FAQs

To see a list of materials your local council collects as part of its recycling scheme – such as glass, paper, cardboard, cans, plastics, and so on – simply enter your postcode into our Recycling Locator tool. It will also tell you into which bag, bin, box, caddy or sack you should place each item.

Complete our online form on our ‘Contact Us’ page to submit your request to update your kerbside collection scheme details.

You will need to report this to your local council. You can find its contact details by entering your postcode into our Recycling Locator tool.

Our ‘recycle an item’ web pages cover a wide range of items and give details on whether you can recycle them at home or at out-of-home drop-off points.

The data for Recycling Centres and 'bring banks' is supplied by local councils to an organisation called Valpak – an environmental compliance, data and resource management services provider – which is then pushed into our Recycling Locator tool.

If you spot incorrect information about a Recycling Centre or ‘bring bank’, please send an email to recycle-more@valpak.co.uk.

Your local council might be able to arrange a bulky waste collection for you. Alternatively, you can find your local council’s contact details by entering your postcode into our Recycling Locator tool.

Bulky items can include:

• Beds and mattresses;

• Sofas and three-piece suites;

• Tables and chairs;

• Wardrobes;

• Cookers and dishwashers;

• Fridge freezers, washing machines and tumble dryers;

• Carpet and carpet underlay.

The Recycling Locator widget is available for third parties to add to their website. The widget can be embedded on one or more web pages using a simple piece of code.

To find out more or to apply to host the widget, please send an email to PartnerEnquiries@wrap.org.uk

We’re able to accept applications from organisations that have recycling or re-use locations open to the public. For more information, please send an email to PartnerEnquiries@wrap.org.uk.

Local councils update the information about their kerbside each year using a system called Local Authority Recycling Scheme Updater (LARSU) tool, which then pushes the information into our Recycling Locator tool. In addition to this yearly review, local councils can update their scheme data at any time to reflect changes in their services. Each local council has a named person responsible for updating their scheme data in the LARSU system. If you are unsure who your named contact is, please send an email to WalesRecycles@wrap.org.uk

Alternatively, you can complete our online form on our ‘Contact Us’ page to submit your request to update your kerbside collection scheme details.

You can place empty or old glass jars that once held a candle in your bag or bin for non-recyclable waste, and not with your glass bottles and jars for recycling. The type of glass used for candles like Yankee Candles needs to be melted at a much higher temperature than used for recycling common glass bottles and jars, like those used for food and drinks. This means candle glass can’t be processed with your glass bottles and jars.

Please wrap these safely in old newspaper or kitchen roll, or double-bag them, to ensure our collection crews aren’t harmed when collecting them.

Ceramics like bowls, cups, jugs, plates and vases can’t be recycled in the same way as common glass bottles and jars, like those used for food and drinks. If you need to get rid of any broken ceramics, please place them inside your bag or bin for non-recyclable waste. Please wrap these safely in old newspaper or kitchen roll, or double-bag them, to ensure our collection crews aren’t harmed when collecting them. You may also take broken ceramics to your local recycling centre.

If your ceramics aren’t broken and you no longer need or want them, you can take them to a charity shop so that others may use them.

If you have broken clothes or coat hangers, whether they’re made from metal, plastic or wood, please take these to your local recycling centre.

For clothes hangers you no longer need that are in a good condition, please:

• ask your family and friends if they want them;

• list them on a local freebie social media group or website;

• contact your local charity shop as they might accept them; or

• try to return them to the shop from where you bought the clothing item, as they might re-use or recycle them for you.

Clothes hangers for small children can be difficult to get, so you may find there’s a demand for these through online parent and baby groups.

Cookware glass, like Pyrex, cannot currently be recycled. While Pyrex cookware is a type of glass, it has been specially treated in the manufacturing process to endure high temperatures, which makes it non-recyclable.

If you have broken or chipped Pyrex cookware to get rid of, please don’t put it out to be recycled with your glass bottles and jars. Please wrap these safely in old newspaper or kitchen roll, or double-bag them to ensure our collection crews aren’t harmed when collecting them. You can place this inside your bag or bin for non-recyclable waste. You may also take broken or chipped cookware glass to your local recycling centre.

If your cookware glass isn’t broken and you no longer need or want it, please consider taking it to a local charity shop so that others may use it.

Please place any broken drinking glasses inside your bag or bin for non-recyclable waste, remembering first to wrap them safely. You can use old newspaper or kitchen roll, or double-bag them, to ensure our collection crews aren’t harmed when collecting them. Some drinking glasses can’t be recycled using the same process used for common glass bottles and jars, which means they can’t be collected to be recycled together.

If you have any drinking glasses that are not broken and you no longer want, but are in a good condition, you can take them to a local charity shop so that others may benefit from them.

If you need to get rid of any flat glass, like a windowpane, please take it to your local recycling centre. Flat glass is highly likely to contain items that can't be recycled. And those flat glass items that can be recycled may need to be melted at a different temperature to common glass bottles and jars, like those your local council collect from your home.

Quite often flat glass items have been treated with chemicals or coatings, and many types of windscreen glass contain heating elements, which need to be dealt with using specific disposal processes.

Please place any food and drink foil pouches you may need to get rid of inside your bag or bin for non-recyclable waste. These pouches include food and drink items like coffee, baby food, microwavable rice and pet food. The pouches are made using a mix of different materials, which may include aluminium metal, fibres and plastics, which currently makes them difficult to recycle.

Please remove any plastic film lids from items like ready-made meals and place them inside your bag or bin for non-recyclable waste. This thin material can’t be recycled in the same way as your plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays that your local council collects from your home as part of our weekly recycling collection service.

This action also applies to any other thin plastics you may need to get rid of, such as plastic cling film, plastic film food wrappings, plastic frozen vegetable bags and plastic carrier bags.

Please place all of these in your bag or bin for non-recyclable waste.

Plastic toys are made from a material known as ‘hard plastic’, which can’t be recycled in the same way as your plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays that your local council collects from your home as part of our weekly recycling collection service. Please take any broken plastic toys or games to your local recycling centre.

If you have plastic toys or games that are in good working condition, please donate them to a charity shop or a local community group. If your plastic toys and games are beyond repair, it may still be possible to recycle some of the parts if you dismantle them. This includes batteries and battery packs from remote controls which should be removed and recycled.

Check with your local council on how to recycle batteries in your area.

Please place your empty toothpaste tubes inside your bag or bin for non-recyclable waste. Toothpaste tubes are often made of different types of plastics, as well as a metal layer, which currently makes them difficult to recycle.

Many of us are getting online orders delivered in brown paper packaging or takeaways and food deliveries in brown paper bags. Sometimes our groceries also come in brown paper bags, like mushrooms, bread and pastries.

Please place all this brown paper in your recycling container for ‘cardboard’, not ‘paper’, unless it’s contaminated with food or grease. If this is the case, place this dirty brown paper inside your black bin or black bags for non-recyclable waste.

If brown paper is recycled with white paper, any new paper that’s created from this recycled material will have brown marks on it. However, cardboard goes through a much more robust recycling process because it’s not trying to produce a clean, pure white product, like white paper. Cardboard that’s produced from recycled brown paper and other recycled cardboard will have flecks of brown throughout, which is fine. This recycled cardboard will be used to create new products like cardboard boxes and egg cartons.

Please place all this brown paper in your recycling container for ‘cardboard’, not ‘paper’, unless it’s contaminated with food or grease. If this is the case, place this dirty brown paper inside your black bin or black bags for non-recyclable waste.