If you’re a child of the 90s (at least in the UK) then you will know the three Rs off by heart. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle was the theme of many a school assembly and poster making lesson. There’s even a song! As far as the basics such as glass/aluminium and paper go it’s easier than ever to do your bit and recycle. Reducing the amount you need to recycle is our ultimate goal. However, sometimes we need to use single-use items and some of these aren’t collected by our local council.
Terracycle
Enter TerraCycle. TerraCycle’s mission is to work with companies to help you recycle your hard to recycle items. You can do this by collecting them at work, school or home or by going to one of the company drop off sites. There’s a whole range of hard to recycle items that you can donate. I’ve picked just a few to show you how the system works.
Blister packs
For most of us with chronic illnesses/disabilities, we use plenty of pill packets (also known as blister packs). From supplements to prescribed medication we can produce a lot of waste. Up until now, there’s been no way to recycle them so imagine my delight when I saw this was now possible! Some Superdrug stores and pharmacies now recycle the packs. All you have to do is take them to your local participating store, which can be found here.
Cheese packets
There are currently three cheese packets recycling programmes babybel, cathedral city and pilgrims choice. The babybel programme is only for babybel but both cathedral city and pilgrims choice accept any brand.
Crisp packets
Any type of crisp packets can be dropped off at one of the participating sites found here.
How does it work?
Search the terracyle website and find the type of rubbish you’d like to recycle then look on the map for that item and see where your nearest recycling spot is. Then check the days and times its open and where exactly you need to drop it off then off you pop! It’s as simple as that. If you have a workplace or school that could take part in the schemes further details are found on the terracyle website.
Did you know about this? And have you used terracycle before? I’d love to know what other unusual items you’ve been able to recycle!
