RECYCLE & SAVE WORLD

Asbestors

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• All waste batteries are classified as hazardous waste and recycling is always the best option.
• Ordinary household batteries do contain some hazardous chemicals so ideally should not be thrown out with the day to day rubbish.
• Rechargeable batteries contain harmful metals, so should never be thrown away with daily rubbish, they should be returned to manufacturer for disposal or recycled elsewhere.
• Local councils or garages sometimes offer battery-recycling services.
• Contact your local council to see if they are running a battery collection scheme.
• Contact the battery manufacturer for further recycling advice.
• Ordinary batteries require a lot of energy to make, so in order to save energy, use rechargeable batteries and electricity mains instead of ordinary batteries.
• Rechargable batteries are the most environmentally friendly option as can last for up to several hundred charging cycles resulting in less waste being produced.

Read our blog about the new rules and regulations for battery recycling that came into force on the 5th May 2009.

From the 1st January 2010 BatteryBack, the official recycling scheme for the new battery regulations, will provide FREE nationwide battery collection and recycling.

Building materials

• Buildings are made from many materials, many of which are recyclable such as metal, wood, glass, etc. Recycle these materials accordingly.
• Architectural salvage yards may take some items for reselling.
• Many building materials can be reused, such as bricks and wood.

Clinical waste

• Clinical waste such as nappies, sanitary waste and medical supplies have the potential to be infectious so must be disposed of using special methods.
• Be very careful when disposing of needles and syringes.
• Look for doctors or manufacturer instructions of how to dispose of medical waste on the packaging containers.
• Medicine containers can be recycled accordingly once it is empty.
• Contact your local council to see if they offer free medical waste collection.
• Some companies are currently implementing clinical waste treatment schemes, such as Medical Waste Solutions Ltd.

Electrical equipment

• Most electrical equipment can be reused or broken down into parts.
• If the electrical equipment is still in full working order, sell it in a car boot sale or donate it to a charity shop.
• Contact your retailer as they may take back old products.
• Some councils accept electrical equipment at their waste recycling centres.
• Always try to repair items rather than throwing them away, others may find a use for the item when you no longer want it.
• Try to buy electrical items that have a long life span.

Furniture

• Donate usable furniture to charity shops, schools, community centres, friends or neighbours.
• Sell furniture at garage sales or in auctions.
• Clean and repair broken furniture before you sell/donate it.
• Before you sell/donate your furniture, make sure it has the kite mark of approval to show that it meets British safety standards.

Glass

• Glass is separated into 3 colours: green, brown and clear.
• Take great care when handling broken glass, wear gloves if possible.
• Deposit glass at your nearest recycling bank by throwing them into the appropriate container.
• Many supermarkets have glass-recycling banks, enabling you to recycle glass on your weekly shop.
• Most home recycle bins, provided by your local council, usually accept glass.
• Make sure you wash out the bottle or jar before putting it into recycling bins.
• Reuse glass whenever possible. Jars can be used as small containers and bottles can be used as vases.

Metal

• Metal is usually separated into 2 groups: aluminium and steel.
• You can test which metal your waste is by using a magnet. Aluminium metal is non-magnetic whereas steel is magnetic.
• There may be a symbol, such as an alu mark, on the product to indicate what metal it is made from.
• Drink cans are usually made from aluminium and food cans are usually made from steel.
• Most home recycling bins, provided by your local council, usually accept metal.
• Deposit used cans at your local recycling bank.
• Make sure drink and food cans are clean before recycling.
• Aerosol containers can be recycled, but only when they are completely empty.
• Metallic plastic film, such as chocolate wrappers, cannot be recycled.
• Find out if there is a ‘cash for cans’ scheme operating near you.

Paint/Oil

• Waste such as paint, paintbrushes, car oil and oil filters have to be carefully disposed of, as they can be very damaging to the environment.
• Don't pour oil or paint down the drain.
• Donate unwanted paints and varnishes, as others can reuse them.
• Look for disposal or recycling instructions on the packaging of the product.
• Civic amenity sites often take engine oil for recycling.
• Buy products in bulk whenever possible to reduce packaging waste.
• Use eco-friendly alternatives whenever possible.

Reusing Paint

Community RePaint is a network of paint reuse schemes across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The purpose of the project is to collect leftover reusable paint from householders, and redistribute it to those who need paint but cannot afford it. This site will tell you more about the scheme and help you find the nearest RePaint scheme to you.

Recycling Engine Oil

It is important that you recycle your engine oil correctly as even a small amount of oil can cause damage to the environment as well as making a noticable mess.

