Can you recycle garden hoses?

Never put a hose in recycling: like cables and chains, hoses wrap around sorting-plant machinery and shut down whole lines. Cut into short lengths for general waste, or take to the recycling centre's general container.

Tips

• Old hose makes good tree-tie padding and blade guards

Which bin does it go in?

General waste — hoses are 'tanglers' that wreck sorting machinery.

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

Background: Home composting: turn half your bin into free soil.

Also searched as: hosepipe, hose.