AEROSOL CANS
Manufacture of aerosol cans is highly energy intensive and the gases used can be harmful to the earth's atmosphere.  Where possible avoid using aerosol cans altogether.

• Aerosol sprays can now be recycled.  Please deposit these uncrushed in can banks.

• Use pump sprays as an alternative.

ALUMINIUM
Aluminium Drinks Cans
Aluminium has a high value.  Most soft drinks cans are made from it and can easily be separated from steel food ‘tins’ because aluminium is non-magnetic.

• Recycle aluminium cans wherever possible.  Use the local can banks, remembering to crush any drinks cans first, if possible.

• Take to charity shops.
• Take to your local Civic Amenity Site, where they will be passed on to a scrap metal merchant.
• For larger items you could sell direct to a scrap metal merchant.

ASBESTOS
Asbestos is a hazardous waste. 

• For domestic quantities please contact your local Council Area Office for its safe disposal. 
• For commercial or industrial asbestos occurrences, please contact your local SEPA office.

ASH
Wood Ash only
Put round the garden – wood ash is especially good for soft fruit as it contains valuable minerals, which improve soil quality.

BATTERIES
Argyll & Bute has now installed household battery recycling facilities at all of its civic amenity sites.

Small Domestic Batteries
Over 20, 000 tonnes of domestic batteries are thrown away every year in the UK.  These batteries contain highly toxic heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, lithium and mercury, which cause pollution problems when sent to landfill, or incinerated.

• Avoid using batteries by using mains electricity instead.
• Use rechargeable batteries whenever possible.  Although more expensive to buy initially, rechargeable batteries work out cheaper in the long run. 

NB For safety, it is not advisable to use rechargeable batteries in smoke alarms.

There is now a takeback and recycling obligation by the battery producer, under Directive 2006/66/EC.   www.sepa.org.uk/customer_information/netregs.aspx

Car batteries
Do not dump car batteries!  Car batteries contain lead and sulphuric acid – both of which are recyclable if extracted carefully, by an expert. 

• The easiest solution is to part exchange your old battery for a new one.  Talk with the supplier.
• Otherwise your local Civic Amenity Site will take car batteries
• Your local garage or supplier might also accept used car batteries for recycling, but may make a charge for this service, to discourage huge numbers. 

• Most charity shops and voluntary organisations accept clean bedding. 
• Why not cut linen and blankets down into rags and dusters, or place in your local textile bank for recycling.

BICYCLES

• Contact your local bike dealer to service the bike and then use it to get fit!
• Try advertising in the local paper, if it is in good condition.
• Your local cycle shop may accept second-hand bikes for resale. 
• Contact Adrishaig bike project
• Charity shops may be interested.
• If all else fails and the bike is beyond repair – take it to the local Civic Amenity site for scrap metal. 

BOOKS
If you’ve read a book – don’t throw it out.  Someone, somewhere might want to read it.  Give your unwanted books to charity shops, jumble sales, car-boot sales or second-hand bookshops.

BUILDING MATERIALS
Many building materials lend themselves to valuable secondary uses – good slates are much sought after; wood-worm free timber can be used more than once, or burnt; and stone and clean bricks can be used to build garden walls, path edging or as hardcore. 

• Ask friends and neighbours if they are interested in any of the materials.
• Try advertising in the ‘free-ads’ section of the local paper… ”Free to uplift” etc

• Give to charity shops, jumble sales, car-boot sales and second-hand bookshops.

• Trim the bristles of softened brushes with sharp scissors to give them a second life. Save old toothbrushes and washing up brushes for cleaning and DIY jobs.

• Rinse out any food cans and ‘post’ with drinks cans, in local can-banks.

• Save small boxes, packages and rolls for nursery and primary schools.  They are useful for play activities. 
• Flatten big boxes and take to your local civic amenity site.  Try to keep the cardboard as dry as possible.
• Post flattened cartons and cardboard boxes, with newspapers etc, in the local paper bank.
• Toilet roll tubes and other small cardboard items can be torn into small pieces and composted.
• Many areas have a cardboard kerbside collection.

