How do you recycle around the home?

Councillor Jacqui Beswick and recycling bins at the Green Lane depot

Recycle Week 2015 takes place this week (22-28 June), with the theme of ‘recycling around the home’, and is encouraging people to expand their recycling routine to all rooms in the home.

Many households regularly recycle items like plastic milk bottles and glass bottles from the kitchen, but it’s also easy to recycle many other items from the bathroom, living room and even the bedroom.

The bathroom has a lot of items that can be recycled such as cardboard toilet roll tubes and toothpaste boxes.

If everyone in the UK recycled one toothpaste box, it would save enough energy to run a fridge in over 2,000 homes for a year.

Plastic shampoo and moisturiser bottles can all be accepted for recycling, along with liquid soap, bleach and bathroom cleaner bottles – remember to remove any bottle tops.

The bedroom is home to a variety of recyclable items, tissue boxes and old magazines can be recycled in the blue bin, while deodorant cans are recycled in the light green bin.

If everyone in the UK recycled one aluminium deodorant aerosol, enough energy could be saved to vacuum over 480,000 homes for a year.

In the living room, newspapers, envelopes and cardboard packaging from parcels can be recycled, even air freshener aerosol cans.

If everyone in the UK recycled one aluminium air freshener aerosol can, enough energy could be saved to run a fridge for over 91,000 homes for a year.

Although there is a strong focus on the kitchen, there are a few items that sometimes get overlooked, such as breakfast cereal boxes, dishwasher tablet cardboard boxes, kitchen wrap boxes and washing-up liquid bottles. Remember to look in the cupboard under the sink for plastic bleach and surface cleaner bottles which can also be recycled.

Councillor Jacqui Beswick, Rochdale Council Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “We want people to think a little further than the kitchen and recycle items from other rooms in the home.

"Our Recycling Participation Officer will be out in the recycling trailer across the borough. If you have any questions, want to order a bin or simply want some advice on which bin to use, come and have a chat.”

Everything you recycle brings real benefits. It comes back again and again as new, saving resources and helping the environment. Drinks cans from around the home are recycled into new cans which can be back on the shelves in just eight weeks and plastic bottles can be turned into new plastic bottles, football shirts and fleeces.