Government statistics show that 44.6% of waste produced by UK households was recycled in 2023.1
If you were asked to name some ways to help the environment, there is a good chance that ‘recycling’ would be somewhere in your list of answers. Recycling can be a good way to save items from landfill (being dumped in a pile of rubbish and left there, never to be used again). It can help to save energy, because recycling a material generally uses less energy than making that material from scratch.
Recycling is not perfect – there is a reason that the saying goes ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’. It is important that we first reduce the amount of things we use, then find a way to reuse what we do use, and only then recycle what we are left with.
Some items that we place in our recycling bins never actually get recycled. This might be because they were not sorted properly by homes or businesses (materials were put in the wrong bins, or items were contaminated – for example, a pizza box that contains grease marks or remnants of food cannot be recycled even though it is made of cardboard). But sometimes the issues are more complicated.
Greenpeace UK report that thousands of tonnes of plastic packaging is burnt in incinerators each year. This plastic is not being processed in order to be used again (a waste of resources), and burning waste like this causes issues such as pollution which can affect the health of those living nearby. Some plastic waste is also sent abroad, where it should be recycled, but investigations have found imported plastic waste dumped illegally and therefore not recycled, but adding to the problem of waste in other countries.2
2 https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/news/plastic-recycling-export-incineration/
Wishcycling
Have you ever stood by a selection of bins, wondering whether something is recyclable, and then given a shrug and decided to put it in the recycling bin anyway? This is called wishcycling and most of the time, it comes from a good place. We know that recycling can be good for the environment, and we want to recycle as much as we can. But putting items that are not recyclable into a recycling bin (or putting recyclable items into the wrong recycling bin) can have a harmful impact on the recycling process.
Some items that should not be recycled will be filtered out as part of the recycling process. A machine that is looking for aluminium can detect if something is plastic and take it out of the system. But some materials may not be so easily detected. Putting the wrong type of plastic in your plastic recycling bin can contaminate a whole batch of recycling, meaning that even those things that could have been recycled will now go to landfill.
What can we do? Make sure to read the labels on things like packaging. These will usually tell you whether something can be recycled, and whether it can be recycled at home or needs to be taken to a special recycling spot (many plastic carrier bags cannot be recycled in your bins at home, for example, but they can be put in specially labelled bins at supermarkets). Some items need to be taken apart before you can recycle them (you usually need to take the spray lid off bottles of cleaning products and put that in your general waste bin, while the bottle can be recycled).
Clean any items that are contaminated with food. This is important! The remains of food can ruin a whole batch of recycling. Not only is the food itself not recyclable in the same way as plastic, aluminium, glass, or paper, it can interfere with the processes and make a mess of expensive machinery. Those who work at recycling plants should also not have to deal with the risks that come from handling items that contain rotting food. Cans and jars can easily be rinsed of food debris, and they can then be placed in your recycling bin. Cardboard and paper are less easily cleaned, and if they are contaminated with food (even small bits of grease, oil, or tomato ketchup) it is best to throw them into general waste. If the food is only a small part of the box or packaging, you can tear this part off and recycle the rest.
Good News – Paper and Aluminium