Plastic recycling
Summary
As a rough rule of thumb we will accept any plastic bottle, whatever size or colour, for recycling. You can put plastic bottles into your green wheeled bin for collection. If your item isn't a bottle we can't recycle it at the moment.
Find out here what the plastic from bottles can be used to make, and what the recycling symbols on some plastic products mean.
Further information
Plastic recycling symbols
At the moment most recycling schemes in the UK will only accept plastic bottles for recycling. This is all due to the type of plastics the containers are made out of.
As you may have noticed, some plastic containers carry ‘recycling’ symbols. These are identification codes for the different types of plastics that are used to manufacture anything from your garden chair, to the bottle your milk comes in. The image opposite shows the 'Polymer ID codes' you might find on plastic containers.
These symbols do not necessarily mean that this plastic can be recycled. The more honest manufacturers qualify this symbol with a statement along the lines of “where facilities and markets exist”.
What plastics do we collect?
We only collect plastic bottles. These can be put in your green wheeled bin for collection.
The majority of plastic bottles are made from Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) or High Density Polyethylene (HDPE). These are the two kinds of plastics that manufacturers want to recycle, mainly because the quality of the plastic is not degraded by the recycling process, and only a small amount of new plastic has to be added to it to make the recycled plastic viable.
Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)
PET bottles can be recycled into many different products, including fibre for sleeping bags and anoraks, new packaging and wall and floor coverings.
A new development in the use of recycled PET is the making of fleece clothing such as hats or jumpers. It takes about 25 bottles to make 1 fleece jacket.
High Density Polyethylene (HDPE)
HDPE bottles can be recycled into fences, park benches and signposts. It can also be made into bottles and recycled again and again.
Plastic recycling in the future
When manufacturers develop products that can be made from other types of plastic, we will start to accept them -such as Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE), Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) and Polystyrene (PS).
At the moment no manufacturers want to use these other types of plastic, but we will let everyone know as soon as we can accept products made from them.
Related pages on this website
External links
Recycled products guide
Information on where you can buy recycled consumer or trade (construction, manufacturing etc.) products.
Recoup recycling
Further information on plastic recycling, including a plastic bottle bank locator.
Norfolk Environmental Waste Services (NEWS)
Website for NEWS, who own the recycling facility where all of South Norfolk’s green recycling bin material goes to be sorted.
Contact us
| contact officer/team: | Direct Services Team |
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| web: | online enquiry form |
| email: | ketteringham@s-norfolk.gov.uk |
| freephone: | 0808 168 3333 |
| telephone: | 01603 819999 |
| minicom/textphone: | 01508 533622 |
| address: | Ketteringham Depot Station Lane Hethersett Norfolk NR9 3AZ |
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