• Use postcard re-use labels available by mail order.
• Old postcards can be sent to:  Actionaid, Ernie Roberts House, 13-15 High St, St Mary Cray, Orpington, Kent BR5 3NL.   The postcards are sold to collectors to raise funds.
• Take used Christmas cards to Boots or Tescos for recycling.  The cards are then recycled and the proceeds raised are donated to the Woodland Trust’s Projects.
• Try to buy recycled and unbleached cards whenever possible.  Charity shops and charity merchandise catalogues offer a wide choice, with the bonus of helping a worthy cause.

• If in good condition – try advertising in the local press to sell the carpet or rug.
• Usable carpet is accepted by many charitable organisations.
• Lay as additional insulation in the loft.
• Woollen carpet can be composted.  Other unusable carpet could be used as a compost heap ‘cover’. 
• Use old carpet instead of a sand layer, under butyl pond liners, to prevent sharp stones snagging and tearing the plastic.
• Phone the Council for a bulk uplift, if there really is no alternative.

CARRIER BAGS
Say no to plastic bags!  Better still, buy thicker, ‘long-life’ carrier bags, which are on sale at some supermarkets, or buy a reusable cotton bag. 

• Reuse the plastic bags that you do collect. 
• Charity shops reuse plastic bags and the local library might want some for ‘rainy days’.
•  Most supermarkets offer a carrier bag recycling scheme.

CARTRIDGES
The components of print and photocopier cartridges have an average reusability rate of over 80%.  The cartridge shells themselves are over 90% reusable, meaning they can often be used several times over.  These cartridges have a strong economic value and therefore provide excellent fundraising opportunities for charities. 

Recycool is a mobile phone and print cartridge recycling program that has paid more than £250,000 to UK schools.  Designed to make fundraising easy, recycool provides teaching resources, lesson plans and activity sheets so teachers can get their students involved in an enterprise based recycling program.  www.recycool.org

CDs, TAPES & VIDEOS
Most charity shops welcome donations of these items.  Several CDs make dazzling bird-scarers when strung above vegetable patches, or moored boats.

Unwanted CDs and plastic cases can be sent for recycling to:  Polymer Reprocessors Ltd, www.polymerrecycling.co.uk

CHEMICALS (See Hazardous Household Waste)
Should any chemical spillage or fly tipping be found then ring the SEPA 24hr Emergency hotline: 0800 80 70 60.

CHRISTMAS TREES
Take your unwanted tree to the green waste section of your Civic Amenity Site.  If possible shred it and add to your home compost heap.

CIVIC AMENITY SITES
These are easily accessible sites for the public to use.  Anything can be taken there for FREE.

Call your local Area Office or SEPA for advice, if you have Hazardous Household Waste to be dealt with.  (see Hazardous Household Waste)

CLOTHES / TEXTILES
Poor quality textiles can be recycled as well as good quality items.  Items are sorted and often exported to developing countries, whilst the unwearable items are respun into new clothes, cut up for rags or reprocessed to make roofing or carpet felt, furniture padding etc. 

• Give unwanted clean clothes, regardless of condition to charity shops.  Any items that cannot be sold will be sent for recycling.  
• Make use of the local textile banks at many recycling sites.  Clothes, blankets, curtains, shoes and handbags can be recycled at these sites.
• Hunt for bargains in charity shops.  As well as being a low cost alternative to high street retailers the money paid goes to a good cause.  Other good sources of second-hand clothing are jumble sales and car-boot sales.
• Look out for fleece jackets made from recycled plastic PET bottles.  The majority of outdoor-wear manufacturers now produce these jackets that are available from specialist outdoor clothing shops (see Yellow pages for stockists.)

COINS & STAMPS
Most charity shops have collection boxes for foreign coins and stamps.
NB With the introduction of the Euro – many European currencies are now obsolete.

COMPOST
This is one of the easiest ways to ‘do your bit’ to reduce landfill.  A simple container steadily filled with household ‘rubbish’ will result in nutrient-rich compost ready to improve your garden.  Just about all kitchen and garden waste is suitable for composting.  Meat and flour products should not be composted (as they attract vermin and will smell), but all vegetable and fruit peelings/remains, dust from the vacuum cleaner, bits of hair, tea-leaves, tissues, kitchen roll, egg shells and garden waste can be composted.  

An average household produces at least 200kg of organic waste per year.   If each of the 45,000 households in Argyll & Bute used a compost bin, this would generate a saving of waste of approximately 9,000 tonnes, plus a significant reduction in energy costs from transporting waste, and the bonus of free compost (saving you money at the garden centre). 

