Waste and Recycling

 While many people know recycling is important, they forget that recycling still has an environmental impact even though it’s better than using raw materials.

That’s why we all need to get better at not creating waste in the first place. We’ve set ourselves an ambitious target to reduce household waste across our district by 10% by 2026. To do this we need every household to create 46.8kg less waste every year.

On this page you will find advice to help you cut your waste.

The rubbish you do create goes to an Energy from Waste Plant to be burnt to generate electricity. Find out what happens to your rubbish.

• The 30-day waste reduction challenge
• Save money by getting food savvy
• 8 ways to reduce your waste
• Simple swaps you can make to reduce your waste
• Advice on reusing items
• Help repairing items
• Use our online recycling search

The 30-day waste reduction challenge

Disposing of the rubbish we create costs millions of pounds every year. It is also a huge waste of water, energy and raw materials.

So, if we are going to save the planet and live more sustainably, we need to focus more on reducing, reusing and repairing and only recycle when other options are either unavailable or impractical.

To help you do this we have created our 30-day waste reduction challenge.

It is full of hints and tips to help you get started on your waste reduction journey. You can also sign up for our waste and recycling e-newsletter for regular advice.

Once you see how much you can cut your waste in just 30 days with some simple changes, we’re confident you will be inspired to continue those habits and go even further.

Download our 30-day waste reduction challenge guide. You can also pdf download a blank waste audit sheet (584 KB) print off at home to help you with your challenge (you use this to keep track of what you throw away).

8 simple ways to reduce your waste

1. Buy less

The easiest way to reduce your waste is to just buy less. Spend money on the things you really need. Even if you really need it, ask yourself do I need to own it or is there an alternative available?

2. Cut out food waste

You will save money and help the planet. Find out more about reducing your food waste

3. Refuse disposables

If it can only be used once then look for a longer-lasting, reusable alternative.

4. Get composting

If you haven’t got a compost bin yet, then they are available at a discounted rate from
www.letswasteless.com.

5. Check out the second-hand market first

Charity shops or furniture reuse shops are great places to hunt for bargains as are online auction sites and marketplaces.

6. Repair before you replace

A quick internet search will provide you with information on a range of simple DIY fixes for basic household items or take them to your local Repair Café and see if they can help.

7. Make simple swaps

Replace aluminium foil with a reusable product, use reusable sandwich wraps instead of plastic bags, take a reusable bag with you to the supermarket to put your loose fruit and veg in, use a reusable container when buying meat from the butcher or deli counter, use bar soap instead of liquid soap, buy refillable cleaning products… the list is endless. Find out more about making simple swaps

8. Sell or donate

When having a clear out don’t just go straight to the bin. Sell good quality items online first, offer to friends and family or take them to your nearest charity shop.

Simple swaps you can make to reduce your waste

Cutting your waste doesn’t have to be difficult or time-consuming. Just making simple swaps can make a big difference.

Here is our guide to common household items and a suggested zero or low waste swap.
These are just some ideas, there are loads of others. Search online for inspiration.

• Swap aluminium foil for a silicone baking mat or beeswax wrap
• Swap body wash/shampoo bottles for bar soap and bar shampoo
• Bags (paper or plastic) - Get yourself a reusable bag for life or a canvas bag
• Swap clingfilm for a beeswax wrap
• Avoid disposable plates and cutlery and swap for standard plates and cutlery that can be washed. A paper plate takes eight gallons of water to make
• Using a reusable drinks cup is a simple swap instead of single-use plastic juice bottles. If you like fizzy drinks, then it’s more difficult. Try and buy one large bottle of fizzy pop and use it to refill a reusable drinks cup
• Produce bags - Such as those used in supermarkets for loose fruit and veg. Take your own reusable cloth bag or put your produce in loose
• Swap make up wipes for reusable cotton pads or a flannel.
• Sanitary products - There are a variety of alternatives including menstrual cups or specially designed and washable underwear
• Go for reusable nappies instead of disposable ones. Worcestershire Nappy Library can help by lending you reusable nappies to trial so you can find the right one for you. Visit https://worcestershirenappylibrary.uk/ for more information.
• Swap paper napkins for reusable cloth napkins
• Swap disposable razors for a safety or electric razor
• Swap paper towels for a reusable cloth
• Replace plastic sandwich bags with Tupperware, a tiffin tin or beeswax wraps
• Straws - Just refuse them
• Switch to loose leaf tea and turn it into compost. Tea bags can also compost but as some brands contain plastic, they will leave a skeletal mesh in your compost when they break down which you will need to sieve out
• Toilet paper - Look for recycled content or tree free options. The wrapper can be recycled in the plastic bag recycling point at your local supermarket
• Tumble dryer sheet - You don’t need them to dry your laundry, so don’t use them
• Swap the plastic water filter for a charcoal stick. Search online for tips on how to use them. Recycling schemes are also available.

Use your local zero waste shop

Zero waste shops sell all sorts of products that can help you reduce the number of single-use items you use in your everyday life.

Find your local zero waste shop (opens in new window).

Reuse items

If you can’t avoid creating waste in the first place then finding ways to reuse items more than once is the next best thing.

Visit the Lets Waste Less and Recycle website

Get items repaired

Before you throw away that broken chair or lamp see if it can be repaired.

Worcestershire has seven repair cafes where you can take all kinds of household and personal items to be repaired free of charge. Donations are requested to help keep the service running for everyone.

