Can you recycle aluminium foil?

Kitchen foil and foil lids are recyclable and became core kerbside materials across England from March 2026. The trick: foil must be clean (wipe or rinse off food) and scrunched together into a ball at least the size of a small fist, or it's too light for the sorting machines. Foil that stays scrunched is real foil; if it springs back it's metallised plastic film and belongs at soft-plastic points instead.

Tips

• Collect foil scraps into one big ball over time
• Scrunch test tells foil from metallised film
• Heavily burnt-on or greasy foil goes in general waste

Which bin does it go in?

Recycling bin — clean, scrunched into a ball at least tennis-ball sized

Background: Recycling symbols explained.

Also searched as: tin foil, kitchen foil, baking foil, foil lids.