About recycling

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To make recycling easier and a bit more fun for everyone, the council has teamed up with innocent drinks and environmental charity Hubbub to do a refresh of our recycling communications.

More information about the partnership

 

We all know that it’s good to recycle, but sometimes it’s hard to know how to do it properly. In fact, 1 in 3 Londoners find recycling confusing and less than half (45%) say they’re confident about what can and cannot be recycled.

We’ve teamed up with innocent drinks and environmental charity Hubbub to do a refresh of our recycling communications. Our new campaign asks residents to help catch recycling’s “most wanted” - the items that are most valuable and easy to recycle but sometimes don’t make it into the recycling.

The campaign is part of the Council’s ambition for a cleaner, greener local environment with less waste, better air quality and a target to be a carbon neutral borough by 2040.

What’s new

Over the next few months, the new communications will pop up around the borough - on billboards, posters, recycling trucks and on social media. If you have a kerbside recycling collection (the type you put outside your front door), you will also receive a shiny new recycling bag and leaflet.

We hope you enjoy our new recycling communications and that they make it easier for your household to recycle more and better. If you have any thoughts or feedback on the recycling communications, then we’d love to hear from you. You can get in touch by emailing [email protected].

Meet our partners

Innocent drinks are renowned for their positive, playful communication style and their strong sustainability credentials. They're also based nearby in Fruit Towers near Ladbroke Grove.

Hubbub is an award-winning environmental charity that designs campaigns that inspire ways of living that are good for the environment. They look at new and creative ways to raise awareness, encourage people to think differently about a topic and empower people to take practical everyday actions that make a difference.

How to recycle

We aim to make recycling as easy and convenient as possible. There are two schemes in place for the collection of recyclable materials:

  • Clear bag recycling for residents whose recycling and rubbish is collected from directly outside their property (kerbside collection).
  • Mixed bank recycling for residents living in mansion blocks, flats and estates.

Wanted

  • clean and dry card, cardboard, unshredded paper, newspaper, magazines, junk mail, telephone directories and envelopes

  • clean and empty glass containers, glass bottles and jars (take metal lids off and put them loose in your recycling)

  • clean and empty food and drink cartons including Tetra Pak

  • clean and empty cans and tins

  • clean and empty plastic bottles, (squash and put plastic lids on), pots, tubs and trays

  • clean and empty plastic pots, tubs and trays, (including lids made of the same type of plastic e.g. butter and takeaway tub lids)

No thanks

  • no food waste or oil

  • no garden waste

  • no clothes, shoes or textiles

  • no other plastics including soft plastics like carrier bags, polystyrene or cling film

  • no wood, building or DIY materials, including paint

  • no metals (other than cans)

  • no shredded paper

  • no nappies

  • no Pyrex glass

  • no light bulbs

  • no batteries

  • no aerosol cans

Useful information

Garden waste collection

The Council offers a garden waste collection service for an annual subscription. A special collection crew will collect your garden waste for composting on a fortnightly basis. See the Garden Waste Collection page for more information.

See the Home composting tips page for more information about composting at home.

The Council has teamed up with getcomposting.com to provide subsidised compost bins and wormeries for residents. Please see our Garden waste page for further information.

Food waste recycling

The Council currently operates a limited food waste collection service for properties in the north and south of the borough. For more information, please visit our food waste recycling page.

Mini recycling centres

There are mini recycling centres located around the borough, each having up to five mixed recycling banks on site.  You can recycle the same items as listed above. In addition, most mini recycling centres offer separate facilities to recycle textiles, shoes, and books.  See the mini recycling centres page.

Recycling at school

The Royal Borough aims to have recycling available to all schools in the borough. We offer a comprehensive range of services to schools to encourage recycling. To find out more about please telephone Streetline on 020 7361 3001 and ask to speak to the Recycling team.

Recycling and refuse amenity sites (public tips)

Residents can take their unwanted household items, free of charge, to the following Recycling and Refuse Amenity Site situated in Wandsworth. Find out more at Amenity Skips and Rubbish Tips.

Textile and electrical (WEEE) recycling

We are working with TRAID to make recycling textiles and small to medium-sized waste electrical and electronic equipment  easier for residents. Find out how to recycle your textiles and unwanted electrical and electronic equipment.

Last updated: 22 September 2021