ASDA Health Matters

Packaging reduction and recycling in the UK

In the UK we still only recycle about 34% of our waste - way below our European counterparts in Germany, who manage to recycle 64% of their household waste.

The Government and many businesses, including ASDA, are working together in order to decrease the amount of waste they produce and increase the amount they recycle, but we need to focus on recycling at home as well. Almost one-fifth of household waste is from food, and a further one-fifth is from packaging.

What is ASDA doing?

ASDA is working with the environmental organisation, Green Alliance, to help find ways of reducing waste from the beginning, rather than having to find environmentally friendly ways of disposing of it.

In 2005 ASDA was one of the first companies to sign up to a voluntary Government agreement, which supports reduced packaging and therefore leads to less waste in household bins. It's already been a success, with no increase in the amount of packaging produced, despite increased sales.

You may not have noticed, but there have been subtle changes to our packaging over the last few years. We've removed cardboard boxes around tubes, such as tomato purée, switched from glass to plastic cooking oil bottles, reduced the size of cardboard sleeves on ready meals and introduced lighter weight glass wine bottles.

Working with other retailers and the environmental organisation, WRAP [www.wrap.org.uk], we have designed a new, easy-to-read recycling instructions icon, which is already on the packaging of over half of our products and will soon be on all packaging. This aims to make it easier for our customers to understand what can and can't be recycled.

The new logos on ready meals, for example, look like this:

The icons have the following meanings:
Widely recycled - more than 65% of local authorities recycle the material
Check locally - recycled between 15% and 65% of local authorities
Not currently recycled - recycled by less than 15%

Each local authority in the UK has different collection and recycling services - we estimate that 90% of all our packaging can be classed as recyclable, yet only 34% is actually recycled through local authority collections. ASDA is leading the debate on this ‘postcode lottery' and fighting for consistent collection and separation of packaging waste by all local authorities.

What can you do?

Whilst the Government and businesses do their bit to try and reduce the impact of packaging waste there are some things that you can do to help the environment.

90% of packaging can be classed as recyclable in the UK but we're only recycling about one-third, so there's a lot more we can do.
Recycling at home is easy, especially with kerbside collections and symbols found on many items, showing whether or not they are recyclable.

The list below shows some of the materials which can be recycled - have a look at our top tips on recycling to help get you started.

Easy tips on recycling

• Keep your recycling box next to your ordinary bin, so you can put things straight into it.
• Before throwing anything in the household waste bin, think: can it be reused or recycled? Check its symbols to see if it can go into your recycling bin.
• Highlight the date on your calendar when your recycling is collected to make sure you don't miss collection day.
• If you're doing really well and your recycling bin is overflowing, take some items to your local supermarket or recycling banks - kill two birds with one stone and do it at the same time as your shopping.
• Invest in re-usable carrier bags. Keep them by the front door or in the car boot, ready for shopping trips, and keep one in your handbag for occasional, unplanned shops.
• Try and recycle at work. Many work places now take part in recycling but if yours doesn't you could encourage them to start a recycling scheme - they're easy to set up and run.
• If you're feeling green fingered, why not compost waste fruits, vegetables and garden plants? For tips on cutting down on food wastage have a look at our food waste and storage sections.

Can it be recycled?

Paper products

Yes! Cards - Some local authorities will or take it to your local recycling bank.
Yes! Magazines -You can recycle magazines via your local authority's kerbside collections or at your nearest paper bank.
Yes! Cardboard boxes - Some local authority kerbside schemes will collect cardboard, or you can take it to a recycling bank.
Yes! Wrapping Paper - Most local authorities will accept wrapping paper with your kerbside collections or at your paper bank.
Yes! Shredded paper - Many local authorities will accept wrapping paper with your kerbside collections or at your paper bank.
Yes! Stamps - If they are still attached to envelopes, stamps can be recycled with the rest of your paper. Or you can collect stamps for charities.
Yes! Yellow Pages - 99% of local authorities now accept Yellow Pages for recycling, so you can put them in a paper recycling bank or use your council's paper doorstep collection.
Yes! Milk, Juice cartons & Tetra Paks - Cartons are now collected by over 370 local authorities across the country, which equates to 86 per cent of UK and Guernsey local authority areas.
No! Books - But they can be reused, donated or even resold.

Glass Products

Yes! Bottles, Wine Bottles, Jars & Milk bottles - Many types of glass can be recycled, either via kerbside collection schemes, bottle banks or local recycling centres.

Metal Products

Yes! Aerosols - 75% of local authorities will accept aerosols via recycling banks or kerbside collection schemes.
Yes! Drinks cans - You can recycle drinks cans via your local authority's kerbside collections or at your nearest recycling bank.
Yes! Food cans - You can usually recycle food cans via your local authority's kerbside collections or at your nearest recycling bank.
Yes! Tinfoil - You can recycle foil at your nearest recycling bank, and some kerbside collection schemes will take foil too.

Plastic Products

Yes! Carrier bags - Carrier bags are rarely collected as part of local authority kerbside collections, but some local recycling centres now accept them and some supermarkets have carrier bag banks.
Yes! Plastic bottles - More and more local authorities are now accepting plastic bottles via recycling banks or kerbside collection schemes.
Yes! Yoghurt pots - You'll need to check with your local authority as the plastics which can be included in your kerbside collection vary from area to area.

Textiles Products

Yes! Clothes and other textiles - You can recycle all kinds of textiles at recycling banks and centres.
Yes! Shoes - You can recycle shoes at most recycling centres, or donate them to a charity shop.

Visit the Recycle Now website to find out more about what your local council recycles. http://www.recyclenow.com/

For more on recycling visit WRAP www.wrap.org.uk