Recycle Week 2016 – can you identify The Unusual Suspects?

With ‘Recycle Now’s Recycle Week 2016 taking place between 12 – 18 September, Neath Port Talbot Council is raising awareness on a few Unusual Suspects that are often missed from our household recycling.

We know that most households recycle plastic drinks bottles, food and drink cans, jam jars, cardboard boxes and newspapers, but ‘The Unusual Suspects’ such as aerosol cans, foil trays, face cream jars and toilet roll tubes are often overlooked and disposed of in black bag bins destined for landfills.

Many of ‘The Unusual Suspects’ are thrown away into bathroom and bedroom bins which are then emptied into the communal waste bins, but recyclable paper and cardboard items such as toothpaste boxes and tissue boxes are often hidden amongst the waste.

Keep an eye out for aluminium deodorant and air freshener aerosol cans. If everyone in the UK recycled one aluminium deodorant aerosol can, enough energy could be saved to vacuum over 480,000 homes for a year. Or, if everyone in the UK recycled one air freshener aerosol can, enough energy could be saved to run a fridge for over 91,000 homes for a year!

Taking a shower? The unusual suspect might be in there with you. Plastic shampoo, shower gel and moisturiser bottles can be recycled too. In the kitchen the unusual suspects include washing up liquid bottles, soap dispensers, bleach bottles and spray cleaners, which can all be recycled. Just remember, it’s best to remove the trigger spray and pump dispenser tops, as these aren’t currently recycled.

Leader of Neath Port Talbot Council, Cllr Ali Thomas OBE said: “Recycling is already making a big difference thanks to the efforts of Neath Port Talbot households. Neath Port Talbot’s waste strategy aims to increase the amount of waste we recycle and reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfills. Thanks to the commitment from the residents of Neath Port Talbot, we achieved our 2015/16 statutory recycling and composting target of 58%. We are now aiming to reach a figure of 64% by 2019/20”.

Recycle Week is an ideal time for us to really take a fresh look at our recycling habits, and to see if there are any opportunities to recycle even more items, particularly some of the lesser known ‘unusual suspects’”.

Even though the campaign focuses on unusual items, residents are also reminded of the importance of recycling or composting food waste. In the UK, we throw away 7 million tonnes of food and drink from our homes every year, the majority of which could have been eaten.

You can find out more about ‘The Unusual Suspects’ at www.npt.gov.uk/waste. ‘Like’ our Facebook account – Recycle4NPT – to find out more about the ‘Unusual Suspects’ throughout Recycle Week.