• If in working order cookers would be worth selling. 
• Ask if the supplier of your new cooker will take away your old one for disposal.
• Contact your local authority for bulky uplift service (fees may apply).
• Take them to a Civic Amenity Site

COOKING OIL
For domestic amounts of oil there is no practical collection. 

• It could be poured into an old yoghurt pot and mixed with old breakfast cereal or oats, stale peanuts/biscuits/cake/bread and combined with roast meat fat or melted lard to make a bird cake.  Hang in the garden and watch the different species that come to feed from it.

Commercial volumes of cooking oil may be collected by: Thornwood Fat &  Oil Merchants, 170 Clydeholm Road, Clydeside Industrial Estate, Glasgow G14 0QQ.  Tel: 0141 954 2229

• Reuse in the base of flowerpots when planting seedlings to retain moisture.  Chopped up cork can be composted.
• Try to buy wine with real corks, not plastic, so you can compost them.

• Save for schools and playgroups.
• Cardboard egg boxes can be used to plant seeds.  Plant out individual sections containing the seedlings and the cardboard will rot away in the soil.
• Cardboard egg boxes can be composted.

• Eggshells contain lime.  Crush and add to compost to reduce acidity.
• Crushed eggshells can be put at the base of tender plants to deter slugs and snails.

• Delivery firms will usually remove the old appliance, when installing the new one.  It is worth enquiring when first considering buying the item.
• Always check if the unwanted item cannot be fixed, or sold, before taking it to your local Civic Amenity Site.
• Some charity shops will accept small electrical items.  It is advisable to check first.
• These must be responsibly disposed of, under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive.   www.sepa.org.uk/customer_information/netregs.aspx

ENGINE OIL (see Oil)
Look out for the engine oil recycling banks at various local boatyards, piers and at the Civic Amenity Sites.

• Open envelopes carefully in order to use them again.
• Clip together to use as a jotter for shopping lists etc
• Try and buy recycled envelopes wherever possible.

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FEATHERS
Compost them – they are pure protein and a valuable source of nitrogen.

• Wipe clean good pieces for reuse.
• Avoid using foil by storing food in washable containers, e.g. reused ice cream or margarine tubs.
• Please do not put foil in the can banks, as it interferes with the recycling process. 

FOOD WASTE (see also Garden Waste)
Food waste makes up roughly one third of all waste that goes in our bins.  All food waste is biodegradable and will break down given the right conditions.

• Most raw kitchen waste i.e. vegetable peelings and fruit can be composted, but avoid meat or fish scraps and fatty, cooked food waste – unless you have a special wormery composting bin. 

• Advertise furniture and appliances in the local press, if in reasonable condition.
• Only some charities will accept small items of furniture – please check with your local shop.
• Electrical retailers will uplift broken, unwanted white goods, when delivering new replacements, but best to check before the delivery.
• If really beyond hope, then wooden furniture can always be chopped up for firewood.
• Call your local council for bulky uplift service. 

GARDEN WASTE
Similar to food waste, garden waste is compostable and will rot down into a good soil conditioner given time.

• Compost weeds, grass cuttings, dead flower heads etc by making a heap of alternate layers of plant waste and soil.  Sprinkle a few crushed eggshells or powdered lime between the layers.  For best results use either a home made or bought compost bin.
• Woody waste can be chopped up for firewood, or chipped and used for mulch.
• Autumn leaves should be left to rot down separately from the compost heap (see Leaves).

GLASS
Glass makes up approximately 10% of our household waste.  As well as conserving raw materials, making new glass from waste glass uses 20% less energy and produces 20% less air pollution than in its original production.

At present all glass collected from recycling bottle banks is recycled back into bottles and jars, however recycled glass can also be used in the construction industry e.g. road building.

Use your local recycling bottle banks.

• There are separate banks for brown, green and clear glass. (Blue glass can be put into the green glass bank.) 
• Remove all metal lids, plastic tops and corks and rinse out before recycling.
• Please do not put light bulbs, Pyrex dishes, and flat window glass into bottle banks.  They require much higher temperatures than that needed to melt down bottle glass. 

GLASSES (SPECTACLES)
Take unwanted glasses (spectacles) to your local opticians – they will send them on to needy communities in developing countries, via the Vision Aid Overseas Project.

• Advertise and sell an unwanted mower.
• Compost any grass clippings, but mix well with plenty of twigs and other fibrous material.

