Recycling Week 14th - 20th Oct 2024
‘rescue me’ recycle vs landfill
Find out this year’s theme and what we can do to take part
Recycle week 2024 Theme: rescue me
Recycle Week is Recycle Now’s flagship annual event, and has been running for 21 years! It is a celebration of recycling across the nation, promoting, educating and supporting the public into recycling more of the right things, more often.
This year’s Recycle Week theme is ‘Rescue Me’. The campaign will run from 14th-20th October 2024, focusing on rescuing recyclable items from heading to the rubbish bin.
Boots and Tesco are sponsoring Recycle Week 2024
Follow them on Twitter/X @recycle_now and Instagram @recyclenow_uk for updates on how you can get involved and make an impact this Recycle Week.
Find out more about Recycle Week HERE.
Recycle Now is brought to you by the international climate action charity, WRAP. WRAP also delivers information, support and resources to help reduce food waste, through the website Love Food Hate Waste and Food Waste Action Week, in March.
History of recycling
Recycling isn’t a new concept - it has been around in some shape or another for thousands of years. Back in the Roman times for example, bronze coins were recycled into statues, or old bronze statues into other statues, coins and weapons. According to a study in the Journal of Archaeological Science, in the ancient city of Sagalassos - SW Turkey / part of the Byzantine Empire, there is archaeological evidence indicating that glass was being recycled as early as 330 AD. Due to a rise in popularity for reading books in the mid 18th Century, people would buy auctioned books, with the purpose to reuse the paper within them for new books by the early 19th Centrury, to try to keep up with the demand.
Later, with food rationing and shortage of everyday products as a result of WWII, it wasn’t until 1939 when the popularity of recycling grew. However, it wasn’t until the 1960s that recycling in the UK became common place. This was due to drinks companies offering money back for the return of glass bottles. The first bottle bank was used in June 1977.
And now, here we are in the 21st Century. Navigating the world of recycling nowadays seems super complex - and that is in no part due to oil and plastic companies. With more and more articles coming out like this one from NPR - which is true - I thought it may help to give tips about plastic recycling and what you can do at home.
Please don't go into a blind panic and throw everything in the bin because after seeing this, in your mind, it doesn't matter. It really does have an impact.
How to find out what you can you recycle from home
Unfortunately, it varies from council to council as to what we can recycle from our homes. This is something that needs to be addressed but until then, a great resource to double check is simply entering your postcode here: Recycling Locator | Recycle Now
Check out the recycling symbols and what them mean HERE: Understanding recycling symbols | Recycle Now
Also your council should be sharing information with you about what you can and can’t recycle - sometimes it is even on the bins themselves. If they aren’t you can always search your local council website.
Finally, if you aren’t happy with your local recycling, why not email your MP and let them know? This website, Write To Them, makes it super easy to find out who your local MP is and send them an email.
So what can we do?
Aluminium and steel cans: In the UK, over 80 million aluminium and steel cans are sent to UK landfills every day
Batteries: Only 27% of batteries are recycled in the UK. This means more than 20,000 tonnes of battery waste goes straight to the landfill which is dangerous. Toxins and chemicals can leak from the batteries for example
Food waste: 50% of the food waste we throw in the bin could be composted
Glass: The UK recycles around 50% of its glass. More than 28 billion glass bottles and jars end up in landfills every year, which is the equivalent to the Empire State Building filling up every 3 weeks
Plastic: We recycle just 45% of plastics in the UK. Part of this is due to the 7 different types of plastic and how plastic recycling works as well as how confusing it is and how we can contaminate loads.
Corks: Did you know you can send off your used corks to be reused? Over 30 billion bottles of wine consumed worldwide and while they are great for arts and crafts, if you have too many, you can also compost them (As long as real cork and not fake) of send them to @recorkeduk for the UK region and @recorkofficial for US and Canada are set up where you can send your corks to them. @terracycle also accepts them in their #zerowaste bins
Facts in italics are from: Recycling Bins
Ok, anything else?
If it does not specifically say you can recycle it, then you have to either find a scheme such as Terracycle for it, or it must go in the general waste bin.
