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Find out how different types of plastic are recycled in North Yorkshire.

Plastic has become part of everyday life, from bottles and bags to plastic pots and trays - our lives are full of it. We now use about 20 times more plastic than we did 50 years ago. Plastic is a useful material but we use a lot of it. By reusing and recycling it as many times as possible, we can reduce our need to create new plastic.

In the UK, we recycle less than two thirds of our plastic bottles and less than a third of the plastic pots, tubs and trays. In North Yorkshire and York, even though all councils collect plastic bottles for recycling and many accepted other plastics too, there is still a lot of recyclable plastics left in the waste bin.

Some of that plastic ends up polluting our environment. We all do our bit to recycle, but we can still do more. Most plastic waste in the UK doesn't end up in our oceans, but a lot is disposed of in our environment to be burned or buried in landfill sites. People are worried about its impact on nature, and they're right to be. 79% of the plastic waste ever created is still in our environment, leaving a legacy of plastic waste on our planet that will take years to put right.

There are a number of reasons why we should recycle our plastic.

A restriction on the supply of plastic straws, plastic drinks stirrers and plastic-stemmed cotton buds in England came into force on the 1st October 2020, in order to prevent pollution of the environment and/or harm to the health of humans and animals. Find out more about this legislation from GOV.UK.

To find out more about plastic waste you can visit the pledge for plastics web site .

Clear on Plastics is a campaign by WRAP, the sustainability not-for-profit, and supported by The UK Plastics Pact. Clear on Plastics exists to cut through the confusion and give clear, evidence-based information on plastics and sustainability, allowing them to make their own informed choices.

Their aim is to give people clear information about the complex world of plastics, waste and recycling – for instance, explaining the role of plastics, and demonstrating the balance between the benefits and drawbacks of alternatives.

Visit Clear on Plastics to find out more.

You can recycle all plastic bottles free of charge at all household waste recycling centres in North Yorkshire. Both household and commercial plastics are accepted at our sites.

Black plastic is not currently recycled by councils, as optical scanners which use the reflection of light to identify and sort the types of plastics cannot detect it. Studies are looking into whether adding a pigment or marking to the trays would make the material detectable and recoverable and there is the possibility that in future manufacturers may change from this colour material.

Generally, plastic film, sacks, polystyrene, wrappers, cups, toys, bubble wrap, CD cases and food pouches cannot be recycled within your household recycling and need to be disposed of in your rubbish bin.

Remember, if it's plastic and bottle shaped it's recyclable, including all those from the bathroom like shampoo and bleach bottles.

You can request a kerbside recycling container from your district or borough council in North Yorkshire and then put it out on collection day. All councils in North Yorkshire accept plastic bottles and some accept pots, tubs and trays. Check what types of plastic you can recycle at home by visiting your local council’s website.

There are some types of plastic films that can be recycled at collection points at the stores of most major supermarkets. These include Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, The Co-Op and Waitrose.

The following different types of plastic films are accepted at soft plastic collection points.

Soft plastics are lightweight plastics that cannot be placed in recycling bins at home. Items such as plastic film lids on yoghurt pots, soft fruit punnets and ready meals, as well as plastic crisp packets, pasta bags and chocolate or biscuit wrappers.

The supermarkets collect the plastic film at the front of the store and then they use “reverse haulage” so that when new stock is delivered the empty lorry takes away all their plastic wrapping. The plastic is recycled at a variety of UK reprocessors who use it to make recycled plastic carrier bags and rubbish bags.

It is estimated that 1.2 million tonnes of plastic film ends up in the UK waste stream every year with a staggering 800,000 tonnes from households. 

Please do not include bags or films in your kerbside recycling collections as they get caught up in the machinery at the sorting plant which causes many break downs and operational issues to the reprocessors.

All councils in North Yorkshire collect plastic bottles and some tubs and trays from the kerbside and at household waste recycling centres. This is because there are established markets for these materials so they are easily recycled.

We realise that some residents would like to recycle more than just this, so if you want to see what extra food waste packaging you can recycle the following options may be useful.

Biscuit and cracker wrappers as well as pouches that used to contain coffee, pet food and baby food items are not accepted in your recycling collections from home. However, some difficult to recycle items are collected by a company called TerraCycle who recycle them to create new products.

