Where Can I Recycle My Plastic?

 

Enter your postcode to find exactly where to take specific items within seconds...

 

99% of local authorities in the UK offer kerbside recycling schemes for plastic bottles, with 85% also recycling plastic pots, tubs and trays [2]. Our Recycling locator allows you to enter your postcode and find out exactly what items you can recycle from your home and where closest you can take them. Please note there are also recycling banks available for certain types of plastic film at larger stores of certain supermarkets. 

Items such as plastic garden furnitures, electrical items, and toys, can be reused by either donating them to a charity shop or selling them. Alternatively your local household waste and recycling centre may be able to accept these items. 

Nearly all types of plastic can be recycled, however, the extent to which they are recycled depends upon technical, economical and logistical factors.

Tips on recycling your plastic

• Empty, rinse and squash your container - replace any lids on bottles after they have been squashed
• Remove any film from plastic containers  - the film will need to go with your general waste
• Look out for the OPRL labels on packaging which tells you whether an item can be recycled or not
• Don't forget to recycle your soap, shampoo and conditioner bottles as well as drinks bottles
• If you have plastic bags, cereal bags, bread bags, plastic wrap from toilet/kitchen roll pack, bubble/plastic wrap around newspapers and magazines... these can all be recycled at carrier bag collection points in large supermarket - click here to find out more
• The numbers on the bottom of plastic items inside a chasing arrow triangle tell you what type of plastic the product is made from, not to be confused with whether these items can be recycled

To confirm exactly what you can recycle at home please speak to your local authority. Including the wrong items makes it a lot harder to recycle your plastic and can cause material to be rejected. 

 

Learn More About Recycling

A project jointly run by the BPF and the Environmental Services Association commissioned an independent survey that found that 94% of adults within the UK claim to recycle plastic most of the time, with 60% of adults claiming they 'always' recycle plastic. However, this does not appear to correlate with the UK's published recycluing figures, suggesting a dispcrepancy between 'claimed' behaviour and actrual behaviour.

For more information about the project and for more facts about recycling, visit: www.plasticrecyclingfacts.org

 

Some Key Recycling Figures:

• 491,213 tonnes of household of Waste Electrical Electronic Equipment (WEEE) was collected for recycling in 2021 and 7,118 tonnes of non-household WEEE [5]
• 61% of plastic bottles were recycled in 2020 [2]
• 51% of plastic packaging was recycled in 2020 [1]
• 37% of all post-consumer plastic was recycled in 2020 and 81% was recovered [3]
• The collection rate for PET drink bottles is 75% and for natural HDPE drinks bottles it is 78% [2]
• 44.4 % of all household waste was recycled in 2020 [4]
• The UK has the 9th highest recycling rate in Europe for post-consumer plastic [3]. 

For more data on plastic recycling in the UK, visit the BPF Recycling Roadmap!

 

Find out how plastic is recycled

Interested in how exactly plastic is reclycled? Take a look at our Step by Step Guide which takes you through every stage of the process: how plastic is recycled. 

 

What happens to your plastics:

Source: Plastics - the Facts 2015. Plastics Europe 

 

 

Where Can I Recycle Plastic in the Highstreet Near me?

 

Abel and Cole (at home)
 

Plastic film and bags

Aldi

Soft plastics

Argos

Electrical items

Asda

Face masks
Small electrical 
Plastic film and bags 

Body shop

Cosmetic packaging

Boots

Make up, health and wellness packaging

Card Factory

Helium Balloons and foil banners and sashes 

Coop

Soft Plastics 

Currys

Electrical items
EPS packaging

Dobbies

Compost bags (trial in 10 stores)
 

Lush

PET clear plastic bottles (with lids), PP pots clear & black (with lids, PP Makeup packaging, HDPE bottles (with trigger/spray tops)

Morrisons 

Soft Plastics 

Rymans

Ink and toner cartridge
Sodastream cylinders

Sainsburys

Britta water filters 
Flexible plastics

Specsavers

Contact Lenses 

Superdrug

Medical packets
Electrical items
Make up

Tesco

Soft Plastics

Waitrose

Flexible plastic 

WH Smiths 

Pens

Wilkos

Face masks

 

If you know any other highstreet stores which accept plastic items for recycling please complete the form below and we will update the list. 

 

Test your knowledge

Find out if you are an expert on plastic recycling using our plastic recycling quiz. 

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Are You Interested in Learning More About Plastic Packaging?

The BPF has created short e-learning courses that cover plastic packaging. If you're interested in learning more, you can access our CPD approved e-learning courses on sustainable plastic packaging here.

E-Learning - Plastic Packaging Understanding the Environmental Issues

 

[1] National Packaging Waste Database
[2] RECOUP, 2021 UK Household Plastics Collection Survey 2021
[3] PlasticsEurope, 2022 The Circular Economy for Plastics - A European overview
[4] DEFRA, 2022 UK Statistics on Waste UK statistics on waste - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) accessed 15.06.2022
[5] Environment Agency, 2022 Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in the UK Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)  accessed 15.06.2022