May is a great time of year to dust off your garden barbecue, get some yummy food, and invite your friends and family to enjoy some spring sunshine in your garden. But what do you do with the food and drink packaging, leftover food, foil, empty cleaning bottles and other recyclable items afterwards? Read on to find out more.
Food and drink packaging
Eating outdoors is one of spring’s greatest pleasures, but it’s even better when you know you’re helping the planet! Cardboard and plastic packaging used for meat and vegetables can be recycled with your kerbside collection – remember to remove any food residue first! Any drinks cans and glass bottles can also be collected with your recycling at home. Some councils may not take certain things, so check our Recycling Locator to make sure.
Leftover barbecue food
You may find that you have food left over after your barbecue, if this is the case make sure you put it in the fridge and use it the next day or freeze it for another day. You can find some great recipes on our sister brand's website, Love Food Hate Waste to help you use up leftover food.
Foil
Most of us use foil when we barbecue but not everyone knows that you can recycle used foil if it’s clean and free from grease or food residue. You can dip foil trays in washing up water to remove any crumbs or food residue and scrunch kitchen foil into a ball before placing in your recycling bin. Any dirty or stained foil should be placed in your general waste bin.
Good to know
How to check if your foil is recyclable
Do the scrunch test to check whether your shiny wrapper is aluminium foil or plastic film: scrunch the wrapper in your hand - if it remains scrunched in a ball it is recyclable foil.
Charcoal ash
When cooking on your home barbecue, remember there will be ash left over from the charcoal, so what do you do with it? The answer is ‘it depends’:
If the charcoal has been treated, it’ll be marketed as ‘easy to light’, and this should be put in your general rubbish bin.
Untreated charcoal or wood ash can be used on your garden as a soil fertiliser or go on your compost heap. Alternatively, it can go in your garden waste bin. Always make sure the ash is completely cool before putting it in a bin or on your garden.
The barbecue clean-up
Not everyone’s favourite bit, but how can you clean up after a barbecue and recycle everything that you can? Once you’ve cleaned your patio table and kitchen tops with your kitchen cleaner, remember that you can recycle the empty trigger spray bottle too! Recycling this plastic bottle along with the trigger spray means it can be transformed into something new, like a plastic raincoat or park bench.
Let’s make a difference
By recycling your food and drink packaging, leftover food, foil and empty cleaning bottles, you are helping to make a big difference. Just remember, all the materials you do recycle can be transformed into new products, so rescue those recyclables from the rubbish bin to give them a new lease of life.
If you want to know what happens to your recycling, check how your recycling is collected, sorted and processed. Some councils will share their recycling journeys on their website, so check out your local council recycling web pages.
