A to D of recycling
A
Abandoned cars
Abandoned vehicles are dangerous and anti-social. It’s illegal to have an untaxed vehicle on the road.
If you have a car to dispose of, it is your responsibility to dispose of it properly and legally. We cannot accept scrap cars at our household recycling centres: try looking in a directory such as Yellow Pages under ‘Car Dismantlers’
If you wish to report an abandoned vehicle contact your district/borough council (see link for contact details). Let them know if you know who it belongs to.
Aerosol cans
Each year, people in the UK use about 600 million aerosol cans.
These can be recycled using the kerbside collection boxes or the can banks. Please make sure the aerosol is empty and remove the plastic lid, which cannot be recycled. Aerosol cans must never be pierced or put on a fire as they might explode
Asbestos
Asbestos is a hazardous substance with potentially dangerous health implications. It must be correctly disposed of by a suitably licensed contractor at a suitably licensed hazardous waste disposal site. It is also essential to handle it safely to avoid possible health risks.
If you wish to dispose of small quantities of household asbestos you must contact Shropshire Waste Partnership to confirm arrangements for correct disposal. If you have a large quantity of asbestos to dispose of, or have asbestos from any commercial buildings, including farm buildings, please contact the Environment Agency for a list of suitably licensed contractors.
The Environmental Health Team at your district/borough council (see link for contact details) may be able to provide advice on handling asbestos.
B
Batteries
Batteries contain hazardous materials and should be taken to a household recycling centre for proper disposal.
All household recycling centres have collection facilities for vehicle and household batteries which are sent for recycling. Place your batteries in the containers. If you are unsure, ask the site attendant.
Try to avoid using batteries by using mains electricity where possible, or use rechargeable batteries.
Bicycles
Old bicycles which are not suitable for repair or sale can be put in scrap metal skips at the household recycling centre.
Bric-a-brac (CDs, records, tapes, computer games, videos. DVDs etc.)
Don’t throw them in the bin: someone else might want them! Many charity shops welcome donations of these items. Car boot sales or offering them as free to collect on www.freecycle.org would be another option.
Battlefield Household Recycling Centre and Sainsbury's in Shrewsbury also have special banks for collecting these.
Why not borrow books, CDs, DVDs, etc from your local library?
Books
Check out your local charity shops – they often sell second hand books and welcome donations of books. Battlefield Household Recycling Centre in Shrewsbury has a book bank for books suitable for resale.
Bottle banks
To find your nearest bottle bank visit www.recycle-more.co.uk (follow the link).
Please wash out bottles and jars, and remove caps and corks.
Do not put light bulbs, fluorescent tubes, other glassware and dishes, window glass etc in bottle banks. They are made from a different type of glass can contaminate the whole load.
Recycling glass can be noisy, so please be considerate with the time of day you choose to recycling so as not to disturb local residents and do not leave litter, cardboard boxes etc. around the banks.
C
Cans
Food and drink cans, whether made out of aluminium or steel, can be recycled through the kerbside collections or bring banks. Your empty baked bean can could end up as part of a new car, and a recycled aluminium can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours!
Wash out your cans (to be even more environmentally friendly you could use your dirty washing-up water) and either put them in your recycling box or take them to a can bank. To find your nearest can bank visit www.recycle-more.co.uk (follow the link).
Cardboard
Carboard can be recycled through your garden waste collection service, mixed with the garden waste it composts down well. Skips for cardboard are also provided at the household recycling centres – here the cardboard is pulped to make new packaging. Please remember to flatten your boxes.
Carrier bags
Billions of plastic bags are handed out to shoppers in Britain every year.
Use reusable shopping bags or reuse your old carrier bags when ever possible.
Most supermarkets have 'a bag for life' scheme - large strong reusable shopping bags which cost a few pence each to buy. Once the bag can no longer be used the supermarket will replace it with a new bag free of charge and arrange for the old one to be recycled. Some supermarkets also sell special plastic boxes for your shopping.
Carrier bag recycling bins are provided at most of the large supermarkets.
Cartons
Most drink cartons are made of layers of paperboard, polyethylene and aluminium foil. One of the most common sorts is Tetrapak which contains 70 per cent paperboard, 22 per cent polyethylene and 4 per cent aluminium foil.
There are now banks to collect washed and squashed cartons in locations across the county, including at each of the household recycling centres. To find your nearest carton bank, follow the link.
Charity shops
There are lots of charity shops in the area, raising money for good causes as well as reducing waste. They usually welcome donations of unwanted items, clothing, bric-a-brac etc. Ask at the shop to see what they accept.
Chemicals – household/garden
These include paints, pesticides, household cleaners, battery acids, weed killers, rat poison, paint stripper, asbestos, etc.
