Recycling at home
Recycling at home is one of the easiest ways to make a difference. Putting the right items in your recycling bin helps us to recycle your items properly, so they can be turned into new products.
Check what you can and can't recycle at home
Not everything can be recycled from home, below are some examples of things you should leave out. Remember to give your recycling a rinse if needed, and empty it loose into the bin for collection. A few good habits at home really do make a difference, so if in doubt, double check!
Items you cannot recycle at home, and what to do with them instead
- Packaging or containers with food or liquid still inside - empty them out and give them a quick rinse in old washing up water, and they become recyclable at home!
Recycle at our household waste recycling centres:
- Clothing and shoes
- Toys
- Wood
- Paint pots
- Electricals and vapes.
Put in your rubbish bin:
- Tissues and wet wipes
- Polystyrene
- Nappies and pads.
Take to supermarket collection points:
- Plastic films and bags
- Batteries.
Items you can recycle at home
- Rinsed food tins and cans
- Plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays
- Glass bottles and jars
- Cartons (such as plant milks and juice)
- Foil (scrunched into a ball or clean trays)
- Paper and cardboard (these may be collected separately depending on where you live)
- Toothpaste tubes with lids on
- Empty aerosols.
Visit Recycle Now to check what else you can and cannot recycle, and where exactly to take the items you can’t recycle at home.
Recycle loose - no bags please!
Plastic bags and soft plastics can’t be recycled in Kent yet. When your recycling reaches our sorting facility, these plastics can:
- get caught in our machines
- wrap around other items
- slow everything down.
This means we may have to reject some recyclable items. This is something we want to avoid.
If collecting your items in a plastic bag indoors works for you, that’s okay. Just 'shake it out' before emptying it into your bin. Then you can reuse the bag or recycle it at a supermarket.
This small step makes a big difference to how much we can recycle across Kent.
Visit your district council's website to find out when they're be collecting your recycling.
Find out what other services your district council provides.
What happens next
After your district council collects your recycling items, they go to a sorting facility. There, they get separated and sent for processing. The cleaner and looser your items are, the easier it is for us to recycle them.
Don’t forget to shake your items out of your bag to help us:
- recycle more
- reduce waste
- keep sorting machinery working smoothly
- provide a better service to everyone in Kent