How to recycle or dispose of anything

If you've got something you want to get rid of but you're not sure how you should do it, use this table to find the relevant advice.

This page is about domestic waste. If the waste is produced in the course of business, please see the Commercial Waste page.

The Council does not endorse information or services from external websites.

Waste Type	Recycling and Disposal Advice
3 Piece Suites	Bulky Item
Acids	Chemicals
Aerosols	Most aerosols are CFC-free but most replacements contain other greenhouse gases which are not environmentally friendly. Preferably buy pump sprays instead of aerosols. Aerosol cans are not suitable for recycling as they can explode when crushed. Treat as General Waste. Do not crush or place on a fire.
Aluminium Cans	Cans
Aluminium Foil	Cans
Airguns	Break up beyond use and place with General Waste
Asbestos	Asbestos
Ash	Coal ash should be allowed to cool and treated as General Waste. Small quantities of cold wood ash may be composted in your home compost bin. However please do not put ash in the green bin.
Batteries, cars	Single car batteries can be taken to a Household Waste Recycling Centre and placed in the special area provided.
Batteries, domestic	Batteries (Household)- There are now battery recycling facilities in the 3 large supermarkets in Rotherham also in other shops that retail large quantities. Or take them to Household Waste Recycling Centre
Beds	Bulky Item
Boats	If its useable or repairable, see Useful Item. Otherwise small boats may be eligible for our Unwanted Vehicles service.
Books, hardbacks	Books can be reused by charity shops. See Useful Item Otherwise treat as General Waste
Books, paperbacks	Books can be reused by charity shops. See Useful Item Otherwise treat as Paper
Brake fluid	Small quantities can be taken to a Household Waste Recycling Centre and placed in the special area provided. Larger quantities should be treated as Hazardous Waste
Bricks	Rubble
Brochures	Paper
Bicycles	If its reusable, see Useful Item otherwise treat as a Bulky Item.
Cameras, digital	Electrical Items
Cameras, optical	General Waste
Cans	Cans
Caravans	If its useable or repairable, see Useful Item. Otherwise caravans may be eligible for our Unwanted Vehicles service.
Cardboard, should not be contaminated with food waste	Recycle as Green Waste. Otherwise treat as General Waste. Cardboard is unsuitable for recycling as "paper". Other local authorities may have different rules.
Carpets	Bulky Item
Cars	Unwanted Vehicles
Car Batteries	See "Batteries, cars" in this list.
Catalogues	Paper
Chemicals	Chemicals
Christmas Cards	Cards bearing the recyling logo can be recycled as Paper. Cards with plastic and other contaminants are unsuitable for recycling as "paper". Treat as General Waste. Some stores offer a card recycling service.
Christmas Trees	For real Christmas trees the Council offers a free collection service until the end of February. Call us on 01709 823054. Otherwise take them to a Household Waste Recycling Centre. Don't put Christmas trees in your black bin unless you can break them up to the extent that you can still close the lid.
Christmas Wrapping Paper	General Waste
Clinical Waste	Clinical Waste
Clothes	Textiles
Computer Equipment	Electrical Items
Confidential Waste	Get a shredder to shred personal information to protect against identity theft. Recycle the pieces as Paper . For larger amounts of confidential waste use a local commercial service.
Cooking Oil	Household Waste Recycling Centre
Dead Animals	Dead Animals
Diesel	Return it to a garage.
Dog Mess	Wrap or bag and place with General Waste
Duvets	General Waste or ask at a Charity Shop.
DVD Players	Electrical Items
Egg boxes	Smaller shops and traders will be pleased to refill your egg box with eggs! Cardboard egg boxes can be recycled as Green Waste. Otherwise treat as General Waste. Cardboard is unsuitable for recycling as "paper". Polystyrene egg boxes should be treated as General Waste.
Eggshells	General Waste. Eggshells are unsuitable for composting.
Electrical Item	Electrical Items
Fabric	Textiles
Fibre cement products	It is difficult to distinguish fibre cement products from asbestos cement products without expensive laboratory tests. Accordingly, treat as Asbestos
Firearms	Weapons
Fluorescent Tubes	Fluorescent Tubes
Foil, aluminium	Cans
Food waste	General Waste. Food waste is unsuitable for composting.
Fridges	Bulky Item
Games Consoles	Electrical Items
Garden Waste	Green Waste
Garments	Textiles
Gas Cylinders	Gas Cylinders
Glass, bottles and jars only, any colour	Glass
Glass, other - Pyrex, tableware, window panes, crystal, mirrors	General Waste. These types of glass are unsuitable for recycling as "glass". Please wrap before disposal to prevent injury to collectors.
Glasses/spectacles	Some opticians accept old glasses/spectacles to send overseas for reuse. Otherwise treat as General Waste. Glass lenses are unsuitable for recycling as "glass".
Grass Clippings	Green Waste
Guns, except airguns	Weapons
Hedge Clippings	Green Waste
Japanese Knotweed	Japanese Knotweed
Junk Mail	Please see the Junk Mail Reduction page for ways to reduce junk mail at source. Otherwise treat it as Paper.
Knives	Sharps
Light bulbs, conventional	General Waste. Wrap to avoid injury to collectors* if the glass breaks. Light bulb glass is unsuitable for recycling as "glass".
Low Energy Lightbulbs	Fluorescent Tubes
Magazines	Paper
Medicines, unused	Return unused medicines to a pharmacy for safe disposal.
Mineral fibres	Hazardous Waste
Mobile Phones	Some charities such as Recycling Appeal welcome your old mobile phones for recycling. Tesco also has a mobile phone recycling scheme. Otherwise treat as Electrical Items
Motorbikes	Unwanted Vehicles
MP3 Players	Electrical Items
Nappies, disposable	General Waste but see the Real Nappy Campaign page.
Needles, sewing or knitting	Sharps
Needles, syringes	Clinical Waste
Newspapers	Paper
Oil, from car engines	Small quantities can be taken to a Household Waste Recycling Centre and placed in the special area provided. Larger quantities should be treated as Hazardous Waste
Oil, from cooking	Cooking oil can solidify in drains and sewers and cause blockages. This can occur even if the oil is emulsified with detergent. Please wrap well to soak up any spillage and treat as General Waste.
Paint	Chemicals
Paper	Paper
Petrol	Return it to a garage.
Pins	Sharps
Pizza (hot) or food boxes (i.e. cardboard contaminated with food waste)	General Waste . Food-contaminated packaging is unsuitable for recycling as "paper".
Plastics, except bags	Plastics
Plastic Bags	Re-use if serviceable, otherwise treat as General Waste Tip: Most shops automatically offer a plastic bag with your purchase. If you don't need a bag decline it at the checkout.
Printer Cartridges	Some charities such as Recycling Appeal welcome some types of your old cartridges for recycling. Otherwise treat as General Waste .
Rubble	Rubble
Scissors	Sharps
Scrap Metal	There are several local companies who will pay you for your scrap metal and recycle it. Otherwise treat as General Waste .
Shoes	Textiles
Smoke Alarms	Smoke alarms contain a small amount of radioactive material. To achieve dilution, only 1 domestic smoke alarm should be placed in a black bin per collection.
Sofas	Bulky Item
Steel cans	Cans
Syringes	Clinical Waste
Telephone Directories	Paper
Televisions	Electrical Items
Textiles	Textiles
Toasters	Electrical Items
Trailers	Small trailers may be eligible for our Unwanted Vehicles service.
Tyres	Up to 4 tyres may be taken to a Household Waste Recycling Centre. Otherwise ask your garage or a commercial company to take them away. It is likely they will charge for this service.
Useful Item	Useful Item
Vans	Small vans may be eligible for our Unwanted Vehicles service, otherwise treat as Commercial Waste.
Video Recorder	Electrical Items
Washing Machines	Bulky Item
Weeds (except Japanese Knotweed )	Green Waste
Wood	Please take wood for recycling to a Household Waste Recycling Centre. Otherwise treat as General Waste
Yellow pages	Paper

