Kirsty Warren
Recycle this…

Recycling etiquette sussex

Recycle this…

Recycling tips for West Sussex

WSCC Recycling Ambassador Colin McFarlin regularly shares his knowledge with the community on the tricky matter of recycling in our domestic blue bins. We, here at Cuckfield Life, will be collecting all his invaluable tips and tricks and displaying them here on this handy online guide. We aim to add a new recycling tip every month, so be sure to check back.
All the information collected here was correct at the time it went to press. To check it is still correct please email the editor at editor@cuckfieldlife.co.uk.

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Important note: All items for recycling should be:

  • Clean - free from food and drink leftovers

  • Dry - keep your recycling bin lid shut

  • Loose - no plastic bags.

Did you know that you now need to book an appointment to visit a recycling centre in West Sussex?

This is to cut down on long queues and give our staff more time to offer help and give you recycling advice. Here are the key points...
- Appointments are available 14 days in advance. www.westsussex.gov.uk/BookToRecycle
- You need to provide the registration number of the vehicle you will be attending the centre in when you book. If you are hiring a vehicle and this is unknown, you will be asked to show the hire paperwork at the centre.
- You need to provide the registration number of the vehicle you will be attending the centre in when you book. If you are hiring a vehicle and this is unknown, you will be asked to show the hire paperwork at the centre.
- Anyone using a Recycling Centre is still required to provide proof of residency in West Sussex. You will still need to show one form of identification.

Paint

Tins of paint

Take a trip to the Recycling Centre in Burgess Hill, and not only can you drop off all your part used, probably dried up paint, but you can also pick up, free of charge, up to three tins of paint from the site.

When you get checked in at the gate, do tell them you have paint to dump and/or would like to have some free paint. One of the team will open up the locker (kept locked as a fire precaution) for you to choose paint for free. You do not have to hand in paint to obtain free paint. 

Visiting at the end of October (2024), I can tell you that there was all sorts of free paint available - loads of white emulsion.

Acrylic paint

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Acrylic is a form of plastic, so we do need to be aware of how we dispose of it. To reduce anything getting into the water system I have been advised that before you wash out your brushes, you wipe them off first with paper - old newspaper will do - to remove as much paint as possible and put the paper into your black top rubbish bin. This is better than using an old cloth as the cloth cannot be put in your black top bin.

This way, the absolute minimum amount of plastic will enter the water system from your sink when you do wash your brushes! The way our water is processed means that it can cope with these small amounts.

Can you also make sure that any paint left on your palette is also disposed of into your black top bin. When your palette is dry do peel off as much as you can and this can also be wrapped in paper and disposed of into your black top bin.

Regarding the acrylic plastic you put into your black bin, do not despair. In West Sussex, we do recycle your black top bin contents and we extract all the plastic and paper, including your acrylic paint, and we turn it into Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF). These are fuel pellets that are then are sold to industry as industrial fuel.

Plastic and metal lids

Confusingly, different manufacturers have different instructions on their packaging - some say take lids off and some say leave them on. This is down to different councils have different recycling methods, and some can accept tops left on. (There are 338 collection authorities in England, 32 in London alone!)

RECYCLING UPDATE: Our message has always been to take the tops off plastic containers before recycling. All this changed from 1st September 2022 as we have improved our recycling process. If you live in West Sussex, you can now recycle, in your kerbside recycling bin, plastic bottles, plastic milk bottles, tetra packs and ketchup bottles. Any plastic bottle you did recycle before without the lid, can now be recycled with the plastic lid on. It does not matter what type of plastic the top is made of; we can even accept trigger sprays on plastic bottles.

The rules we have in West Sussex regarding tops is:

METAL BOTTLE TOPS: any colour - can go into your blue top recycling bin, any size from small beer bottle tops to big jar tops.

PLASTIC BOTTLE TOPS: any colour - can go into your blue top recycling bin.

If a lid is discarded in the old way into your black top bin - do not despair! As we extract all the bits of plastic and paper from the black bin and turn it into RDF - Refuse Derived Fuel. These are fuel pellets that are then used in industry in place of fossil fuels! So none of your plastic will end up in landfill from WSCC.

