Lancashire recycles

These include yoghurt pots, margarine tubs, and meat, fruit and vegetable trays of any shape or colour, along with their lids. It is easy to see whether something is recyclable by checking the number stamped onto it.

Anything with a number 1, 2 or 5 within the recycling triangle should go into your recycling bin. 

The colour and shape of the container doesn't matter - the main thing is to check that that it can be recycled, and give it a rinse. If the plastic still has food waste on it, or is covered in plastic film, it can cause a problem as it goes through our recycling system and could end up not be recycled at all.

We are a nation of recyclers and in Lancashire, we are pretty good at recycling. Thanks to your efforts, we recycle over 150,000 tonnes of waste every year. To help you visualise that…it's about the same weight as 1,500 Blue Whales. But, we could do even better…

50,000 tonnes of your recycling is still going in the wrong bin every year.

We could increase Lancashire's recycling rate by 16% if everyone always put the right thing in the right bin.

Some people are still putting some of their plastic bottles, cans, paper, card and glass into the waste bin. If we all put every single recyclable item in the recycling bin instead of the waste bin – we could save over 50,000 tonnes of waste from going to landfill every year. Which, is about the weight of another 500 Blue Whales.

Reduce, reuse and recycle

Reducing what you waste is a great way to reduce your impact on the environment. 

From thinking differently about what you buy, re-using items that haven't reached the end of their life, to recycling as much as possible and composting at home.

There are lots of ways you can make a real difference for Lancashire.

Recycling is a simple idea but there are some items that you may be unsure about. Our simple A to Z guide lets you know what to do with those items you are unsure about.

A - B - C - D

A

Aerosols

Place in your household recycling. Aerosols can also be taken to any of our recycling centres. Make sure cans are completely empty and clean. Do not pierce or try to flatten them. 

Aluminium cans

Place in your household recycling. Aluminium cans can also be taken to any of our recycling centres. Make sure cans are completely empty, and clean.

Aluminium foil

Clean foil can be recycled as part of your kerbside collection service.

Metal coated plastic like crisp packets and pet food pouches cannot be recycled either and should be placed in your normal waste at home.

Asbestos

See: disposal of hazardous waste and asbestos

Ash

Wood ash can be add to your compost heap or around your garden.

Coal ash should be disposed of at your local recycling centre in the rubble and hardcore skip.

B

Batteries

See: recycling batteries

Beds

Beds still in a decent condition, they can be sold, donated or passed on for someone else. Advertise locally for sale or donate using an online platform, such as Freegle, Freecycle or Facebook Marketplace.

Taken to one of our recycling centres and place in the general waste skip.

Bicycles

Why not pass your unwanted bicycle to a friend or neighbour to use? Some charities and community groups will accept donated bicycles which are in good condition. Bicycles can also be taken to the Recycling Centre.

Bottles

See "plastic" and "glass"

Biscuit tins and sweet tubs

Clean metal or plastic can be included in your household recycling or taken to the recycling centre.

Books 

Donate books in good condition to local charity shops.

Books can be brought to your local recycling centre, where they can either be set aside for the bric-a-brac dealer or put into the cardboard recycling skip.

Paperback books can be included in your kerbside recycling.

Take hardback books to the recycling centre.

C

Cans

Clean, dry cans and tins can be recycled in your kerbside recycling bins and boxes or at your local recycling centre.

Cans must be completely empty and clean.

Cardboard

Can either be recycled as part of your kerbside collection service or can be taken to your local Recycling Centre.

Christmas trees

Your local waste collection authority may collect Christmas trees. Real Christmas trees can also be taken to the Recycling Centre for composting.

E - F - G - H

E

Electrical appliances

You can take unwanted electrical appliances to the Recycling Centre. This includes both white goods, like washing machines, and small electrical items, like kettles.

G

Glass

Glass bottles and jars are collected as part of your kerbside recycling collection. They are also accepted at any of the Recycling Centres. Don't forget to include perfume bottles and other cosmetics containers that are made of glass. Other types of glass such as sheet glass, pyrex and drinking glasses should not be included in these collections. This type of glass should be taken to the Recycling Centre and disposed of in the hardcore skip.

