How to recycle

Easter is a time for indulging in chocolate eggs and other delicious things, but the treats we enjoy at this time of year bring with them more than their fair share of rubbish! The good news is that you can have a waste-free Easter by recycling as much as possible. Here are seven of the top things you can recycle at Easter.

Putting the right stuff in the right bin is important. The wrong stuff is called contamination. Most of us are getting it right, however, when too much contaminated material is collected, it potentially prevents the whole lorry load of material from being recycled.

You’ve invested in ‘bags for life’ or canvas shopping totes. You buy your vegetables loose or in paper bags. And you do everything you can to avoid ending up with unwanted plastic bags, film and wrapping by using new innovations such as beeswax wraps instead of cling film. In short, you probably already do everything you can to avoid ending up with pesky plastic bags and wrapping on your hands. But...

Recycling symbols appear on lots of everyday items and help us to identify how different types of packaging can be recycled.

Recycling is easy and most of us are recycling as much as we can. Follow our simple steps and start recycling today.

We have all become very aware of how much plastic we consume daily through the products we encounter; from food, drink, beauty and toiletries. Many of these items are surrounded in or made up of plastic, some of which can be recycled. However, there is one type which seems to be causing confusion… black plastic! Helen Bird, our plastics expert here at Recycle Now, has put together a valuable Q & A; which should help with confusion surrounding the disposal of black plastic.

More and more people recycle everyday. This helps to reduce the need for landfill and more costly forms of disposal. Recycling also reduces the need for extracting (mining, quarrying and logging), refining and processing raw materials all of which create substantial air and water pollution. This helps to save energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping to tackle climate change.

When it comes to the concept of ‘waste not, want not’, you’re probably already doing everything you can to make the most of leftovers from your meals so that nothing goes in the bin.

Recycling has seen a lot of bad news in recent months, with reports that some of our recycling sent overseas is dumped or burned.

These days we’re all pretty clued up about the kinds of things we can put into our recycling bins ready for bin day. But while we’re used to rinsing out glass jars and flattening down cardboard packaging for collection, it’s easy to forget that just because something can’t be collected kerbside doesn’t mean it can’t be recycled! Here are just a few of the things you can recycle in other ways…