Other resin codes (a resin code is the number in the triangle ‘recycling’ symbol aka the Mobius Loop - that symbol does NOT mean it is recyclable) are less recycled unless specifically mentioned as a drop off place. I.E DO NOT PUT THESE IN YOUR CURBSIDE RECYCLING unless you have specifically been informed an item is ok:
PVC / 3
LDPE / 4 (plastic film)*
PS / Polystyrene / 6
Other / 7
*Some curbside recycling may accept certain LDPE plastic but unless you are certain, throw it out. All stretchy plastic should either be taken to a supermarket if they accept it, or thrown into the bin (UK here, US here)
For more information about different symbols found on packaging, check out Recycle Now.
What you will find is that countries CAN recycle their own ‘top quality’ plastic in house as it were, but not yoghurt pots or crisp packets, or bags or chocolate wrappers...basically low quality plastics and so shipped them away.
This is not always the recycling facilities fault though. Packaging has changed and evolved to such an extreme and pace, where design was the focus vs its life cycle. It costs money to upgrade and build machinery that can sift and sort it all, and then melt it down. Every different resin code melts at a different level and is mixed
Yes, plastic degrades - virgin plastic can be added to recycled plastic OR the plastic gets used for another purpose such as picnic tables, gutters and eventually black plastic items.
what can we do?
Look at companies such as Plastic Bank who have a great scheme to find and reuse plastic. They have built a business from monetising plastic in countries such as Indonesia and Haiti, and selling it back to big corporations to be reused in their product packaging. It is called Social Plastic.
Also look at Terracycle who have created recycling schemes to recycle the non recyclable. Tom Szaky, Terracycle CEO, built the company up when he started looking at waste as a commodity vs rubbish. He got buy in with big companies to support it and so the birth of the Terracycle return schemes. Seeing that recycling wasn't the final answer he launched Loop, where he got big corps onto the reusable bandwagon and is making reusable convenient. For example, they are working with McDonalds on a reusable cup scheme.
Collection programmes set up by Terracycle include:
is it still worth recycling?
The answer is yes. We should reduce what we need to throw out in the first place though. The average person in the UK throws out 400kg of waste per year – that is about the weight of 4 giant panda bears.
I love Terracycle and what they do, but the fact is, they shouldn't have to fix this problem for us.
I shouldn't be writing this blog post.
The problem is convenience. It is SO easy to be outside, feel a bit peckish and so pop to the local shop to pick up something
The problem is companies not taking responsibility for using materials that hurt the planet and working to linear vs circular
The problem is governments not enforcing taxes on plastic
The problem is a lack of responsibility for waste from businesses AND from consumers
The problem is not enough money going into recycling facilities
The problem is design of product not considering end of life
The problem is quick fixes
But is it as simple as eradicating plastic? Surely all plastic should just swap to glass or paper.
Unfortunately not. You have to look into the whole cycle. Plastic creates less emissions in transporting it vs glass due to its weight. I will go into that more in a different post.
Geez...this sounds like a no win!
Not at all and simple steps make it easier.
There is always hope!
We have to be more responsible for where and how we spend our money and what we buy, and what it is packaged in. We cannot just complain about companies wrapping it this way but we need to take a stand. If you can't afford the eco friendly option (which can sometimes be cheaper in the long run but more expensive upfront), then why not write a letter to the shop and demand more options at better prices? Other options are:
Buy less - refuse, reduce, reuse.
Learn about exactly what should be accepted in your recycling and where you can recycle items such as textiles, batteries. Have a couple of small boxes you can collect these items and then drop them off in one go.
Avoid putting items in recycling bin and general waste bin unless you know for sure they belong there.
Sign petitions that ask for items to be wrapping or plastic free.
Support charities that are pushing companies and governments for this, such as Surfers Against Sewage.
Support the deposit return scheme.
Write to companies and call them out.
Bring your reusables (over 100 scientist have proven this is safe even during Covid - check out the City to Sea campaign).
Buy wrapper free and wash at home (invest in a natural vegetable scrub).
Use bulk buy shops, challenge your shops use of plastic, support local, buy in bulk and prep / make at home as much as possible.
Book a visit to a local sorting centre to see behind the scenes - I found this not only fun but incredibly informative. I was lucky enough to visit First Mile before I moved out of London and am looking forward to visiting many more.
On top of the companies mentioned above, please check out the following for more tips:
Hopefully that helps with some info you can use at home. Please do share with others to help raise awareness.
The other scary truth I'm waiting to hit the mainstream is the chemicals included in all the plastic which seeps into our food and drink. Tasty stuff…And just wait til I get on my high horse about "compostable"!
Cheers and I hope this helps!
Cathy xx
I am not affiliated with any companies mentioned above.