Recycling advice
Recycling means to take an item that has been discarded as waste and to use its components to create a new item. For example, using old paper and card, to create new paper. Not only is it cheaper to use recycled materials in the manufacturing process instead of virgin materials, but its saves the environment by reducing the amount of waste sent for disposal and reducing our reliance on our limited natural resources to get the materials.
Recycling is easier than ever now thanks to local council collection schemes. You can recycle many items, such as paper, plastic bottles, card, tin cans etc in your free kerbside recycling collection service. Some councils also offer additional collection services for electrical items, textiles and food / garden waste, as well as chargeable furniture collections. To find out what you can recycle in your local kerbside collections, please contact your local district or borough council
Please do not place the following items in your recycling bin(s) / container(s), as these items can NOT be recycled in kerbside collection services – Please place these items in your general waste bin for disposal.
- Nappies,
- Food contaminated items, e.g. pizza boxes saturated with cheese grease
- Heavy metals, such as bronze door knockers etc
- Wood
- Paint/chemicals
The following items should be recycled using the specialist separate recycling services (and therefore separate collection vessels) where offered by your local council;
- Food
- Garden waste
- Electrical items
- Textiles
Household Waste & Recycling Centres offer a one stop shop for you to get rid of all your waste items. The sites are all segregated into different types of waste, so that we can recycle as much as possible of what you give us. Many sites accept electrical items, wood, paint and chemicals, and more. To find your nearest Recycling Centre in Staffordshire, and what types of waste they accept, use our handy search tool.
As well as the large Recycling Centres, there are also Bring banks located across the County. These are smaller sites with facilities for various types of recycling to be collection, located in areas such as supermarket car parks. Each site of Bring banks is different in what type of waste it can collect. Find your nearest site as part of the Recycling Centre search tool.
Did you know that approximately 1/3 of your household waste can be composted at home? You can also recycle at home, by composting your biodegradable waste, such as food and garden waste. Any natural items, like leftover food, tea bags, grass clippings or even cardboard and vacuum cleaner dust, can be composted.
Find out more about home composting and purchasing a composting bin in the local council subsidized scheme here.
Tips
- To ensure we can actually recycle the items you place in your recycling bin(s), please make sure you are only placing relevant items in the correct bin / container for that type of waste.
- For paper and card, please ensure it is clean and dry (i.e. no food residues).
- For plastic bottles / containers, and tins / cans, please ensure they are empty of all food / drink contents and rinse them out to avoid contamination on the processing line.
- Squash plastic bottles, cardboard boxes, and cans to give you more room in your bin / container.
- Please ensure any separately collected textiles are dry – textiles are NOT collected in mixed recycling collection.
- For specialist separate food and garden waste, please avoid including anything that is not biodegradable, such as packaging.
- Please do not bag up your recycling, as this hampers the processing line works.
- Keep your recycling bin next to your general waste bin, to make it easy to choose which bin to use and so you can take out the rubbish and recycling at the same time.
- Please remove the lids from glass jars and bottles.
Want to know what happens to the items once the local council collect them from you?
Learn what happens to our waste here.