Metal tins and cans

Accepted

• Food cans such as beans, soup, tomatoes and fish
• Drinks cans
• Metal lids and caps from bottles and jars

Rejected

• Other metals, e.g. cutlery, pots and pans and scrap metal generally

Aerosols

Accepted

• Deodorants
• Furniture polish
• Shaving foam canisters

Rejected

• Gas canisters
• Fire extinguishers
• Other metals, e.g. cutlery, pots and pans and scrap generally

Foil

Accepted

• Aluminium foil tops e.g. milk bottle tops and yogurt tops
• Aluminium foil food trays

Rejected

• Foil lined crisp packets
• Foil lined food pouches, e.g. baby food and cat food
• Other metals, e.g. cutlery, pots and pans and scrap metal generally

Please remember to wash your foil.  If you are not sure if an item is made of just foil, try the following test:

Squash the foil, does it bounce back?

No – put it in your green recycling bin

Yes – it is not the foil we want and should be placed in your rubbish bin.

Metal Contaminants

Foil wrapping

e.g. crisp packets/cat food pouches – these are actually made from foil lined with plastic so they are not currently recyclable. To test for foil; screw it up, if it stays crumpled then this is purely foil and can be recycled.

Plastic bags

Please do not place your metal items in carrier bags as this slows down the recycling process and leaves the reprocessor with additional contaminants to dispose of. Carrier bags are now being recycled by Sainsbury’s, Tesco and some of the other main supermarkets. You can also recycle thin plastic film at these supermarkets (please check at your local stores). Crisp packets are unfortunately not made from recyclable material and must therefore be placed in your waste bin.