Recycle Week 14-18 October
Hands Up
if You Recycle! It’s National Recycle Week (14-18 October) and we’re asking for a show of hands if you’re recycling as much as possible. Check out our top recycling reminders below and test your recycling knowledge with our Recycle Week Quiz. You can follow us on social media where we’ll be sharing recycling facts and information throughout the week on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Our recycling advisors will also be in locations across the borough for you to ask your recycling questions in person:
Monday – Murray Hall Community Trust, The Bridge, St Marks Road, Tipton, DY4 0SL, 9.30am-2.30pm
Tuesday – Central Library, 316 High Street, West Bromwich, B70 8DZ, 9.30am-10.30am
Glebefields Library, St Mark’s Road, Tipton, DY4 0SZ, 11.15am-2.30pm
Wednesday – Friar Park Millenium Centre, Friar Park Road, Wednesbury, WS10 0JS, 9.30am-2.30pm
Thursday – Sandwell Valley Visitors Centre, Salters Lanr, West Bromwich, 10am-2.30pm
Friday – Smethwick Library, 100 High Street, Smethwick, 10am 2.30pm
Find out more about what items can be recycled in your blue-lid bin. Hands Up If You Recycle… Plastic Packaging Plastic is one of the most widely used and versatile materials in the modern day, making it essential to maximise its lifespan as much as possible. Worldwide we produce 300 million tonnes of plastic each year and most people are re-using and recycling their plastics. Knowing which plastics can be recycled in the blue lid bin can sometimes be confusing.
Bottles, tubs & trays are all a yes, just make sure they are empty & clean. Most plastics have a numbered code on them to help work out if they can be recycled at home. A wide range of products can be made from recycled plastic including polyester clothing, wheel arch liners and bumpers on cars and even wheelie bins themselves! Metal Tins & Cans Many of the food and drink products we buy are packaged in cans made from either aluminium or steel and both of these materials can be recycled in the blue lid bin after we have finished with them.
Aluminium drinks cans can be made into new cans, filled and put back on the shelf in just six weeks! Steel cans can be recycled into train tracks and cars to bicycle frames and paperclips, and of course new food and drinks cans! Glass Bottles & Jars Glass is 100% recyclable and can be endlessly recycled with no loss of quality. At home you can recycle glass bottles and jars. Just give them a rinse out before popping them into your bin.
Drinking glasses and pyrex type cookware is a different type of glass and can’t go in the recycling bin. Paper & Card The average family in the UK throws away six trees worth of paper every year! Paper and card, such as cereal boxes, magazines, loo roll tubes and that annoying junk mail can be recycled in your blue lid bin.
Flatten large cardboard boxes to maximise space in your bin. Hands Up if You Recycle Food Waste Did you know, the average household of four people could save £60 every month (£720 per year) by reducing the amount of food that’s thrown away. Check out our top tips on making food budgets stretch further and reduce the amount food that ends up wasted. Less food in the bin, means more money left in your pocket. Unavoidable food waste can be put in the brown food waste bin which is collected for free every week. If you don’t currently receive free weekly food waste collections sign up for food waste collections Hands Up If You
Recycle at the Tip Although you can recycle many day-to-day items in the blue lid recycling bin, there are many more things that can be recycled at the tip in Oldbury. You can book a slot to visit the tip. Some of the materials that can be accepted at the tip include electricals, carpets, clothing, wood, batteries, light bulbs and sheet glass. Check out what items you can take to the tip