Item you wish to recycle Examples etc Where they go
Aerosol cans Deodorants, air fresheners, anti-freeze cans Green Bag / Black Box. Cans must be empty
Air fresheners All brands of plastic air freshener containers and cartridge caps, plastic car air fresheners. Not electric plug-ins. Caps & Pumps: Ali's Recycling
Containers / bottles: Green Bag
Aluminium cans and steel tins Drink cans, food tins, biscuit or sweet tins Green Bag
Asbestos* Needs to be pre booked as an asbestos delivery RE3 recycling centre
Baby food pouches All brands of baby food pouches, children's yogurt pouches and pouch cups Co-op, Waitrose or Tesco soft plastic schemes
Bathroom suites*   RE3 recycling centre
Batteries All consumer batteries Any shop or supermarket selling batteries has to provide a recycling facility
Bedding First Days charity are local and will reuse, or … RE3 recycling centre
Bicycles** Reading Bicycle Kitchen accepts bikes in any condition, or will get your old bike back on the road; charges apply Reading Bicycle Kitchen or RE3 recycling centre
Bicycle tyres* & tubes Tubes (not slime) are recycled into new ones, tyres are also recycled, but there is a £1 charge per tyre. Reading Bicycle Kitchen
Tubes can also be recycled at Berkshire Cycles on Loddon Bridge Rd.
Biscuit, cracker and cake bar packets Digestive, fig roll ….. Whatever you enjoy Ali's Recycling
Co-op, Waitrose or Tesco soft plastic schemes
Books** RE3 recycling centre or many charity shops
Bras See Against Breast Cancer The website gives you the latest recycling points. There's one in Reading and one in Caversham, otherwise you can send unwanted bras to them by post
Bread bags All plastic bread bags can be used to line your food waste bin or…. Ali's Recycling
Co-op, Waitrose or Tesco soft plastic schemes
Bric a brac**   RE3 recycling centre
Brita Filters   RE3 recycling centre
Car batteries   RE3 recycling centre
Card and Cardboard Cereal boxes, corrugated card, egg boxes, kitchen and toilet roll tubes, flattened delivery boxes, greetings cards, empty pizza boxes Green Bag
Carpets   RE3 recycling centre
Cartons (Tetrapak) Juice, milk and soup cartons Green Bag
Catalogues   Green Bag
Cheese packaging All brands - plastic wrappers, film, pouches, labels & plastic nets and all Babybel packaging Ali's Recycling
Co-op, Waitrose or Tesco soft plastic schemes
China and crockery**  The Cowshed charity or RE3 recycling centre
Clothes, shoes and fabrics   The Cowshed reuse charity or RE3 recycling centre. John Lewis stores will accept good quality clothes
Cling film   Co-op, Waitrose or Tesco soft plastic schemes
Coffee pods and coffee bean pouches Tassimo and L'or style coffee pods Ali's Recycling
All coffee pods now recyclable at RE3 recycling centres
Computers, laptops, monitors, printers and speakers   John Lewis stores or RE3 recycling centre
Cookers, ovens and microwaves   RE3 recycling centre
Cooking Oil Used cooking oil In a sealed plastic bottle in food waste caddy or RE3 recycling centre
Correction fluid Any brand of correction fluid pot, correction tape Ali's Recycling
Cosmetics and personal hygiene All brands flexible plastic & metallic plastic tubes from body creams, ointments or moisturisers;
flexible plastic packaging from facial cleansing wipes;
eye shadow compacts;
lip & cheek, highlighter & bronze sticks;
plastic roll-on deodorants;
flexible single-use mask packaging (inc blue plastic film);
mascara tubes and wands;
plastic pots;
lipsticks, lip glosses and lip balms;
personal care & beauty product packaging caps, pumps & trigger sprays (except rigid plastic bottles)		 Ali's Recycling;
also see Maybelline and major Boots stores
New and unused personal hygiene items can be donated to The Hygiene Bank; nearest collection point is Lower Earley Library
Crisp packets Both foil lined packets and the Pringle type tubes, also popcorn and pretzl packets Co-op, Waitrose or Tesco soft plastic schemes
Curtains and other household linens The Cowshed charity or … RE3 recycling centre
DVDs**   RE3 recycling centre
Ella's Kitchen snack packets   Co-op, Waitrose or Tesco soft plastic schemes
Engine oil   RE3 recycling centre
Envelopes Including those with windows Green Bag
Fire extinguishers   RE3 recycling centre
Flower pots and trays From a garden centre or nursery All can go to the Flower stall on Gipsy Lane,; Henry Street sometimes accepts them. CANNOT be recycled in the Green Bag.
