A to Z of reusing, recycling and waste disposal

Please see Chemicals

Please see Chemicals.

Please return used hypodermic needles to your doctor's surgery or health centre for safe disposal. DO NOT put these in your rubbish or recycling bin. You can order on prescription a yellow sharps bin for needles through your GP practice.

It's important to dispose of medication properly to avoid it causing harm if it gets into the environment or water system. Inhalers can contain drug residue or greenhouse gasses even when they're empty. Whether empty or full, inhalers should be returned to your local community pharmacy for destruction and safe disposal.

You can refill and re-use inkjet cartridges by buying a refill kit or visiting your local cartridge retailer. There are many charities that want unwanted ink cartridges and provide Freepost envelopes so that you can send them your cartridges. These are often available in your local supermarket or other retailer or can be found by entering a search on the internet.

If your iron still works, please donate it to a charity shop or your local reuse organisation. You can recycle your iron by taking it to your nearest bring site that has a WEEE bank (see W for a list of WEEE banks) or to your nearest recycling centre, where you can put it in the small waste electrical container. The metal and plastic will be recycled into new products.

Jam jars - please see Glass Jars and Bottles

Unwanted jewellery can be taken to charity and second hand shops.

Donate complete jigsaw puzzles to your local charity shop.

If your kettle still works, please donate it to a charity shop or your local reuse organisation. You can recycle your kettle by taking it to your nearest bring site that has a WEEE bank (see W for a list of WEEE banks) or to your nearest recycling centre, where you can put it in the small waste electrical container. The metal and plastic will be recycled into new products.

Please see aluminium foil

Try to always use kitchen roll made from recycled paper. Used kitchen roll can be added to your compost bin/heap where it will rot down to produce compost for the garden.  The cardboard inner tube can be recycled by putting it in your green recycling bin. It will recycled into new cardboard products.

You can recycle your old, unwanted knives by taking them to your nearest recycling site and putting them in the scrap metal container.

If these are still in working order, please donate them to your local charity shop or reuse organisation. If they are not good enough to reuse please recycle your lamp/light fitting by taking it to your nearest recycling centre, where you can put it in the small electrical waste container.

See 'Garden waste'.