Details of the types of materials we can and can't collect

Paper

Yes Please

The following are examples of the types of paper we can collect for recycling

Newspapers	White Phone Books	Envelopes (no need to remove windows)
Magazines	Computer Paper	Brochures
Catalogues	Junk Mail	Shredded Paper

No Thank You

We are unable to take the following materials in the paper recycling bins.

Material	Reason why we can't accept it in the paper bin	Can it be recycled in another way
Yellow Pages	The company who reprocesses the paper collected by Wealden do not accept Yellow Pages because the yellow dye on the pages contaminates the white paper. If they were to accept them then they would either have to be kept separate from the white paper or they would have to use more bleach in the recycling process, which is a costly, environmentally unfriendly process.	Yellow pages can be accepted for recycling at the following Household Waste Recycling Sites; Farningham Road, Crowborough Roselands Avenue, Eastbourne Burwash Road, Heathfield Ham Lane, Lewes Cradle Hill Road Industrial Estate, Seaford Faircrouch Lane, Wadhurst
Wrapping Paper	The company who reprocesses the paper collected by Wealden does not accept wrapping paper for recycling as it usually contains contaminants such as sellotape and glitter	Providing all contaminants are removed this can be shredded and placed in your home compost bin. Alternatively, if you are on the Crown Scheme, you can place it in your bin for green waste.
Cardboard	The company who reprocesses the paper currently does not accept cardboard as they do not do anything chemically strong enough to turn brown fibres white.	Cardboard can be broken up and placed in your home compost bin or if you are on the Crown Scheme,it can be placed in the bin for green waste. Alternatively, it can be taken to one of the household waste recycling sites.
Plastic Bags	Please do not place your papers in carrier bags as this slows down the recycling process and leaves the reprocessor with additional contaminants to dispose of.	Carrier bags are now being recycled by Sainsbury's, Tesco's and some of the other main supermarkets.
Tissues and Kitchen Roll	The company who reprocesses the paper can not accept tissues because they are made from a lower grade of paper and for contamination reasons.	Tissues and kitchen roll can be placed in your home compost bin or if you are on the Crown scheme and providing they have not come into contact with any meat, can be placed in the bin for green waste.

Plastic bottles

Yes Please

The following are examples of the types of plastic bottles we can collect for recycling

Plastic milk bottles	Fizzy drinks bottles	Squash bottles
Water bottles	Shampoo bottles	bottles from household cleaning products
Bleach bottles	Bottle tops

Please remember to wash and squash your bottles.

No Thank You

We are unable to take the following materials in the plastic bottle recycling bins

Material	Reason why we can't accept it in the plastic bottle bin	Can it be recycled in another way
Other types of plastic other than plastic bottles made from PET, HDPE or PVC E.g. food trays, yoghurt pots, margarine tubs, clingfilm, polystyrene packaging	The reprocessor that Wealden sends the bottles to uses passive infrared technology to sort the bottles, plastic bottles are usually only made of 3 plastic polymers, HDPE (High Density Polyethylene or 2), PET (Polyethylene or 1) or PVC (V or 3) and can be easily identified and recycled. Other types of plastic packaging are more complex for them to process. Even though the packaging may have the same identification markings as the bottles, many trays are labeled incorrectly (as they have been manufactured outside the UK), or are made of a combination of plastics laminated together, so they are not a single plastic polymer. This means that in general other types of food trays cannot be sorted by infrared and so they are all baled separately and exported to the Far East, where we can not guarantee that they will be recycled.	There are currently no options available for recycling other types of plastic at this time where we can guarantee it will be recycled and will not be sent to landfill.
Pesticide or chemical bottles	The chemicals contained in these bottles could be toxic or highly flammable and could cause problems in the recycling process which could potentially be dangerous.	There are currently no options available for recycling pesticide or chemical bottles. However, these should be disposed of properly at one of the household waste recycling sites.
Plastic Bags	The reprocessor that Wealden currently sends the bottles to does not accept carrier bags for recycling at this time. Please do not place your bottles in carrier bags as this slows down the recycling process and leaves the reprocessor with additional contaminants to dispose of.	Carrier bags are now being recycled by Sainsbury's, Tesco's and some of the other main supermarkets.

Cans, Foil and Aerosols

Yes Please

The following are examples of the types of aluminium and steel we can collect for recycling

Food cans	Drinks cans	Aluminium foil tops e.g. milk bottles tops and yoghurt tops
Aluminium foil food trays	Aerosol cans (please ensure they are empty. please do not pierce or squash)	Biscuit Tins

Please remember to wash your cans and foil and bag any aluminium foil separately.

If you are not sure if an item is made of just foil, try the following test: squash the foil and if it doesn't bounce back it can go in the can bin. If it does bounce back it is not the foil we want.

No Thank You

We are unable to take the following materials in the can recycling bins

Material	Reason why we can't accept it in the can bin	Can it be recycled in another way
Plastic Bags	Please do not place your cans in carrier bags as this slows down the recycling process. However, as the aluminium foil is separated by hand, we would appreciate it if you could continue to bag this up separately.	Carrier bags are now being recycled by Sainsbury's, Tesco's and some of the other main supermarkets.
laminated foil such as coffee packs, crisp packets and chocolate bar wrappers.	This type of foil has a plastic layer which we are unable to recycle at this time. If you are not sure if an item is made of just foil, try the following test: squash the foil and if it doesn't bounce back it can go in the can bin. If it does bounce back it is not the foil we want.	There are currently no alternatives for recycling laminated foil.
Other Metal Items	The sorting equipment at our materials reclamation facility in Uckfield is not designed to accept large metal items. Items such as saucepans are specially designed with heat resistant properties and are therefore not accepted by our reprocessor.	Larger metal items can be taken to one of the household waste recycling sites. There are currently no alternatives for recycling metals with heat resistant properties.

