What plastics can be recycled?

All household plastic bottles and a variety of other mixed plastic containers can be recycled as long as they have not contained pesticides or motor oil. Is it plastic? Is it a container? If yes, we can recycle it. If no, sorry, we can't collect it at the moment. Recyclable mixed plastic containers include:

Yes please

• Plastic household cleaner and detergent bottles
• Plastic milk bottles
• Plastic juice bottles
• Plastic soft drink and water bottles
• Plastic shampoo/shower gel bottles
• Plastic food trays
• Plastic yoghurt pots
• Plastic margarine and ice-cream tubs
• Plastic cups

No thanks

• No plastic shopping bags or film
• No crisp packets or sweet wrappers
• No shrink or bubble wrap
• No plastic toys
• No polystyrene packing or beads
• No CDs/DVDs or cases
• No cable ties
• No garden pots

Please rinse and squash containers before recycling them. This saves room in the recycling bins and on the collection lorries.

If you would like information about the other plastic codes or plastic recycling in general, visit the recyclenow website.

Why can't we recycle other plastics?

There are several reasons for this;

• Market demand for mixed plastics (including bags and film) is currently limited and less secure. There is a strong market in the UK and Europe for mixed plastic containers.
• To ensure value for money, councils are able to recycle more plastic per pound spent on the recycling scheme by collecting plastic containers only.
• Collecting plastic containers only reduces contamination from different types of plastic and ensures high grade material that can be recycled.
• Plastic containers are relatively dense and compact which enables them to be easily sorted mechanically, into the different types of plastics. Plastic film and bags are not easily mechanically sorted making them very costly to sort.
• Plastic film and bags are much more likely to be contaminated with food waste and are difficult to clean.