The Oil Care Campaign has been set up by the Environment Agency, in association with SEPA in Scotland and Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) in Northern Ireland, to try and reduce pollution from oil and to help people dispose of their engine oil safely and correctly. On the Oilcare site there is a oil bank locator where you can type in your postcode and find the nearest place to take your used engine oil to for safe disposal.

Remember: UK oil banks are for waste engine oil, not cooking oil, thinners, white spirit, paint or any other chemical.

Plastic

• Paper is separated into the following groups:
  • Magazines
  • Newspapers
  • Office paper
  • Cardboard
  • Phone directories
• Deposit used paper at your local recycling bank.
• Most home recycling bins, provided by your local council, usually accept paper products.
• Only recycle gummed paper if specified, such as envelopes and stickers.
• Reduce paper waste by cancelling unwanted deliveries, or read news online as opposed to buying newspapers.
• Put a ‘no junk mail please’ sign on your letter box to reduce unwanted deliveries.
• Reuse paper around the home as scrap paper or packing material. Envelopes can also be reused.
• Set your printer to print on both sides of the paper.
• Buy recycled paper whenever possible.

Printer cartridges

24 million homes in the UK have a personal computer and 90% of those homes have printers. The average household uses 2-3 inkjet cartridges a year and many offices use large numbers of laser cartridges. Only 15 % of the 65 million printer cartridges that are sold in the UK are recycled which means the rest end up in landfill sites and this is major bad news as the plastic used in a typical cartridge is made of engineering grade polymers and is expected to take up to 1000 years to decompose!

Recycling printer cartridges really is worthwhile as cartridges can be expensive and remanufactured printer cartridges can cost as little as 10% of what original cartridges do. By lessening the amount of cartridges ending up in landfill sites, you are being kinder to the environment too.

The Recycling Appeal collects printer cartridges (as well as mobile phones and PDAs) for reuse and recycling. They raise funds for charity whilst helping the environment at the same time. The Recycling Appeal has generated over £2 million for partner organisations since 1999.

They make recycling your old printer cartridges easy by offering free collection envelopes. You simply need to pop your items into a freepost envelope and put it in the post. You can call up or fill out an online form to get an envelope sent out to you. If you have large quantities of items to send, the Recycling Appeal will arrange for a courier to come and collect them from you free of charge.

Recycling Appeal incentives include:

• Freepost envelopes or free collection for multiple items
• Choose your appeal from a number of charities
• Recycle phones, PDAs and printer cartridges.

Reclying Banks

As well as home recycling bins, there are many recycling banks across the UK that can be used to recycle different materials. They are located on streets across the UK as well as in supermarkets and outside housing estates.

Most recycling banks are emptied on a regular basis. However, if you do come across one that is over-flowing, contact your local council who will arrange for the bank to be emptied. You can also contact your local council to report vandalism to the recycle banks.

To find out where your local recycling bank is or if you want to know which materials can be recycled where, check the recycling point search here.

Textile

• Most home recycling bins, provided by your local council, accept old clothes and textiles. Recycling banks may also accept old clothes.
• Donate old clothes to charity shops or take them to a jumble sale.
• Only donate clothes that are still usable.
• Old clothes can be used to make other textile items, such as cushion covers or cleaning cloths.
• When donating shoes, make sure they are tied together so they don’t separate.

Vehicals

• Up to 80% of a vehicle can be recycled, see below for where to take your vehicle for recycling.
• Try and fix your vehicle instead of throwing it away.
• Sell unwanted vehicles.
• Report abandoned vehicles to your local council for removal.
• Engine oil can be recycled at civic amenity sites.
• Contact your local council for further advice on recycling vehicles and their components.

There are hundreds of approved vehicle dismantlers, recyclers and salvage sites across the UK. Find your nearest site here.

Visit The Motor Vehicle Dismantlers Association website for a full list of members, all of whom are properly licensed by the Environment Agency and can treat End of Life Vehicles in accordance with all current legislation, including issuing the DVLA required Certificate of Destruction.

Read about the new EU legislation which has recently come into force and aims to improve the recycling process for old vehicles.

Metro Salvage offers a free environmentally friendly car recycling service. They simply pickup your vehicle within 3 days and dismantle it in a safe and friendly manor. If you would like to have your car recycled, then please fill out the form.

Wood

• Take wood to civic amenity sites for recycling.
• Wood can often be reused to make other items, such as a bird table for your garden.
• Wood can often be added to your compost heap, such as sawdust and wood shavings.
• Buy recycled wood whenever possible.

Recycled Wood Furniture

Recycled wood can be used to produce unique eco-friendly furniture, some great examples can be seen at reelfurniture.co.uk
Reelfurniture creates recycled wooden furniture for home and garden with the knowledge that they are acting positively to protect timber resources and conserve our forests.