Wash and squash your recyclables!

The warm summer weather will undoubtedly increase the volume of material recycled as people enjoy a cold drink in the sun. It is therefore important to make the collection service as efficient as possible to cope with the additional material. Residents can help to do this by quickly washing and squashing plastic bottles and cans before recycling them at neighbourhood recycling centres or in their kerbside box or clear sacks. Glass bottles and jars should also be washed out.

Giving your cans and bottles a quick rinse with water left after washing up your dishes removes any unwanted residues helping to prevent unpleasant odours. This also makes the collection process cleaner for the collection operatives who have to hand sort the materials.

Squashing cans and plastic bottles means they take up much less room in your recycling box, clear sacks and recycling bins at neighbourhood recycling centres creating space to recycle even more! It also allows for more material to be placed in the collection vehicle improving collection efficiency. Crushing a can reduces the space it takes up by more than half, highlighting the increase in capacity that can be achieved through squashing your recycling!

So as you settle down with friends for a summer barbeque, please remember to recycle all your plastic and glass bottles, and cans and help the recycling process by washing and squashing them first.