Fluorescent tubes   RE3 recycling centre
Foil and foil trays   Green Bag. Make a cricket-ball sized wodge
Freezers   RE3 recycling centre
Fridges   RE3 recycling centre
Furniture**   RE3 recycling centre. John Lewis stores accept sofas
Garden waste Ideally compost it yourself. Get Composting subsidised compost bins Wokingham Borough Council provide either a 240 litre brown wheelie bin collected fortnightly for £60/year (£65 from April 2021) or brown sacks that hold 75 litres and are available 10 for £10 from ETC help shop, or take to RE3 recycling centre
Gas bottles* Suppliers such as Calor may refund a deposit if you take the bottle to them RE3 recycling centre - who will charge you
General Waste aka landfill Blue bag
Glass bottles and jars Bottles and jars - please wash before recycling, don't bother removing labels. Take to bottle banks - see list of recycling points. Metal lids and tops can be left on, or put into kerbside recycling (Green Bag). Plastic bottle corks should be discarded (blue bag), real cork can be composted or chopped & used as mulch. Metal cage from champagne etc bottles can be put in Green Bag.
Hair dyes Hair colourant kits, (except rigid plastic bottles & cardboard packaging) Ali's Recycling and major Boots stores
Household chemicals and cleaning items   RE3 recycling centre. New and unused cleaning items can be donated to The Hygiene Bank; nearest collection point is Lower Earley Library.
Inkjet cartridges All inkjet printers. Laserjet cartridges should be returned to the manufacturer for re-use. Ali's Recycling , RE3 recycling centre.
Lamps**   RE3 recycling centre
Laundry All brands of flexible laundry washing capsules & pods packaging, tinted fabric conditioner bottles & caps Ali's Recycling
Light bulbs   RE3 recycling centre
Make up containers All brands Maybelline and major Boots stores
Marigold gloves Durable, disposable and plastic packaging Ali's Recycling
Mattresses   RE3 recycling centre
Medicines - out of date Pills and potions Return to any pharmacy
Medicine packets Empty medicine blister packets Collection boxes in any Superdrug store with dispensary (nearest in Reading town centre - not Woodley)
Also Aldi stores.
Metals (aluminium, brass, copper, steel) Cutlery, pots and pans RE3 recycling centre
Milk bottle & carton tops   Aluminium bottle tops - roll in a ball, put in Green Bag
plastic carton tops - Ali's Recycling
Mobile phones   RE3 recycling centre, Ali's Recycling
Mobility aids Zimmer frames, walking sticks and crutches Return to either the Red Cross or hospital that they were borrowed from
Oil and pesticide containers Garden chemicals, motor oil RE3 recycling centre
Paint   RE3 recycling centre
Paper Catalogues, brochures and directories, junk mail, flyers, letters and envelopes (including window envelopes), newspapers and magazines, printer paper (white and coloured), , wrapping paper (not foil based) Green Bag
Pens Any brand of pen, felt tip, highlighter, marker, mechanical pencil, eraser pen Ali's Recycling
Pesticides   RE3 recycling centre
Pet food pouches All dry food & treat flexible plastic packaging
All wet pet food pouches		 Co-op, Waitrose or Tesco soft plastic schemes. Pets Corner, in the garden centre at Loddon Bridge, accepts pet food pouches. Other pet shops may do the same.
