Plastic recycling
Further information
Plastic recycling symbols
At the moment most recycling schemes in the UK will only accept plastic bottles for recycling. This is the case for all councils in Norfolk, and we do not accept any other plastics such as tubs, trays, pots, film, bags and packets in our recycling schemes.
This is all due to the type of plastics the containers are made out of. As you may have seen when you look at plastics, many containers carry little ‘recycling’ symbols.
The symbols here were actually developed by the American plastics industry to give the plastic recycling industry a rough guide to the many different plastic polymers in use today.
The symbols do not necessarily mean that a plastic can be recycled and they often cause confusion!
Here is an example of why you should not take any notice of the symbols. You will see that many clear plastic fizzy drink bottles that can be recycled in South Norfolk have a number 1 polymer code on. You will also find some plastic trays have the same number 1 symbol on, but these can’t be recycled. This is because there are several different polymers of plastic within the number 1 code, and not all of them can currently be recycled in the UK. This is the same for every other polymer code and one of the major problems.
Luckily due to the industry standards in place we can accept all plastic bottles, as they are all made of one of 3 polymer types, which are easy to separate at the Materials Recycled Facility we use to process the recycling collected in green bins in South Norfolk.
We also have a market to recycle all the plastic bottles collected in Norfolk, which are recycled in plants in the UK and Europe. This is very important, as without a market there would be no way we could collect even plastic bottles for recycling.
There are no suitable developed and stable markets for many other types of plastic at the moment, and it would therefore make no sense to collect it. This means unfortunately we can’t collect any plastics other than plastic bottles.
There are ways to reduce the amount of plastic you produce, by buying things loose instead of in plastic packaging at the supermarket for example. See how to reduce and re-use your waste for further advice on this.
Related pages on this website
External links
Recoup recycling
Further information on plastic recycling.
Norfolk Environmental Waste Services (NEWS)
NEWS own the recycling facility where all of South Norfolk’s green recycling bin material goes to be sorted.
Contact us
| contact officer/team: | Support Team |
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| web: | online enquiry form |
| email: | envserv@s-norfolk.gov.uk |
| freephone: | 0808 168 3333 |
| telephone: | 01508 533830 |
| minicom/textphone: | 01508 533622 |
| address: | South Norfolk Council South Norfolk House Swan Lane Long Stratton Norwich NR15 2XE |
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