HAIR
Attention home hairdressers! Compost or dig hair directly into soil for valuable nutrients.

HAZARDOUS HOUSEHOLD WASTE
Many common substances are potentially dangerous when they are dumped or poured down the drain.  Try to reduce your use of them and limit the impact of disposal by finding non-toxic replacements.  The following materials are all considered ‘hazardous waste.’

• Acids
• Antifreeze                                           
• Asbestos                     
• Batteries                                 
• Brake Fluid                                        
• Clinical Waste           
• Drugs                                      
• Fluorescent Light Bulbs                    
• Oil                               
• Oven Cleaners                       
• Paints & Solvents                              
• Pesticides & Herbicides
• Photographic Chemicals        
• Poisons (rat + slug)                           
•  Wood Preservatives

Leftover hazardous wastes should be taken to your local Recycling & Civic Amenity Site for safe disposal.  Please hand any hazardous substances in at the site office – do not dispose of them in the skips.

JUNK MAIL
Cut down on your junk mail by contacting the following address.  They will arrange for your name to be removed from the mailing lists of their member organisations: www.mpsonline.org.uk tel 08457 0345999

• Recycle the contents of junk mail in paper banks.

LEAVES (see also Garden Waste)
Leaves can be collected to make a good soil nutrient, instead of peat.  Put leaves into a black polythene bag, mix with a few handfuls of damp garden soil, including a few worms if possible!), and close the bag loosely.  Store outdoors to produce a crumbly leaf-mould in a few months - ideal for use as a mulch and soil conditioner.

LIGHT BULBS
Reduce the amount of energy you use by fitting low energy light bulbs. 

These bulbs last on average 5 years (12,000 hours) and by replacing a standard 60W bulb you could save £38 over the bulb’s lifetime.  Call the Energy Efficiency Advice Centre tel: 0800 512012 for details on reduced price light bulbs.

LITTER
Litter or fly-tipping can be reported to the Council Local Area Offices, or SEPA’s 24hr hotline on 0800 807060.

MAGAZINES  (see Paper)
Put all magazines (minus any plastic wrappings) in the paper banks, along with your newspapers.

MEDICINES
Return unwanted medicines to your local pharmacist for safe disposal.  Do not put down the drain!

• Look out for various companies offering to recycle your mobile phone and/or accessories, for a small remuneration, which can be donated to charity.  (Green Agenda, Tescos, Recycool are just a few – see ‘Cartridges’ for addresses.)

• Return the equipment to the retailer, who will return it to the manufacturer, for recycling parts etc.

• Schools and local music teachers might be interested in unwanted sheet music.

• Charity shops are interested in any music – sheet, cassette tapes, CD’s, videos etc. 

• Musical instruments would be worth advertising, before giving to charity.

(See also CD’s, Tapes & Videos for an address for recycling CDs and plastic cases.)

NAPPIES
Approximately 1.6 million per year go to landfill in Argyll & Bute alone.  Please try and reduce the number of disposable nappies entering the waste stream by using real nappies.

• Look out for reusable cotton nappies, eco-disposable nappy liners and 100% biodegradable nappy liners.

For more details contact caroline.askew@grab.org.uk on 01631 569188 or the national campaign www.realnappycampaign.com

NEWSPAPERS  (See Paper)
Recycle all newspaper in the paper banks.

Pulped newspapers can be made into paper bricks and used as solid fuel.  Look on the Centre for Alternative Technology’s website for equipment and ideas:- www.cat.org.uk

OIL
Engine oil recycling facilities exist at Civic Amenity Sites and at various other practical sites.
Do not pour oil down sinks or drains or into any watercourses.  Oil causes pollution, reduces bacteria in the sewage system and destroys wildlife habitats.

• Check oil-fired central heating  (tank and pipes) regularly for oil leaks.

PAINTS
Never pour paint down the drain!
Look out for natural pigment, plant-based paints that are as effective as normal paints and do not contain toxic substances.  Manufacturers even claim that any waste eco-paint can be composted, if allowed to dry out.  Available from selected DIY stores and mail order.

Unwanted paints can be disposed of at Civic Amenity Sites.

PAPER
Including Newspapers, Magazines and Junk Mail.

• Make full use of the local paper banks that are sited around Argyll & Bute.  The paper is collected by local recycling groups and shredded for animal bedding, to be used locally.