H

Hard Plastic

This is the term used to describe the plastic used to make plastic garden furniture and children's toys. We now have containers where you can recycle this kind of plastic on the majority of our recycling centres. Anything that is clearly only made from only plastic is suitable, but anything which is mixed with another material, such as metal or fabric or insulating foam is unsuitable to go in the container.

It's really important that only the right kind of items go in these skips so please ask the site staff to help you.

I - J - K - L

I

Irons

Irons cannot be recycled in your bin home or disposed of in your general rubbish bin. Please take them to the Recycling Centre and dispose of them in the Small Electrical container.

J

Junk Mail

Junk mail can be recycled in your paper and card recycling bin (remove all plastic wrapping first) or recycled at your local Recycling Centre.

K

Kitchen Foil

Clean aluminium foil and foil trays can be recycled in your mixed recycling bin at home or at your local Recycling Centre.

L

Left Overs

Don’t throw away the left overs from Christmas Dinner this year. Check out the Love Food Hate Waste website and find a recipe to use up the food that didn't get eaten.

M - N - O - P

M

Metal

See "Scrap metal

P

Paper

Paper is included in the recycling collection carried out at the kerbside by your local council. Alternatively you can recycle paper at any Recycling Centre or at your local recycling bank.

Phone books

Out of date phone books can be placed in your kerbside paper and card recycling or taken to your local recycling centre and placed in the paper container.

Plastic bottles

Plastic bottles are collected at the kerbside as part of your recycling collection, or can be taken to any Recycling Centre. Don't forget to recycle plastic bottles from your bathroom too.

Polystyrene

Packaging goes in the non-recyclable skip or can go in the kerbside general waste.

Pots, tubs and trays

Clean pots, tubs and trays can be recycled in your household kerbside recycling. These include yoghurt pots, margarine tubs, and meat, fruit and vegetable trays of any shape or colour, along with their lids.

Pots, tubs and trays must be clean completely empty with the film removed.

Q - R - S - T

Q

Quilts

Quilts should be taken to the Recycling Centre and placed in the non-recyclable container.

R

Rugs

Rugs and carpets in good condition may be suitable for donation to charity or to a reuse organisation. If not, then please take them to the recycling centre and place them in the non-recyclable container.

S

Scrap Metal

Scrap metal can be taken to any recycling centre.

T

Toys and Games

Unwanted toys and games in good condition can be donated to charity or to reuse organisations. Plastic toys should not put in your mixed recycling bin.

Tools

Broken or unwanted garden hand-tools (no power tools please) such as spades, forks or hoes, can be taken to our recycling centres at Farington or Burscough where we have collection points for Conservation Foundation.

Turf

Turf is classed as inert waste and must be taken to the recycling centre. Turf can also be composted at home.

U - V - W - X - Y

W

Wrapping paper

Wrapping paper is recyclable at the kerbside or at the Recycling Centre, except where the wrapping contains foil. To check if the paper is recyclable, scrunch it into a ball. If the ball opens back out then it contains foil and should go in your general waste bin.

Y

Yellow pages

See Telephone directories and catalogues

Yogurt pots

See Pots, tubs and trays

Here are some simple steps to help us all recycle more across Lancashire:

• Double check if anything you are going to throw in the rubbish bin can be recycled instead – either at home in your recycling bins/boxes or at your local recycling centre.
• Rinse out empty food and drink containers before you recycle them.
• Squash plastic bottles and flatten cardboard boxes so you can fit more in your recycling bin.
• Once your bottles are squashed, put the lids back on so the lids get recycled too.
• If its plastic and bottle shaped it can be recycled – don’t forget the shampoo, spray cleaner and bleach bottles from your bathroom.
• As well as plastic bottles you can now put yoghurt pot, margarine tub and meat and fruit tray type plastics in your recycling. These are generally labelled with a number 1, 2 or 5, but if there isn't a number don't worry. If it fits the general description of a pot, tub or tray, then put it in your recycling. No plastic bags please.
• It is not just newspapers that you can recycle – we want wrapping paper, envelopes, toilet roll tubes and toothpaste boxes.
• It might help you to get a second bin or box in your kitchen and bathroom for collecting things to recycle from around the house, before you put them into your main recycling bin.