The TerraCycle website explains more about their scheme , the other items they collect and how you can get involved.

They offer free recycling programmes funded by brands, manufacturers, and retailers around the world to help you collect and recycle your hard to recycle waste. All you need to do is:

You can earn rewards for your school or favourite not for profit organisation.

You can find your nearest collection point on the TerraCycle website .

If you don’t need to wear a disposable face mask then please consider using a reusable face mask, however if you do use a disposable mask please do not put it in the recycling bin at home – they can’t be recycled with the normal recycling.

There are some specific facemask recycling schemes and these include:

If you would like to set up your own face mask recycling scheme then Terracycle offer schemes for difficult to recycle plastics .

Reworked offer PPE recycling boxes for facemasks, disposable gloves, visors and other plastic-based PPE items such as lateral flow tests, although they do charge.

Polyprint based in Norwich will accept polythene products for recycling. You can post them to:

Polyprint, Earl Road Rackheath Industrial Estate Rackheath Norwich NR13 6NT

Please make sure you put the correct postage on any parcels you send to them.

The best way of forwarding this material to them is by 2nd class or parcel post. Parcels without the correct postage will be sent to landfill. Please include your contact details and clearly mark the outside of the package as "for recycling".

Polyprint can accept the following items:

Polystyrene can exist in many forms some of which can be recycled and some of which can’t.

Some polystyrene such as yoghurt pots, margarine pots and food trays can be recycled if your council collects plastic pots, tubs and trays.

Expanded polystyrene (EPS), which is often used in packaging, including that used for take-away food, cannot be recycled and should be placed in your rubbish bin or general waste bin at your household waste recycling centre. Polystyrene used for products such as CD cases, disposable cutlery and disposable razors cannot be recycled and should also be placed in your rubbish bin or in the general waste at the household waste recycling centre.

Once the plastic containers at the household waste recycling centres are full, our contractor takes them to one of their bulking up facilities where they are compacted and baled and sent on for reprocessing to a recycling company.

Sorting is mainly done automatically to ensure all contamination has been removed.Plastic is either melted down directly and moulded into a new shape, or shredded into flakes then melted down before being processed into granulates.

There is a wide range of products made from recycled plastic, including:

This identifies the type of plastic resin used to make the item by providing a Resin Identification Code. It is represented with a chasing arrows symbol surrounding a number between 1 and 7 that defines the resin used. There are more than 50 different types of plastics but six common types have been given codes which help identify them for recycling. There is a seventh category for other plastics.

All bottles 1-3 can be recycled at the kerbside throughout North Yorkshire.

Includes clear drinks bottles, food packaging such as fruit punnets and textile fibres (polyester).

PET bottles are collected by all councils in North Yorkshire. Recycled PET is generally used in fabrics such as fleece, strapping and carpets. New technology allows PET to be recycled into new food packaging.

Includes milk bottles, shampoo and cleaning product bottles.

HDPE bottles are collected by all councils in North Yorkshire. They are recycled into garden furniture, litter bins and pipes. New technology allows HDPE to be recycled into new milk bottles.

Includes window frames, drainage pipes, shower curtains, clothing, toys and large squash bottles.

PVC bottles are collected from households for recycling. PVC use in packaging is in decline.

Includes carrier bags, yokes holding four or six-packs of cans together and lining or laminating cardboard containers.

Carrier bags are collected by some supermarkets and recycled into low-grade use items such as bin bags. Not collected from households for recycling.

Includes soup pots, margarine tubs, most bottle tops, waterproof clothing and carrier bags.

They are only collected within mixed pots, tubs and trays plastics recycling collections.

Includes take away cups, yoghurt pots and cushioning of breakable objects in packaging.

Expanded polystyrene is not collected from households for recycling. Some non-expanded yoghurt pots can be included in the mixed pots, tubs and trays plastics recycling collections.

Includes acrylic glass (perspex), nylon and polycarbonate. Items made from a blend of plastics also fall into this category.

Not collected from households for recycling.

© 2022 North Yorkshire County Council

The county council provides services across North Yorkshire including Harrogate, Ripon, Scarborough, Whitby, Northallerton, Thirsk, Selby, Tadcaster, Malton, Pickering, Richmond, Skipton and more.