your role
earthsmile is a bit like a bottle bank with a face so we're able to offer more advice than a faded poster on the side of a grubby container! There's still a great deal of misunderstanding about what can be accepted for recycling which is why your local bottle banks often look more like an overflowing rubbish bin. The bottle banks only accept bottles, earthsmile collects everything! By following a few simple rules like giving your recyclables a quick wash-up, you can significantly improve the quality of the materials that are recycled. You wouldn't want to give us your dirties would you?
Here’s a quick guide to getting recycling right:
yes, I can go in the earthsmile bag
- plastic bottle and food packaging, coded 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 in a triangle, as clean as you can get them. Please triple-rinse bleach bottles. (Typical examples: milk & drinks bottles, detergent and toiletries bottles, fresh soup and sauce pots, spread tubs, yogurt and dessert pots)
- plastic food trays, coded 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 in a triangle symbol. It is very important to wash these thoroughly! (typical examples: fruit and veg punnets and ready meal trays)
- plastic bottle lids
- plastic carrier bags
- unwanted CDs and DVDs (typical examples: free music and films in Sunday Supplements!)
- mobile phones
- clear glass, as clean as you get them (typical examples: jam, cook-in sauce, pickles, mayo, olive oil, peanut butter, wine, spirits), coloured glass (typical examples: wine, beer, spirits, mineral water)
no, I mustn’t be tempted to go in the earthsmile bag
- lids from glass bottles and jars
- toys packaging
- nylon or plastic string or strapping
- items with a '7' in the recycling symbol
- florist/gift cellophane
- paper, cardboard, metal tins and cans (you pay your local authority to collect these items already!)
If you cannot see a recyclable symbol 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 on your packaging it means it is made from mixed plastics and is at the end of its recyclable life and can't be used again.
Please leave your earthsmile bag outside your entrance door by 8am on your collection day and we’ll do the rest. By the way, you can wash your earthsmile bag from time to time to keep it fresh! Extra bags are available at £2 each.
here’s how you’ll be helping:
End uses for recycled plastic:
- video and CD cases
- office accessories
- fleeces
- plastic bottles (of course!)
- building insulation board
- garden furniture
- recylcing just one plastic bottle saves enough energy to power a 60W light bulb for 6 whole hours!
End uses for recycled glass:
- new bottles and jars (you knew that!)
- processed sand – finely ground sand for golf bunkers!
- glassphalt for road resurfacing
- recycling one glass bottle will power a computer for 20 minutes