Recycling with Terracycle

One day, when you’ve collected all your black bin rubbish to throw out, have a look to see which of those items could be recycled.   I’m not talking glass jars, foil tins and plastic bottles.   I’m thinking bread bags, cheese wrapping, biscuit wrappers, rubber gloves, razor blades, contact lenses, laundry packaging and more.

 Terracycle was set up with the intention of collecting items that could not be thrown in with the standard council recycling schemes, then re-purposing and transforming them.  They are constantly working with global partners to create new and ongoing sustainability programmes so their offering is always being updated.  Previous programs include pet food pouches, pen/highlighters, dental care and baby food pouches.  For any plastic bags or containers used for food or drink, it is best to wash these first; I do this with the leftover washing-up water.

Under www.terracycle.com, you can find which recycling programs are current in your country.  From there, you find your local drop-off point for the recycling programs you’re interested in.  It is best to input your county or state, rather than your specific town as the map cannot calculate based on miles.  For example, if I searched for the nearest drop-off to Guildford in Surrey, I would put Surrey.

If you own a business, you can purchase a Zero Waste box which will then be picked up when full.  Zero waste boxes are available for PPE, human hair, disposable gloves/face masks/aprons, ear plugs, protective eyewear, disinfectant wipes, to name just a few.

If you cannot make it to a community drop-off point, you can purchase a Zero Waste bag just for your household.  Perhaps you feel inspired to start your own drop-off point at your local school, community centre or church.  Terracycle gives rewards which you can donate to your community or a chosen charity.

I’ve been fortunate for several years to have access to a public drop-off point so for me, collecting plastic food bags, pouches and nitrile gloves has become second nature.  My neighbours must wonder at the cheese bags hanging out on my washing line!