Plasterboard*   RE3 recycling centre
Plastic bottles Drinks, milk, toiletries, detergent Green Bag
Plastic pots Yoghurt, cream, snack or soup pots Green Bag
Plastic trays Fruit punnets, meat or cake trays (not black, not polystyrene) Green Bag
Plastic tubs Sweet tubs, ice cream and margarine tubs Green Bag
Pots and pans**   RE3 recycling centre
Pushchairs, cots, prams, Mosses baskets** First Days charity are local and will reuse, or … RE3 recycling centre
Razor Blades Disposable ones Gillette
Ring pulls (metal)   Ali's Recycling
Rubble and hardcore*   RE3 recycling centre
Running Shoes / trainers This scheme seems a little uncertain - Bulmershe may NOT be collecting shoes apparently, Loddon Valley are (again) updated 27 Feb 2023. Waiting for more information. Put in a collecting box at one of the leisure centres managed by Places Leisure in the borough - the nearest are Loddon Valley and Bulmershe Leisure Centres. Even if your shoes are no good to be reused – you can still donate them rather than letting them sit in landfill! JogOn distributes them to 11 destinations around the world. For shoes unsuitable to be used again, JogOn will have them shredded and incinerated for energy or used for resurfacing playgrounds. Their mission is to remove one million shoes from landfill.
School Uniform First Days charity are local and will reuse, or … RE3 recycling centre
Shredded paper Compost as "brown" matter or failing that Green Bag (only if contained in envelopes)
Soft plastic packaging General
  • Thin plastic lids of all types
  • Kitchen towel, toilet roll, nappy bag, cotton wool wrappers
  • Pouches – microwave rice, pre-cooked mussels, petfood, etc
  • Fruit & veg nets, bags and wrappers
  • Plastic sauce sachets
Bags
  • Ordinary carrier bags
  • Bread bags
  • Crisps, nuts, snacks bags
  • Bags from:
    • Cereal and porridge
    • Dried goods – dried fruit, pasta, rice, sugar, pulses, etc
    • Frozen foods and ice cubes
Wrappers & Film
  • Chocolate and sweets bags and wrappers
  • Biscuit wrappers
  • Cling film
  • Pizza wrapping film
  • Bread product wrappers:
    • Croissants
    • Pancakes
    • Naan bread
    • Pitta bread
    • Garlic bread
  • Fresh pasta
  • Wrappers from:
    • Cheese, pastry, cakes, Yorkshire puddings
    • baby wipes, etc
    • Meat, poultry and joints
    • Tea and teabags, ground coffee, etc
    • Pies, pastries, sausage rolls,
    • Household textiles, scourers, rubber gloves, etc
    • Giftwrap, greetings cards, etc
    • Flower wrappers
    • Petfood wrappers
 Co-op (some, including 3 Tuns), Waitrose and large Tesco stores

Some of these items are also accepted by Ali’s Recycling
Soil*   RE3 recycling centre
Spectacles Local opticians or RE3
Stamps (used)   Ali's Recycling
Steel tins Drink cans, food tins, biscuit or sweet tins Green Bag
Sweet wrappers All brands, plastic chocolate & sweet pouches & bags;
chocolate & sweets multipack outer plastic packaging;
individua chocolate bar wrappers;
plastic chocolate block wrappers;
foil lined sweet wrappers such as Aero and Kit Kat;
Ferrero Rocher gold plastic trays, transparent plastic box & outer plastic wrappers & aluminium wrappers (but not the paper cups!) 		Ali's Recycling
Co-op, Waitrose or Tesco soft plastic schemes
Tetrapaks Juice, milk and soup cartons Green Bag
Textiles Clothes, shoes, fabric ASDA and RE3 recycling centre
Toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes All varieties Ali's Recycling and major Boots stores
Toys** First Days charity are local and will reuse, or … RE3 recycling centre
Tyres   RE3 recycling centre
Vapes - including single use   RE3 recycling centre. Do not put in your regular domestic waste as they can start fires.
Water filters Aqua Optima Evolve, Universal & original water filters Ali's Recycling
White goods (fridge, freezer, washing machines)   RE3 recycling centre
Windbreaks, trampolines, rubber dinghies Wyatt and Jack Reused to make bags, that you can buy
Window frames   RE3 recycling centre
Wipes (home cleaning) All brands of flexible wipe packaging & tinted rigid plastic tubs (used for home cleaning) Ali's Recycling
Wood and timber Oxford Wood Recycling who collect or RE3 recycling centre

*Charges apply
**Re-use scheme

Priority order for re-purposing the stuff you have finished with

1) Reduce the amount of resources you use
2) Reuse - could somebody else use it ?
3) Recycle - can the material be used to make something else?