays, so this is the one which causes lots of debate. My local council will NOT accept these in the curbside collection, but they have a plastic bank I can take them too. I find this strange as most are made from – PET 1, which is the same plastic most bottles are made from. So, we can recycle bottles curbside but not trays made of the same stuff? Apparently so.
Tin cans.. whether it’s a tin of drink or a can of beans, rinse it out and drop it in with your recycling – easy!
Birthday cards, magazines and newspapers can all be recycled, as can cardboard food packets. With Christmas coming up, remember.. Do NOT put shiny wrapping paper in recycling, as it can’t be recycled and needs to be added to your rubbish instead
Of course, if we all reduced our consumption of heavily packaged products that would be the best thing. But recycling does go someway to help ensure that our waste is at least again in another form. I looked at my local councils website and was mildly disappointed that they have a distinct lack of information. If you want the information, it is there, but you have to look. Choosing to buy products which aren’t heavily packaged is a great way to reduce the waste problem as a whole, we all need to start thinking – do we need bananas packed in plastic?
