Recycling the tricky stuff
A solution for those hard to recycle items!
As a trial we are collecting the following groups of items at the Repair Café in the Village Hall on the first Saturday morning of every month.
- Medicine blister packs
- Oral care waste and packaging
- Personal protective equipment
- Storage media
- Office supplies/stationery
- Contact lenses and packaging
Simply collect up your items each month and put them in the appropriate receptacle – they need to be separated into the categories above as that’s how we send them off.
Here’s some more information about what is and isn’t included in each category:
Medicine blister packs
| Accepted items | Not accepted items |
| Any brand of empty medicine blister packs Important information: We cannot accept medicine and medication residue. Boxes received that contain tablets will need to be diverted to Energy from Waste (and therefore may not be recycled). Blister packs must not have originally been destined for disposal as clinical or hazardous waste. Blister packs must not have come into contact with biological contaminants e.g. from within an operating or treatment environment. | Any medicine and medication residue including tablets, pills, lozenges and caplets as medicine should be returned to a pharmacy for safe disposal Cardboard, paper and any other types of waste other than empty medicine blister packs Any other medicine containers such as bottles, inhalers or sprays |
Oral care waste and packaging
| Accepted items | Not accepted items |
| Toothpaste tubes and caps Plastic toothbrushes Electric toothbrush heads which don’t contain an RFID microchip Interdental brushes and floss containers Dental aligners | Electric toothbrushes Smart brush heads with RFID microchip Plant-based or biodegradable plastics (e.g. PLA), wooden and bamboo toothbrushes |
Personal protective equipment
| Accepted items | Not accepted items |
| Earplugs Beard nets Hair nets Disposable gloves Safety glasses Disposable garments Disposable shoe covers Disposable masks* *We accept all types of disposable face masks made from plastic, such as dust masks, FFP2 (or so-called “N95”), FFP3 and surgical masks (as long as they don’t come from a medical environment). | Medical waste. This includes material contaminated with blood, bodily fluids and waste which should be collected in a hazardous clinical waste bin Autoclaved material Fabric, homemade or paper face masks Wax earplugs Lateral flow test kits |
Storage media
| Accepted items | Not accepted items |
| 8-track tapes Cassette tapes, VHS tapes CDs, DVDs, Blu-Ray discs Floppy disks | Memory sticks and hard drives 8-track players, cassette players, TVs, VCR players, CD players, DVD players or computers |
Office supplies/stationery
| Accepted items | Not accepted items |
| Small plastic or metal discarded office supplies: Pens, pencils, pencil sharpeners, staplers, hole punchers, clips and clamps Other small supplies: Disposable and reusable tape dispensers, glue sticks, rubber stamps, correction fluid bottles, and other correction supplies Filing and archiving supplies: Plastic file dividers, plastic folders, file pockets, business cards holders, binders | Electronic waste (e.g. electronic staplers, label making machines) Laminated paper-release liner from labels |
Contact lenses and packaging
| Accepted items | Not accepted items |
| Contact lenses Plastic film Pods Empty solution bottles | Cardboard packaging |
Please note that we cannot accept:
- Hazardous waste (for example sharp, flammable, reactive, corrosive, ignitable, toxic, infectious or pathogenic) which presents a danger to the environment, or to people.
- Batteries, pressurised canisters, broken glass and medical waste