Do not pour these down drains because they will pollute rivers and streams. Ideally, use them up for their original purpose, in accordance with the manufacturer’s usage instructions.
Please read the manufacturer’s disposal instructions carefully or contact your local council to gain advice on the best way to dispose of the product.
Alternatively take them to your nearest household recycling centre for correct disposal.
If you are unsure about where to put it, please ask one of the site staff.
Clinical waste
This can include items such as adult nappies, syringes, sanitary products, soiled dressings and bandages or any item which may be contaminated with blood or bodily fluids.
Most homes don't produce clinical waste. However, if you are in any doubt please contact Shropshire Waste Partnership about separate collection services for clinical waste, or ask your local health visitor of health authority.
Commercial/trade waste
Shropshire's household recycling centres (HRCs) are provided solely for householders to deposit and recycle their household rubbish.
So what should I do with my trade waste?
There are various options available to you:
1. Ask your local district council (see link below for contact details) if they offer a commercial/trade waste collection service.
2 Arrange for a private waste disposal or recycling company to collect your waste. Look in local telephone directory or local newspaper.
3. Contact a skip hire company and have a skip delivered. Look in local telephone directory or local newspaper
4. Take your waste to a private disposal/recycling facility. See your local telephone directory or local newspaper.
5. Ask the Environment Agency for a list of local registered service providers
In all of these cases a charge may be made for the collection and disposal services provided.
Composting
See the link on the menu bar.
Computers
Computers include components which contain potentially hazardous chemicals, and the screens should not be disposed of in general household waste. The computer ‘hard drive’ may also contain confidential information such as personal and financial details.
This information is easy to access and can’t be removed by deleting files. Because of this we advise that you should wipe the hard drive using an erasing programme, or remove and destroy it before disposing of your unwanted computer.
Old computers may be suitable for repair and reuse.
The Shropshire Furniture Scheme - SHOFUR - has a pilot scheme for refurbishing home computers less than six years old – contact them for more information.
Alternatively, you can donate your old PC to Computer Aid International for re-use in schools and community organisations in the developing world. Follow the link for more information.
Important note: If you wish to dispose of an old household computer, first wipe or destroy the hard drive then take it to a household recycling centre. Ask the attendant where to put it. The monitor screens are recycled separately.
Follow the link for information about how to wipe your hard drive.
Confidential waste
There is always a risk that confidential papers put out for refuse or recycling collection, placed in paperbanks or disposed of at household recycling centres could be seen by other people. If you are concerned about this possibility, we advise that papers should be shredded or torn up thoroughly. Shredded paper cannot be recycled, but it is possible to compost this with green waste at home- and it can actually improve the product !
For details of commercial waste shredding services, please look in the relevant trade directories. Remember that it is illegal to dispose or recycle any commercial waste at household recycling centres or domestic refuse collection services. This includes business paperwork.
Construction waste
Household recycling centres can only accept small amounts of DIY waste which should be bagged up if possible before being brought to the site.
Quantities of more than a tonne cannot be accepted at household recycling centres, and there are no facilities for dumping this waste on the ground.
Use a reputable authorised waste contractor or skip service to dispose of large amounts of construction waste and any waste produced by works other than normal day-to-day living, such as house alterations, driveway reconstruction, garden makeovers etc.
Cooking oil
No recycling facilities for cooking oils are currently provided in the Shropshire County Council area, and cooking oil cannot be put in the waste oil banks at household recycling centres – this could contaminate the whole load.
Commercial quantities of cooking oil can be collected by specialist contractors, for recycling into animal feedstuffs or biofuels. Quality control to prevent contamination is very important, and this means that it is not practical to provide special banks for cooking oils at the recycling centres.
Cooking oil can be made into bird cakes with seeds and bread, and small quantities can be put into home compost bins. Do not pour cooking oil down the drain.
D
Disposal
What happens to refuse that isn’t recycled? Whilst 43 per cent of the household waste produced by residents in the Shropshire County Council area was recycled in 2007/08, some 89,200 tonnes was sent for disposal in landfill sites (located near Telford and Ellesmere). Our aim is to reduce this as much as possible.
Waste disposal is closely regulated in order to prevent possible environmental damage. Methane (which is a greenhouse gas and is also potentially explosive) produced by decomposing refuse is collected and either burnt off or used for electricity generation. The sites are lined to prevent contamination of water courses and groundwater by leachate - water containing chemicals from the refuse.
There are a number of old refuse ‘tips’ around Shropshire. District/borough councils maintain a register of these and areas of contaminated land ((follow the 'useful contacts' in the menu bar for their contact details).
