BDR Waste Partnership

                                     P R E S S   R E L E A S E

28 April 2023

Make your recycling count

Don’t let your recycling efforts go to waste with a ‘wish cycle’ that puts rubbish in the wrong bin.

It is estimated 84% of households across the country are contaminating their recycling through well-intended ‘wish cycling’ – where they try to recycle items that should not go in the recycling bin, believing they are ‘doing their bit’.

Too much contamination can mean bins may not be collected. If there is too much in the collection vehicle the whole load may be rejected.

Which is a shame when thousands of households in South Yorkshire are doing their bit to help save the planet by recycling their waste.

Across the nation we save 18 million tonnes of CO2 every year by recycling – the same environmental impact as taking 12 million cars off the road.

Abi Reid is Community Education Liaison Officer based at the BDR Waste Treatment Plant at Manvers, the award-winning waste treatment facility which diverts 97 per cent of Barnsley, Doncaster, and Rotherham general household waste from landfill. 

“We all lead busy lives and can easily put the wrong thing in the wrong bin,” said Abi. “Just a quick check can make such a big difference to the quality of our recycling. With so many people trying to do their best when it comes to recycling, we want to make sure your efforts are not wasted.”

To help increase the amount of waste recycled you can:

•             Check on your Council website or calendar to see what can go in your bin

•             Use the recycling locator tool (https://www.recyclenow.com/) Type your postcode into the Recycling Locator, to find out what to recycle where you live.

•             Leave it out If you aren’t sure if something can be recycled.

Councils can be charged for contamination. A rejected load means the waste isn’t recycled and may be landfilled or sent to energy from waste instead and the council pays a significant amount for this – money that could have been spent on something else.

Waste experts report that glass is the number one contaminate – with many households mistakenly adding old/broken drinking glasses to their recycling. This is closely followed by foil pouches (29%) and toothpaste tubes (26%) – which over a quarter of households mistakenly put in the recycling.

UK top ten contaminants:

Drinking glasses, foil pouches, toothpaste tubes, plastic film lids, tissues and paper towels, glass cookware, plastic film, cartons, plastic toys and frozen veg bags.

Note to Editors:  The waste treatment facility at Manvers processes around a quarter of a million tonnes of leftover waste a year from 345,000 homes across Barnsley, Doncaster, and Rotherham, turning it into useful products rather than sending it to landfill.

For further information contact Abi Reid on 07814 302297 or abi.reid@renewi.com.