Recycle Week: The hunt is on!

Tins for recycling graphic design

Join in the Big Recycling Hunt this October and find out what could be hiding in your home that should end up in a recycling bin.

South Yorkshire is giving its backing to the national Big Recycling Hunt campaign to help us all identify rubbish that many of us do not realise can be recycled.

Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and Sheffield Councils, which represent almost 1.4 million people, have joined forces with the Recycle Now charity which runs the UK’s biggest ever recycling campaign to promote the message locally from 16-23 October.

Recycle Now are encouraging primary school children to lead The Big Recycling Hunt challenge and find out more about how they can help to build a sustainable future.

By focusing on commonly missed items such as empty aerosols, plastic cleaning product bottles, plastic toiletry bottles and food tins, Recycle Now wants to foster a deeper understanding of recycling in the younger generation.

Cllr Dominic Beck, Chair of the Joint Waste Board in South Yorkshire, said: “We all lead busy lives and sometimes don’t realise that many of the items we throw away can be recycled.

“Often, it’s the ordinary things such as yoghurt pots and shampoo bottles that are put in the general waste bins when they could be put out for recycling.

“Households across South Yorkshire are already supporting us to protect the environment and we hope the Big Recycling Hunt will help them to recycle even more effectively, which in the long term will benefit everyone.”

Recycling in the UK saves 18 million tonnes of CO2 a year – helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions which lead to climate change.

Craig Stephens, Campaign Manager for Recycle Now, “By recycling even better we can have a big impact on our environment. In South Yorkshire it’s no different – more and more people are recycling, so the next step is to make sure we hunt down these missed items and get our recycling right. So come on, South Yorkshire, keep up the great work and let’s make your recycling better than ever before!”

So, what should we all be looking for?

• We are talking empty bean tins after a full English.

• Cleaning bottles after their final spritz.

• Aluminium takeaway trays from last night’s tikka masala.

• Shampoo bottles after rinse-and-repeating.

• And all those food tins that we have emptied along the way.

Check what can go in recycling bin

What can be recycle at home will depend on which local authority area residents live in. The best place to check what you can and cannot put in your bins is your Council’s website or the Recycle Now locator tool, https://www.recyclenow.com/recycling-locator.

Check what types of plastic are accepted

Although many items are called plastics, there are many different types of plastics with different properties that are used for different things. Therefore, they are recycled in different processes.

Your Council will clearly state what type of plastics they will accept in their recycling. For example, if it states plastic bottles only, do not add any other plastic items such as pots, tubs, and trays.

Some items cannot be recycled at home… but can be recycled elsewhere.

Soft plastics like bread bags and crisp packets can be recycled at many supermarkets.

Other items like textiles, electricals and batteries can be recycled at household waste recycling centres.

If you have a specific item in mind, check your Council’s website or the Recycle Now Recycle an item page: https://www.recyclenow.com/recycle-an-item

To find out more about Recycle Week visit www.recyclenow.org.uk/RecycleWeek

Published: 16th October 2023