Anything else? If you have something not mentioned here and don't know how you should dispose of it, please contact us .

Also, if you offer a recycling service not mentioned here and would like to be included in our table, please contact us.

Categories of Waste

Asbestos

Small quantities of Asbestos (2 x 25kg bags max) can only be taken to Car Hill Household Waste Recycling Centre, none of our other sites have facilities for asbestos disposal. Prior to visiting the site. Please contact Waste Management on 01709 823054 to make arrangement for disposal.

Asbestos must be double bagged using heavy plastic bags and when on site placed in the special skip provided. Contact a member of staff for assistance.

Large amounts of asbestos from building products (e.g. roofs, fall pipes guttering, garages etc) will not be allowed on site and will have to be treated as Hazardous Waste.

Bulky Item

If your item may still be of use to someone, see Useful Item

Otherwise, we offer a charged Bulky Waste Collection Service . If you have transport, you can take the item to a Household Waste Recycling Centre where you can dispose of it for free.

Cans

Steel and aluminium cans can be recycled using your Blue Box. You can also take your cans for recycling to a Bring Site or a Household Waste Recycling Centre.

Chemicals

Please do not put chemicals or paints in with your general waste. This goes to landfill and chemicals can contaminate the environment. Paint cans can burst open during compaction in the waste disposal vehicle and cause damage and mess.

Do not put these materials in a drain or watercourse.

See the notes on the container for specific disposal instrcutions.

Otherwise, domestic quantities should be taken to Car Hill Household Waste Recycling Centre. Ask for them to be put in the hazardous chemical store. For larger quantites, you will need an appropriate commercial waste disposal company.

