Plastic

Plastic packaging, packing material, plastic bottles, plastic pots and other plastics. A quick way to test if soft plastics can be recycled is the “crinkle test” - if you crumple the plastic in your hand and it stays crumpled, it is recyclable and can be placed in the dry mixed recycling bin; however, if it returns to its original shape, it should be disposed of in the general waste bin.

Sorted materials are directed to one of Biffa's Polymers sites. There, they undergo further segregation, washing, and pelletizing, enabling them to be repurposed into new products.

Reusable?

Yes

Recyclable?

Yes -  rinsed out milk bottles, empty drinks bottles

No - packaging films, crisp packets, sweet wrappers, polystyrene, hard and rigid plastics (e.g. window frames, pipes, drums or other non-bulky compactable plastic items), containers with food residues, hazardous material (e.g. paint tins or bleach bottles), bioplastics, microwaveable meal trays,  plastic packaging strapping, any non-polyethylene film e.g. polyvinyl chloride (PVC), cling film, food and drink pouches, film lids from food trays, clean salad trays, rinsed out margarine tubs, plastic bread bags, plastic bags from cereals, plastic wrappers from mulitpacks of cans and plastic bottles, plastic wrappers from toilet roll and kitchen roll, plastic freezer bags, plastic bags, plastic magazine and newspaper wrap, bubble wrap

Process

  1. Reuse: packing material is often made of plastic and given the right circumstances, can be reused. If you have a large amount of plastic packaging suitable for reuse, consider reuse internally or contact Waste Office.
  2. Recycling: plastics marked with recycling numbers 1, 2, 4 and 5 can be placed in Dry Mixed Recycling bin (orange lid). Any other plastic packaging must be placed in General Waste bin (grey lid).

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