{"id":616881,"date":"2026-06-02T11:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T11:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/616881\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T11:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T11:08:08","slug":"never-put-plastic-bags-in-the-recycling-bins-what-to-do-instead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/616881\/","title":{"rendered":"Never put plastic bags in the recycling bins \u2014 what to do instead"},"content":{"rendered":"

Plastic waste like crisp packets, bubble wrap and plastic bags around groceries are one of the most persistent environmental<\/a> stuggles. These soft, stretchy plastics cannot be recycled in your usual recycling, and so if you live in the UK, it can be a challenge to dispose of them properly.<\/p>\n

These plastics cannot be recycled<\/a> with your general recycling<\/a> as they need to be processed at specialist plants which the UK doesn\u2019t have enough of. According to consumer group Which?<\/a> most of the soft plastics that are collected and recycled now are actually turned into bin bags or plastic garden furniture because they are of lower quality.<\/p>\n

So unlike milk bottles or drink bottles that are turned into more bottles, soft plastics are downcycled.<\/p>\n

While some councils offer kerbside soft plastics recycling, it\u2019s not common.<\/p>\n

Instead, it\u2019s advisable to collect all your soft plastics and take them to a large supermarket near you. Many large supermarkets have a soft plastics collection point where you can turn in your plastic<\/p>\n

If soft plastics do get into general recycling, they can cause major issues. The Independent spoke with Erha Andini, a Delaware-based chemical engineering expert and science communicator.<\/p>\n

She said: “Once they get shredded or even before, a lot of times they just clog recycling equipment.”<\/p>\n

If the equipment is clogged, it can halt the process and damage machinery.<\/p>\n

According to figures from the Waste and Resources Action Program (WRAP) 81% of people are putting non-recyclable items in recycling bins.<\/p>\n

Contamination remains a persistent issue, especially for items like drinking glasses and food and drink foil pouches.<\/p>\n

Although there is a lack of facilities in the UK to process what\u2019s collected, if the demand increases then so will the supply. That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to carefully recycle your soft plastics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Plastic waste like crisp packets, bubble wrap and plastic bags around groceries are one of the most persistent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,3208,183220,90,62530,209886,719,56,209885,54,55],"class_list":["post-616881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-environmental-issues","tag-recycling-challenges","tag-science","tag-soft-plastics","tag-supermarket-collection-points","tag-supermarkets","tag-uk","tag-uk-waste-management","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}