Together, let's spruce up Southend's pink
recycling sacks!
If you have landed on this page it means you received a letter letting you know that the crew collecting from your road found items in pink recycling sacks that we cannot collect.
Don't worry! We understand that recycling can sometimes be confusing, in fact, 47% of people say they have disagreements at home over what types of plastic can be recycled.
That is why we have created this page, which we hope will share all the information you need about recycling, in a clear and concise way.
If you still have a question or would like to request a translation, please send us an email at [email protected].
If you have received a letter but are happy that you already recycle right, thank you for your efforts and don't hesitate to scroll down to learn more about the recycling process. Finally, spread the word! Recycling is one of the easiest things we can do to reduce our carbon footprint. Do you know that in the UK, we already save 18 million tonnes of CO2 a year by recycling? That has the same environmental impact as taking 12 million cars off the road!
What goes in the pink recycling sacks?
As a reminder, here's a list of the items that can be placed in your pink recycling sacks!
What does not go in the pink recycling sacks?
Below are some items we regularly find in the pink recycling sacks that we cannot collect to send for recycling.
How to recycle in Southend?
You will find below answers to frequently asked practical questions about recycling and how to recycle.
What type of glass can I put in my pink recycling sacks?
- Please place all glass bottles and jars (such as wine and beer bottles, sauce bottles, jam jars...) in your pink recycling sacks.
- Do not place drinking glass and pyrex in your pink recycling sacks, they melt at a higher temperature than bottles and jars, so if they enter the glass recycling process, they will cause problems with the recycling.
- Rinse bottles/jars. They don’t need to be spotlessly clean; a quick rinse is fine. This is because liquids and bits of food can ruin your recycling.
What type of metal can I put in my pink recycling sacks?
- Please place all drink cans, food tins, aluminium foil and trays, and aerosols in your pink recycling sacks.
- Do not place crisp packets and sweet wrappers, laminated foil (e.g. pet food pouches), paint pots, cutlery and kitchenware or car parts in your pink recycling sacks.
- Rinse tins/cans/trays. They don’t need to be spotlessly clean; a quick rinse is fine. This is because liquids and bits of food can ruin your recycling.
What type of plastic can I put in my pink recycling sacks?
- Please place all plastic bottles (including shampoo, soap and cleaning products bottles), tubs, pots and trays in your pink recycling sacks.
- Do not place polystyrene, hard plastics (such as toys and coat hangers) and bric a brac items your pink recycling sacks, if they enter the recycling process, they will cause problems with the recycling. Polystyrene often isn’t recycled because it is difficult to sort from other types of plastic waste and easily breaks into small beads which can clog up sorting machines and cause them to break down.
- Rinse your plastic items. They don’t need to be spotlessly clean; a quick rinse is fine. This is because liquids and bits of food can ruin your recycling.
How clean does my recycling need to be?
If there’s residual food waste left in your recycling, empty it and give it a quick rinse. They don’t need to be sparkling, but a half-full yoghurt pot or baked bean tin, for example, risk contaminating porous materials in the same recycling load and rendering it all unrecyclable.
Do I need to keep lids on bottles and jars?
Yes, this reduces the chance of them getting lost during the sorting process as they can be recycled separately.
Do labels need to be removed from items like tins or bottles before they are recycled?
No, you can leave the labels on, they will come off during the recycling process.
What are most common items found in the kerbside recycling that shouldn’t be there?
Why is it better to use the blue box to recycle paper and card?
Collecting paper and card separately from the rest of your recycling allow us to send it directly to paper mills for reprocessing. This prevents paper and card from getting soiled and damp and ensures a better quality and a higher recycling rate.
Have you lost or damaged your blue box for paper and card? To order a new one free of charge, click here.
I am a new Southend resident, where can I get the bins I am missing?
You can use this form to request, free of charge, the following containers and bags to be delivered to your new address.
- food caddy - small (to keep in your kitchen)
- food caddy - large (to present on collection day)
- blue box for paper and card
- food waste liners
- pink recycling sacks
The new resident pack contains everything you need to start recycling as much as you can.
Can you help us do better this year?
Make a pledge!
Fill in this form to make a pledge and join the rest of Southend City in fighting contamination and recycling right.
What happens to my recycling?
You will find below answers to frequently asked questions about the recycling journey following its collection from the kerbside or your communal bin store.
Where does my recycling go?
After collection, your pink recycling sacks are taken to a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Southwark, London. At the MRF, the mixed recycling materials are sorted and separated depending on the material they are made of. Each item is then sent to other facilities equipped to reprocess that specific material.
You will soon be able to download a document summarising the end destinations for each type of material.
Below is a video showing the different steps of the sorting process
What happens if I put the wrong things in my pink recycling sacks?
Over 80% of the recycling we collect is of good quality and can be reprocessed into new material. Sadly, we also regularly find items in pink recycling sacks that cannot be recycled. When it comes to contamination, there are several ways in which items can spoil a load of recycling. It’s not just about putting the wrong thing in the wrong bag, contamination also occurs when unclean objects are mixed with clean recycling. Contaminating your pink recycling sacks makes it much more difficult for the operators at the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) to sort your waste and it also increases their risk of injury. Moreover, items like textiles can get winded in the equipment and lead to costly breakdowns.
How can I be sure that the items in the pink recycling sacks are being recycled?
Southend-on-Sea City Council receives regular information about where Veolia send the borough’s recycling and both monitor and check the information and data supplied. Veolia's practices meet and exceed the legal requirements for recycling. Their dedicated team audits, visits and rigorously monitors all outlets for recycling commodities to ensure the highest standards are met.
Veolia also works closely with the Environment Agency to reduce waste crime, ensuring that every step of the recycling chain is accountable and efficient. You can be sure that when you recycle, it will go to the right place.
Veolia only exports recycling abroad when there is not the capacity, available facilities or demand in the UK.
How is my waste recycled?
Watch the videos below to discover how each type of material gets recycled.
Glass bottles and jars - how are they recycled?
Cans - how are they recycled?
Plastics - how are they recycled?
Is there any useful information missing from this page?
Get in touch at: [email protected] to let us know and we will update it accordingly.