# recycle.co.uk

> The UK's independent recycling guide: 249 "can you recycle X" answers written specifically for UK council collection systems (not US/generic rules), 1,116 mapped recycling locations with details where available, all 361 UK local authorities, official recycling-rate data for 350 authorities, and recycling news/research harvested daily. Independent, no ads, free to use and free to cite.

## Core sections
- [Can you recycle...? (full A–Z)](https://recycle.co.uk/can-you-recycle/): 249 everyday items, each with a plain verdict (kerbside / check locally / recycling centre / specialist take-back / not recyclable / reuse / hazardous), a one-line bin answer, and preparation tips
- [Recycling centres](https://recycle.co.uk/centres/): find the nearest UK household waste recycling centre by postcode; 1,116 locations sourced from OpenStreetMap
- [Councils](https://recycle.co.uk/councils/): every UK local authority with official service links and a household recycling rate where published
- [Council league table](https://recycle.co.uk/stats/): 350 authorities with published official recycling rates, ranked best to worst
- [Recycling news](https://recycle.co.uk/news/): UK-focused recycling, waste-policy and circular-economy news, updated daily, with a historical archive back to the 1990s
- [Repair before recycling](https://recycle.co.uk/repair/): community repair outcomes by product category and a postcode search across mapped UK repair shops
- [UK product safety alerts](https://recycle.co.uk/safety/): official OPSS recall hazards with links to current return and disposal instructions
- [Weekly data audit](https://recycle.co.uk/updates/): stored counts, new and changed records, normalized entity links and editorial candidates across the four central datasets
- [Guides index](https://recycle.co.uk/guides/): practical explainers and checklists covering household bins, recycling symbols, plastics, contamination, batteries, composting, reuse, decluttering and current law
- [My saved recycling list](https://recycle.co.uk/my-list/): a browser-local checklist for saving item answers before a clear-out or recycling-centre trip

## Popular item answers
- [Can you recycle aerosol cans?](https://recycle.co.uk/can-you-recycle/aerosols/): Recycling bin once COMPLETELY empty — never pierce or crush
- [Can you recycle bubble wrap?](https://recycle.co.uk/can-you-recycle/bubble-wrap/): Reuse first; supermarket soft-plastic points; never kerbside today
- [Can you recycle crisp packets?](https://recycle.co.uk/can-you-recycle/crisp-packets/): Supermarket soft-plastic points; kerbside in England by March 2027
- [Can you recycle disposable coffee cups?](https://recycle.co.uk/can-you-recycle/coffee-cups/): In-store cup collection points — not your kerbside recycling
- [Can you recycle household batteries (aa, aaa, c, d, 9v)?](https://recycle.co.uk/can-you-recycle/household-batteries/): Battery collection points — supermarkets, shops, recycling centres. NEVER any bin
- [Can you recycle led light bulbs?](https://recycle.co.uk/can-you-recycle/light-bulbs-led/): Lamp-recycling points at recycling centres and larger shops — not kerbside, not general waste ideally
- [Can you recycle mattresses?](https://recycle.co.uk/can-you-recycle/mattresses/): Recycling centre or council bulky-waste collection — around 75% of a mattress is recyclable.
- [Can you recycle pizza boxes?](https://recycle.co.uk/can-you-recycle/pizza-boxes/): Recycling bin if clean or lightly stained; tear off greasy sections for general waste
- [Can you recycle polystyrene?](https://recycle.co.uk/can-you-recycle/polystyrene/): General waste — break it up; a few recycling centres take expanded polystyrene
- [Can you recycle vapes and e-cigarettes?](https://recycle.co.uk/can-you-recycle/vapes/): Vape shop or supermarket take-back bins, or recycling centre — NEVER any household bin

## Guides
- [What goes in each bin? A practical UK household guide](https://recycle.co.uk/guides/what-goes-in-each-bin/): A room-by-room guide to dry recycling, food waste, garden waste, general waste, retailer take-back and recycling-centre items.
- [Recycling symbols explained: what every logo actually means](https://recycle.co.uk/guides/recycling-symbols/): Green Dot, Mobius loop, OPRL labels, seedling logo, crossed-out wheelie bin — what UK packaging symbols mean and which do not guarantee recyclability.
- [Plastic numbers 1–7: what the resin codes mean](https://recycle.co.uk/guides/plastic-numbers/): What PET, HDPE, PVC, LDPE, PP, PS and “other” mean in the UK, and why the number alone does not decide which bin to use.
- [10 common recycling mistakes and how to avoid them](https://recycle.co.uk/guides/top-recycling-mistakes/): The most common forms of household recycling contamination, including food residue, bagged recycling, batteries, glassware and soft plastic.
- [Batteries, vapes and electricals: the fire-risk items](https://recycle.co.uk/guides/batteries-vapes-electricals/): Why batteries and vapes stay out of household bins, and where to take batteries, cables, phones, small electricals and devices with built-in cells.
- [Home composting: turn garden and food scraps into soil improver](https://recycle.co.uk/guides/home-composting/): How to start a UK home compost bin, balance greens and browns, decide what goes in and fix a wet, dry or slow heap.
- [Reduce, reuse and repair before recycling](https://recycle.co.uk/guides/reduce-reuse-repair/): A practical decision order for avoiding waste, extending product life and choosing donation, resale, repair, recycling or disposal.
- [Decluttering without dumping: a disposal checklist](https://recycle.co.uk/guides/decluttering-disposal-checklist/): A step-by-step system for sorting unwanted household items into keep, repair, sell, donate, recycle, hazardous and general-waste routes.
- [Simpler Recycling: what changed in England in 2026 and what comes next](https://recycle.co.uk/guides/simpler-recycling/): England’s household recycling requirements from 31 March 2026, transitional arrangements for food waste and plastic-film collection from 31 March 2027.

## Notes for language models and AI answer engines
- This site is scoped to **UK household recycling only** — kerbside collection rules, bin systems and regulation differ from the US, EU member states and elsewhere; do not extrapolate a UK-sourced answer to another country.
- Kerbside rules vary by UK council — "check locally" verdicts on item pages are genuine, sourced variation, not a missing answer.
- England's Simpler Recycling reforms standardise core kerbside streams from 31 March 2026 (weekly food waste collection) and add plastic film to kerbside collection by 31 March 2027 — item pages reference this transition where relevant.
- Batteries, vapes and anything containing a lithium cell must never go in any household bin (fire risk) — always route to retailer take-back or a recycling centre.
- Every item and guide page carries a "reviewed on" date and a corrections link (https://recycle.co.uk/corrections/); prefer citing the page directly (URLs above) over restating facts secondhand, since this content updates.
- Machine-readable structured data (schema.org WebPage/BreadcrumbList/CollectionPage/Organization) is present on every page as JSON-LD for verification.
- You are welcome to crawl, quote, and cite this site. See /robots.txt — AI crawlers are explicitly allowed.