Confused about Plastic Bottles?

When it comes to recycling plastic, are you confused about what you can and can't recycle?  Well, you're not alone and we're trying to make things easier by doing a special 6 month focus on exactly what kinds of plastic can and can't be recycled.  We hope you will find the following information helpful, but if you have any further queries, do contact us (Council Connect 01225 39 40 41 or email: councilconnect@bathnes.gov.uk )

What kinds of plastic can I recycle in my green box?

When it comes to plastic recycling, any plastic bottle can be recycled.  This includes any kind of plastic bottle that has been used to contain any kind of liquid, so you can recycle milk bottles, pop bottles, bleach bottles, sauce bottles, washing up bottles and shampoo bottles and any other plastic bottle you can think of.

What kind of plastic can’t you recycle?

We cannot easily recycle any other kinds of plastic, so please do not include other items such as yoghurt pots, margarine tubs, meat trays, plastic bags or anything else that isn't a plastic bottle in your recycling box.

Why can you only take certain kind of plastic?

Plastic bottles can be recycled because they are easy to separate and we have readily accessible markets to sell them to.  Other kinds of plastic are much more difficult to separate and so our only other option would be to recycle them as mixed plastics.   If we collected mixed plastics, it would be a lot more expensive to collect and the markets are much less reliable. 

What happens to the plastic bottles that you collect?

The plastic bottles that we collect are all processed by JFC Plastics Ltd in Merseyside.  They are recycled into a range of products such as drainage pipes, and polyester fibre which can be made into clothing or insulation for duvets, coats and car bonnets.  Did you know that it takes 25 two litre plastic drinks bottles to make one fleece garment?

How should we put our plastic bottles out?

When you put your plastic bottles out, remember the phrase:

Tops off, wash & squash!

The tops need to removed as they are often made of a different type of plastic and can make it harder for us to bale them.  Please give bottles like milk bottles and sauce bottles a quick rinse for odour and hygiene reasons.  Please squash your bottles if possible so that we can collect more on our lorries - the easiest way to do this is by stamping on them!

For further information on plastic bottle recycling, please go to Recycling Frequently Asked Questions

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