However, did you know milk bottle tops are collected by charities?
Many of you collected milk bottle tops for the League of Friends at Princess Royal Hospital. They have stopped collecting and no longer have a bin in the hospital.
Instead, here are some of the places that still collect milk bottle tops. Remember only clean milk bottle tops, any colour. No other tops please.
Lindfield – outside The Stand Up – Terracycle bin, for the benefit of Great Ormond Street Hospital. Haywards Heath Town Council Office, same charity.
Bay Tree Café in Haywards Heath, in the Orchards Shopping Centre.
Cuckfield – Second Saturday of every month at the food market held at the Rose & Crown car park. Hurstpierpoint – Village Centre (Library) – Hurst ReThink collection box support GOSH.
The United Reformed Church - in the center of Hassocks village have a collection box.

Which plastic is recyclable plastic?

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I am often asked ‘What plastic can I recycle in my blue top bin?’

If you remember bottles, tubs and trays you will not go wrong. All of these can be recycled in your blue top bin. Colour is not an issue – any colour, including black. If you can remove the label do so, but if you cannot, our system can, it just saves us a job.

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Plastic trays - these are the trays that vary from the trays you find in chocolates and biscuits, very flimsy, right through to the plastic trays food is sold on, more solid and robust. The good news is ALL these plastic trays can be recycled by West Sussex, but it is not the same in other counties across the UK!

Plastic lids - we can recycle plastic lids, but it does depend on size. I usually say jam jar size is a minimum. Smaller lids can go in your black top bin. Milk bottle tops can be given to charity.

So why is plastic so complicated? There are over 40,000 different types of plastic, all grouped into seven resin codes.

So, there are many types of plastic in each code. Here are my five simple rules to what you can put into your kerbside recycling bin.

1. The symbol you find on plastic is nothing to do with recycling, it is one of the 7 resin codes – ignore it!

2. Is it a plastic bottle, tub, pot or tray from your bathroom or kitchen? (Plant pots are from your garden so cannot go into your recycling bin – B&Q operates a recycling scheme for them, as do some garden centres).

3. We accept any colour and any thickness.

4. Plastic should be clean, dry and loose and with the tops off. Why? The top is often a different plastic to the bottle, and they get mixed up with other recycling streams.

5. If plastic bottle tops are smaller than jam jar lid size – put into rubbish bin or give to a charity that collects bottle tops. Why? In our sorting process, small items of plastic contaminate our sorted glass. Recycling made simple.

If still in doubt, do look up online at this address: www.recycleforwestsussex.org and search under A-Z of recycling, or write to me with a picture.

Till receipts

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Up to about four or so years ago, till receipts were printed on special paper and were not able to be recycled. Remember when till receipts were on shiny paper?

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Thanks to the pressure to recycle, supermarkets and other retailers changed to printing on ordinary paper so now all till receipts can be recycled. Also, the smallest supermarket till receipt has been designed so that it is large enough to be recycled, in case you ever wondered why you get such a big piece of paper when buying one item!

This has now become a good approximate measure. If a piece of paper or cardboard is smaller than a supermarket till receipt for one item, then it is too small to be recycled and should be treated like shredded paper and put into your black top rubbish kerbside bin. Use this as a size guide to what paper and cardboard can go into your blue top kerbside recycling bin.

Reducing black bin waste

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Recycling as many products and items in our blue top bins isn’t the only solution to waste management. Keeping the amount we throw in our black top bins to a minimum can go a long way too.

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  • Rather than wipes, you can use small, washable face cloths

  • When shopping, pay attention to use by dates - keeping food waste to a minimum

  • Replace cling film and invest in a pack of reusable plastic covers

  • Face masks are now a part of our lives, so washable masks are a great investment

Small electrical recycling service

Everything with a plug, battery or cable has the potential to be recycled. If you have an individual kerbside rubbish collection, you can recycle old or broken small electrical items at the kerbside.

Currently this service is not available if your bins are located in a communal bin store. You can find alternative electrical recycling options using the following link: https://bit.ly/2LcKBO3

How does the kerbside collection work? Most unwanted or broken small electrical appliances, those items powered by batteries or with a plug, cable or lead can be recycled at the kerbside. Small electrical appliance recycling is collected every two weeks with your normal scheduled rubbish collection.

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• Little and Often - Please recycle “little and often” as space is limited on our collection vehicles for the storage of electrical items

• Bag It - Simply place the item(s) into a standard carrier size plastic bag (no larger than 35 x 40cm and not in black bin bags)

• Tie It – Securely tie the bag so the items do not fall out

• Recycle It - Place next to your black lidded rubbish bin on your scheduled collection day

For any items not on our kerbside collections checklist, please visit www.recycleyourelectricals.org.uk to find your nearest reuse or recycling point.