What plastics can be recycled?

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

Yes please

• Plastic household cleaner and detergent bottles
• Plastic milk bottles
• Plastic juice bottles
• Plastic soft drink and water bottles
• Plastic shampoo/showergel bottles

No thanks

• No yoghurt pots
• No magarine tubs
• No plastic cups
• No plastic food trays or wrappings
• No shopping bags

Please rinse, squash bottles and replace lids before recycling them. This saves room in the recycling bins and on the collection lorries.

There are hundreds of different types of plastic, a code is used to help identify these. Below are the codes of plastic, that bottles are usually made from. Within these groups there are many variations. At present we don't collect any other types of plastic even if it has a symbol from below we can only accept it if it is a bottle.

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE)

Often transparent bottles that squash easily for example fizzy drinks bottles. Some food trays are made from PET but these are not suitable for recycling due to food residues and the PET variant used.

High density polyethylene (HDPE or PE-HD)

Often opaque and coloured bottles for example milk bottles.

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)

Rarely used, transparent bottles that are difficult to squash for example shampoo bottles

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