Find your local repair café

Glass is a very useful material when it comes to reducing our impact on the planet and helping in the fight against climate change. That is because it is easy to recycle and can be endlessly reused without losing quality.

New glass is made from sand, soda ash, limestone and other additives included for colour or special treatments. These must be quarried which can damage the landscape, affect the environment and use more energy than recycled glass. It is estimated that recycled glass reduces related air pollution by 20% and related water pollution by 50%.

Container glass (used to make bottles and jars) is particularly easy to recycle but it is also often overlooked when we are recycling around our home. In the UK we recycle about 70% of container glass. However, we still lag behind other countries such as Switzerland and Finland that recycle more than 90% of their glass.

Not all glass is recyclable though and not all glass can be put in your green bin. As our recent waste and recycling survey revealed, there is a huge amount of confusion about glass recycling.

Common glass items and how to recycle or dispose of them

Here is our list of common glass items and how to recycle or dispose of them. 

Top tip: There is no need to remove labels from glass bottles and jars, lids can be left on and all colours of glass are accepted.

Glass food and drink bottles and jars, fragrance bottles, moisturiser jars, make-up jars

These are mostly made of soda-lime-silica glass. They can all go in your green bin for recycling. If you are on a sack collection please take these to one of our recycling banks.

Glass cookware such as Pyrex dishes or heat proof jugs

These are made from borosilicate glass to help it withstand high temperature changes. It won’t melt properly in most ordinary glass furnaces and if mixed in with your glass recycling could cause serious issues with the recycling process. If in good condition these type of items can be donated to charity shops, given away online or pass them on to friends and family. Otherwise, they must go in your black bin.

Light bulbs

These are made from a heatproof glass and may contain metallic components. These cannot go in your green bin. However, low energy light bulbs and fluorescent tubes can be recycled at some Household Recycling Centres. The older incandescent bulbs cannot be recycled and must go in your black bin.

Window glass

This has been laminated or treated to make it tougher so needs to be processed separately from other glass. If you are having your windows replaced check with the company whether they will recycle your old windows.

Mugs, plates, crockery

Ceramic items cannot be put in the green bin as they won’t melt in a glass furnace and will cause serious issues. If in good condition they can be donated to charity shops, given away online or passed on to friends or family.

Drinking glasses

Some of these have a different composition to container glass and melt at different temperatures. They should never go in your green bin but if in good condition again they can be donated to charity shops, given away online or passed on to friends or family.

Vases

See drinking glasses.

Mirrors

The metallic coating on mirrors will cause contamination if mixed with other glass types. These should not go in your recycling but if in good condition could be donated to charity shops, given away online or passed on to friends or family.

Nail polish bottles

While the glass might be the right type, due to the hazardous chemicals contained in nail polish they cannot go in your green bin.

Spectacles

A different type of glass to bottles and jars and they contain hard to remove metal components. The charity Vision Aid used to work with opticians to recycle them, but this scheme has now closed. This means they must go in your black bin.

Our residents work hard to recycle all sorts of household items but many ask what happens to them once we’ve picked them up? All recyclable material goes to EnviroSort at Norton, near Worcester, which is operated by Severn Waste Services, where it is sorted, baled and sent to UK based companies who process them further or reprocess them to make a new products.  

Here is what happens with each material (information was first published in September 2021):

Food and drink cans

Cans sorted by machinery at EnviroSort, are sent to several different companies in the UK including Clearpoint Recycling Ltd and Alutrade Ltd who are metal brokers. Alutrade Ltd also recycles aluminium cans at its Oldbury site. Recycled steel is used in anything from new cars to bridges and, of course, new reprocessed drinks cans. Aluminium cans also end up being used in the production of cars and aeroplanes among other things.

Mixed glass bottles and jars

Glass is broken up into something called cullet and sent to URM UK Ltd in Tilbury, a large purchaser and recycler of glass. Material is used to produce new glass bottles and aggregates for road construction.

Plastic bottles and containers

EnviroSort’s machine-sorted plastics are baled and sent to either Redland (a broker that buys and sells plastics), PMK Ltd or Monoworld Recycling.

Redland sells on to Clear Tec and both they, PMK and Monoworld, reprocess plastics further.

Following three separate stages, the plastics are turned into pellets or flakes ready to be used again in the manufacture of new plastic products. Recycled plastic is used in numerous products from garden furniture to pipes and even clothing.

Paper

Paper, cardboard and cartons, sorted at EnviroSort, are sent to either Clearpoint Recycling, Recycling UK, Eurokey Recycling, Edwards Recycling or PMK. These companies source paper, cardboard and cartons to supply the paper mills. Recycled paper has many uses such as newspapers, books and boxes for board games.

All this from your recycling. Thank you for making a difference.

Why can’t we recycle black plastic?

Black plastic is frequently used because it allows colours or imperfections to be masked. Unfortunately, that then means it becomes invisible to sorting machinery widely used in the UK to sort plastics, including here in Worcestershire. Plastics are sorted by a machine called an optical sorter. This system uses lights and sensors housed above the conveyor belt to constantly monitor the flow of plastics passing underneath. The sensor compares the light reflected off the plastic item to data it holds to identify the type of plastic, before ejecting it off the belt with compressed air. Black plastic absorbs the light instead of reflecting it back, so the object isn’t recognised. Try to avoid buying products containing black plastic, if you can.