Beverage Cartons

Yes Please

The following are examples of the types of beverage cartons we can collect for recycling

Milk Cartons e.g. Moo milk, Lactofree UHT milk, SMA follow on milk, So good soya milk	Juice cartons e.g. Tropicana, Sainsbury's organic orange juice	Cartons made by a company called Tetra Pak e.g. Alpro soya, Ribena
Some ice lolly packaging e.g. calippo's and Jubbly ice lollies

No Thank You

We are unable to take the following materials in the beverage carton recycling bins

Material	Reason why we can't accept it in the beverage carton bin	Can it be recycled in another way
Paper Cups e.g. cups from starbucks or McDonalds	The company who reprocesses the beverage cartons does not accept paper cups as they do not have the capacity to cope with the material.	There are currently no options available for recycling paper cups.
Plastic packaging such as food trays, yoghurt pots, margarine tubs, clingfilm, polystyrene, plastic bottles	The company who reprocesses the beverage cartons does not accept plastic packaging as they do not have the capacity to cope with the material.	Plastic bottles can be taken to certain neighbourhood recycling points and household waste recycling sites. There are currently no options available for recycling other types of plastic at this time where we can guarantee it will be recycled and will not be sent to landfill.
Plastic Bags	Please do not place your beverage cartons in carrier bags as this slows down the recycling process and leaves the reprocessor with additional contaminants to dispose of.	Carrier bags are now being recycled by Sainsbury's, Tesco's and some of the other main supermarkets.
Cardboard	The company who reprocesses the beverage cartons does not accept anything that is just made from cardboard as they do not have the capacity to cope with the material.	Cardboard can be broken up and placed in your home compost bin or, if you are on the Crown scheme, it can be placed in the bin for green waste. Alternatively, it can be taken to one of the household waste recycling sites.

Glass

Yes Please

The following are examples of the types of glass we can collect for recycling

Glass bottles

Glass jars

Please ensure you separate your glass into the different colours to enable us to recycle it into new bottles and jars. please note blue glass should be placed in with the green glass.

No Thank You

We are unable to take the following materials in the glass recycling bins

Material	Reason why we can't accept it in the glass bin	Can it be recycled in another way
Glass from windows or green houses	The company who reprocesses the glass do not accept these items as they are made from a different type of glass with toughened properties that cause problems in the recycling process.	There are currently no options available for recycling this type of glass.
Pyrex or vision ware cooking dishes	These items are made from a different type of glass to normal bottles and jars called Borosilicate glass. Around 10% boric oxide is added to the basic glass raw materials enabling the glass to withstand very high temperatures and rapid changes from hot to cold. If consumers recycle these items with their glass bottles and jars it will become broken and mixed in with the other glass where it is visually impossible to tell the difference. Borosilicate glass does not fully melt in the furnaces used to make glass for bottles and jars and so gets into the finished containers as small hard pieces called “stones”. These “stones” form weaknesses in the bottles and jars which can lead to them breaking. In the factories making containers there is a range of inspection equipment which checks every single bottle or jar made and detects the “stones”, stopping them going out to be filled with food or drinks. If the factories making glass bottles and jars find lots of “stones” in containers they have to reduce the amount of recycled glass they are using until the problem stops.	There are currently no options available for recycling this type of glass.
Light bulbs and other electronic equipment with glass components	Light bulbs and other electronic equipment which have glass components contain many metal elements and a range of heavy metals such as lead and cadmium and should be disposed of by specialist companies. If the public use recycling points for these items it creates quality problems for glass manufacturers and reprocessors in all markets.	Energy saving light bulbs , fluorescent tubes and electrical equipment can be recycled at certain household waste recycling sites. There are currently no options available for recycling normal light bulbs.
Glass Crockery e.g. drinking glasses	Glass crockery is made from a different type of glass with different properties which can cause problems in the recycling process.	There are currently no options available for recycling this type of glass.
Plastic Bags	Please do not place your glass in carrier bags as this slows down the recycling process and leaves the reprocessor with additional contaminants to dispose of.	Carrier bags are now being recycled by Sainsbury's, Tesco's and some of the other main supermarkets.

Salvation Army Textile bins

Yes Please

The following are examples of the types of textiles we can collect for recycling

Clothes	Underwear	Hats
Belts	Scarves	Gloves
Ties	Swim wear	Coats
Night clothes	Bags	Blankets
Soft Toys	Towels	Table cloths & Napkins
Sheets	Curtains	Shoes *
Trainers *	Sandals *	Boots *
Slippers *	Rags - anything that can not be reused is recycled into wiper cloths, furniture padding or similar.

* Please ensure you tie your shoes etc together in pairs as it is impossible to pair them up again if they get separated.

No Thank You

We are unable to take the following materials in the textile recycling bins

Material	Reason why we can't accept it in the textile bin	Can it be recycled in another way
Duvets & Pillows	The Salvation Army do not accept duvets and pillows as they are difficult to reuse because of their "fillings".	There are currently no options available for recycling.
Bric a brac	These items are breakable and thus difficult to collect in the bins.	These can be taken to charity shops including those run by the Salvation Army.
China	These items are breakable and thus difficult to collect in the bins.	These can be taken to charity shops including those run by the Salvation Army. Please make sure that they are well packed and adequately marked as breakable.