Recycling earns...landfill costs

Everything that goes in your rubbish bin has a cost to collect and dispose of it. Last year in Lancashire, we collected just over 405,000 tonnes of waste from households and our household waste recycling centres (HWRCs).  The annual cost of disposing Lancashire's household waste is almost £37 million.

This figure is rising every year and if we continue producing waste at the rate we currently do, it is estimated it could cost the council closer to £40 million by 2025.  We could save £4 million every year just by putting the right things in the right recycling bin – this money could be spent on delivering vital services across Lancashire.

What recycling are YOU missing? Please do the right thing and use the right bin. 

Ever wondered what happens to your recycling once your bin gets emptied?

Why not follow the journey of a plastic milk bottle through Lancashire's sorting plant in Leyland by watching our short film.

After your glass, can and plastic recycling is collected from you at home, it's taken to the sorting facility in Leyland where it's placed on a pile with all the other recycling. A loading shovel picks up the recycling and drops it into a hopper before a conveyor belt takes it into a sorting cabin.

The people working in the sorting cabin are the first line of defence against things that could damage our machinery. The staff pick out the items that shouldn't be there like plastic sheeting, electronic equipment and large pieces of metal.

Almost a quarter of what comes through our sorting facility isn't accepted. These items should be taken to the recycling centre instead.

The recycling passes under an over-band magnet, which picks up steel cans. Next, the recycling is bounced over a series of metal screens and the glass is smashed into lots of small pieces that fall between the gaps, removing the broken glass.

The plastics are separated by type from each other using a number of optical sorters. If the plastic is dirty or is hidden by a plastic bag it can't be recognised by the light, and so is not sorted correctly.  

After steel cans, glass, and plastics have been removed, all that is left to sort are the aluminium cans. These are sorted using an eddy current separator, as aluminium is not magnetic.  Fast spinning magnets give the aluminium a temporary magnetic field which is repelled by another magnet which forces the can off the conveyor belt, separating it from any remaining non-metal waste.

Now all the recyclables have been separated they are dropped into individual hoppers. Once there is enough of each material in a hopper, the material is ready to be baled, and can be stored to await transport to market to be recycled.

PET clear and HDPE plastic bottles make up a large amount of all the plastic collected. Re-processors will pay between £100 and £300 per tonne for these, whilst metals can bring a higher price than this. Glass doesn’t generate an income, but recycling it is a far better option than disposing of it. The income generated from the sale of recycling is put back into essential council services.

Each of the twelve district councils in Lancashire has different coloured bins/boxes/bags for collecting recycling and waste.

If you know which district council collects your bins – have a look on the relevant district council website below to remind you what you can put in each bin/bag/box or to find out which day your bins are collected.

What can I put in my bins and boxes?

So you’ve got a recycling routine that works for you. You know it inside and out and there’s not one empty plastic milk bottle or food can in sight in the kitchen – they’re all patiently waiting to be collected for recycling. The job is done! But is it really?

There are lots of items that people often forget to recycle from other rooms in the house including the bathroom, bedroom and the living room. 

Visit the Recycle Now website to find out about other unusual suspects hiding around your home.

Here are some simple steps to help us all recycle more across Lancashire:

• Double check if anything you are going to throw in the rubbish bin can be recycled instead – either at home in your recycling bins/boxes or at your local recycling centre.
• Rinse out empty food and drink containers before you recycle them.
• Squash plastic bottles and flatten cardboard boxes so you can fit more in your recycling bin.
• If its plastic and bottle shaped it can be recycled – don’t forget the shampoo, spray cleaner and bleach bottles from your bathroom.
• It is not just newspapers that you can recycle – we want wrapping paper, envelopes, toilet roll tubes and toothpaste boxes.
• It might help you to get a second bin or box in your kitchen and bathroom for collecting things to recycle from around the house, before you put them into your main recycling bin.