What can you recycle?

The best way to recycle more of your rubbish, or to get started with recycling, is to find out what services are available in your local area. If you have a recycling collection from your home make sure you read the information provided so that you recycle everything you can, and ensure that you are aware of collection schedules. If you are using your local recycling site, either store your recycling and take a lot of things in one go, or take small amounts frequently so that it is easy to carry.

You can find out which services are available locally to you by going to your respective Borough website. There is a list of all sites on the links page.

Why Recycle?

Putting it simply, the reason we need to recycle is to reduce the impact we have on the environment through the excavation and use of the earths non renewable materials and to prevent carbon emissions through landfill and incineration. Each household produces about one tonne of rubbish annually, amounting to approximately 27 million tonnes for the UK each year. That equals the weight of around the same number of people who live in the Greater Manchester area!

The amount of rubbish we throw away is increasing for a number of reasons:

new, more complex packaging materials are being developed;

lifestyle changes, for example a greater reliance on convenience/fast food;

increasing affluence, leading to greater consumption of goods; increasing population;

and the need to get the latest gadget or latest style of goods.

Today’s rubbish compared to pre-1960s rubbish, contains more products that don’t break down when they’re put into the ground. Packaging waste makes up about a quarter of all the rubbish you put in your bin, most of this could be recycled.

We need to increase the amount of rubbish that is recycled because we cannot carry on burying and burning rubbish forever. We also need to reduce the amount of virgin raw materials we use such as oil and metal. It is recognised by the government that we need to reduce the amount of rubbish we produce and increase the amount we reuse.

Where can you recycle?

Christmas Card Recycling

For Christmas card recycling, cards can be taken to branches of WHSmith, Tesco, TK Maxx and Marks and Spencers between 2nd – 31st January 2008.

This scheme has been organised by The Woodland Trust. For further information visit The Woodland Trust.

For other household items, there are many recycle points around the UK at supermarkets, such as Tesco, Morrisons etc, and other shopping areas such as your local high street or shopping centre.

You can use the search facility at www.wasteconnect.co.uk to find recycle points elsewhere.