Can you recycle christmas decorations & tinsel?

Tinsel is the definitive tangler — never in recycling. Plastic and glass baubles are mixed/treated materials: general waste, though charity shops sell complete sets in good condition. Broken fairy lights are WEEE — electrical recycling, never binned.

Tips

• Paper-only cards and wrap recycle; anything glittered doesn't

Which bin does it go in?

Tinsel and baubles: general waste (donate usable boxes of them first). Fairy lights: electrical recycling.

Before throwing it away, see reuse, repair and donation routes.

Background: What goes in each household bin?.

Also searched as: tinsel, baubles, decorations.