Clinical Waste

Please see the Clinical Waste page for details of our clinical waste service.

Dead Animals

Please see the Dead Animals page.

Electrical Item

If the item is serviceable, see useful item.

You can take your electrical item for recycling to a Household Waste Recycling Centre, or larger items can be treated as a Bulky Item

Recycling Tip:- Keep old electric items in a box and, when its full, take it down to a Household Waste Recycling Centre in one trip.

Fluorescent Tubes

Fluorescent tubes and low energy light bulbs contain toxic metals and they are classed as hazardous waste. Do not break them as this releases pollutants. Do not put them in with your general waste as this goes to landfill and contaminates the environment. Domestic quantities of fluorescent tubes and low energy lightbulbs can be taken to the Household Waste Recycling Centres and left in the special area provided. Larger quantities should be disposed of using an appropriate commercial service.

Gas Cylinders

Do not put gas cylinders in your general waste. This is compacted for transportation and cylinders can explode causing injury and damage. Please try and return gas cylinders to a supplier in the first instance. Domestic quantities of gas cylinders can be taken to a Household Waste Recycling Centre and left in the special area provided.

General Waste

Please use your black bin. For details of collection dates, see the Alternate Weekly Collections page. Having a clear-out? Please do not overfill your bin. For larger quantities of general waste, you can take it to your nearest Household Waste Recycling Centre where you can dispose of it for free.

Glass

Please use your Blue Box. You can take also your glass for recycling to a Household Waste Recycling Centre or to a Bring Site.

Pyrex glass, tableware, window glass and ordinary lightbulbs are unsuitable for glass recycling and should be treated as General Waste, but wrap it in old newspaper to prevent injury to collectors*.

Green Waste

Please reduce the amount of green waste going to landfill by composting . You can take your green waste for recycling to a Household Waste Recycling Centre . Otherwise treat green waste as General Waste

Japanese Knotweed

We do not offer a service for the disposal of Japanese Knotweed. It is an invasive and distructive weed which can dominate and drive out other flora. Ensure you comply with the law regarding its disposal. Do not take it off-site. It is illegal to spread it and to do so renders you liable for prosecution. For advice on disposal, see this advice, courtesy of Cornwall County Council. See Wikipedia for more information about Japanese knotweed. There are specialist commercial services who can help you with eradication and disposal.

Hazardous Waste

We don't offer a disposal service for hazardous waste except for very small domestic quantities as listed eleswhere on this page. For more information see the Hazardous Waste page.

Paper

Please use your Blue Bag. You can also take your paper for recycling to a Bring Site or a Household Waste Recycling Centre. We can now recycle Yellow Pages. If possible, please remove staples and plastic elements as these contaminate the paper recycling process.

Paperback books can be recycled as paper (but not hardback books), however please remove plastic bindings if present.

Catalogues can be recycled, however please remove plastic and other contaminants.

Cardboard, whether or not contaminated with food waste, is unsuitable for paper recycling and should be recycled as Green Waste. Otherwise treat as General Waste.

Christmas and birthday present wrapping paper and cards may contain plastic and other contaminants so they are unsuitable for paper recycling and should be treated as General Waste.

Plastics

You can take your plastic bottles for recycling to a Bring Site at Asda Supermarket Dalton, Tesco Supermarket Rotherham Town Centre or a Household Waste Recycling Centre. Plastic bags should be reused if serviceable or treated as General Waste.

Rubble

Domestic quantities of rubble, upto 3 small bags, may be taken to a Household Waste Recycling Centre and placed in the skip provided. Do not put rubble in with your general waste as the weight of the bin can cause lifting injuries to collectors*. For the disposal of larger quantities you will need a suitable commercial service.

Sharps

Small knives, table knives, kitchen knives, scissors, pins, needles and the like should be wrapped to prevent injury to *collectors and placed with General Waste.

Larger or combat knives should be treated as Weapons.

Sharps used for drug injections or medical procedures should be treated as Clinical Waste

Textiles

Please use your Blue Box. You can also take your textiles for recycling to a Bring Site or a Household Waste Recycling Centre. Please double-bag all textiles.

Useful Item

If your item is still useful or has some value, recycle it by selling or donating it. We do not pay for useful items or arrange for their reuse. You can give it to a Charity Shop, offer it on Free2Collect or Freecycle basis, sell it using an on-line auction site or advertise in the local press such as the Rotherham Advertiser or Rotherham Record or the Dinnington & Maltby Trader. Or try a card in your local newsagent's window or a car boot sale.

Weapons

We don't offer a service for the safe disposal of weapons. Please hand them in to a Police station.

*Collectors

Our waste collection staff have the legal and moral right to work in a healthy and safe environment. Please dispose of sharp, toxic or hazardous materials properly and with consideration to the well-being of our staff.

Last update: 24/1/2012