• Buy recycled paper where possible.

• Reuse pillows by cutting them down and making cushions or draught excluders.

• Look out for pillows made from recycled plastic bottles – providing firm back support and durability.  Available from Index and Innovations mail order catalogues.  

PLASTIC WASTE
Plastic Drinks Bottles
Collect your plastic bottles to put in the bring-banks sited around Argyll & Bute.  Campbeltown Waste Watchers collect them and bale them for transportation to be melted down and reused.  Because plastic takes so long to decompose – recycling is the sensible, long-term solution to reducing landfill.

• Any bottle with the PET or HDPE mark can be recycled.  Fizzy drink, milk and water bottles, shampoo or shower gel bottles are the more common household products used.

• Wash, and squash, before recycling your bottles.

Plastic sheeting (baling plastic etc)
For agricultural plastics contact www.solwayrecycling.co.uk

For otherwise bulky volumes of general plastic please ring the Council for uplift details.  (Fees may be applicable.) 

For domestic volumes of plastic sheeting  - please take to your local Civic Amenity site for disposal.

• Use mugs, rather than plastic cups from vending machines, wherever possible

• Look out for products made from recycled plastic such as pens, pencils (Remarkable Company, hanging wardrobe storage (Lakeland Ltd). 

REFRIDGERATORS (See White Goods)
Do not dump broken, unwanted fridges!  Please take to your local Civic Amenity Site. 

The CFC filled insulation needs to be dealt with professionally, otherwise leaking gases can damage the ozone layer, and the empty fridge itself is a hazard to children and small animals.

• Do not flush sanitary towels or tampons down the toilet – instead “Bag It & Bin It”.

• Try to avoid buying products with excessive packaging wherever possible.

• Repair where necessary.

• Give to charity shops or take to textile banks – pairs only, tied together.  Shoes and boots in good condition are passed on to developing countries. 

• Avoid buying shower gel or liquid soaps in plastic bottles.  A bottle runs out more quickly than a bar of soap and is more expensive. 

• Recycle any soap bottles where possible – look for the PET or HDPE marks to indicate they are suitable.  Take to your nearest plastics bank..  The Body Shop will refill their own-brand soap bottles when empty and will also accept empty Body Shop bottles for recycling.

STAMPS
Save all stamps – British or foreign.  Most charity shops would be pleased to accept them.  Selling them to collectors or dealers raises funds.

STATIONERY
Try to buy recycled stationery from shops or charity catalogues.

TELEPHONES (see also Mobile Phones)
Freephone 0800 800 150 for a jiffy bag to send your unwanted BT telephone for recycling.  The plastic is sent for remoulding and the components are recycled to make new telephones.

• BT telephone directories and yellow pages can be recycled at your nearest paper bank.

TETRA PACKS (ie juice cartons)
Wash, Squash and Recycle at the following recycling centres:- Moleigh, Oban; Lingerton; Lochgilphead; Bogel'ha Dunoon; and Helensburgh Black hill.

TEXTILES
Any bedding, curtains, clothes, shoes, bags, belts or other fabric remnants can be put into textile banks.  They will be used by charities, or shredded for paper making. 

TIME
Offer any spare time you have to charity shops and voluntary organisations.

• Tear the tubes up into small pieces and add to your compost heap to rot down.

• Bundle tubes together with a rubber band and stand in a polythene bag.  Fill with compost then sow seeds.  Keep moist and plant tubes straight out into the garden where they will biodegrade.  Ideal for sweetpeas and other big seedlings.

Tools for Self Reliance – reconditions old tools for use in developing countries.

TYRES
Many garages will hold onto old tyres for bulk recycling.  If you need to dispose of a vehicle tyre, please contact your local garage.  Alternatively you could take the tyre(s) to your local Civic Amenity Site for disposal.

• Scrap tyres can be used as boat fenders, children’s play equipment, or stacked as soil or compost containers.

• Try using tyres as planters.  Tyres are particularly good for growing potatoes - as the potato plant grows you can stack the tyres up and so increase your potato yield.

• Please don’t dump!  For damaged and broken items please contact the Council for the bulky uplift service.

• If the item is in working order it might be worth selling. 
  Note: Charity shops will not accept electrical goods. 

• Advertise and sell any good quality timber.

• Any sawdust or wood chippings can be composted.