We’re supporting Recycle Week 2023 - by asking you to play detective and hunt down the recyclable items ‘hiding’ in your home.  

This is the twentieth year of Recycle Week, and this year’s theme to reduce the amount of rubbish we put in our grey bins is The Big Recycling Hunt.   

 In Barnsley, 45 per cent of waste is recycled or composted already and we thank you for playing your part, but we want to go further by working together to increase this figure and make our borough more sustainable.  

The aim of this year’s Recycle Week is to raise awareness of just how much we can save from landfill and inspire everyone to recycle more of the right things, more often.   

We’re joining Rotherham, Sheffield and Doncaster Councils and campaign organisation Recycle Now to ask you to track down and recycle everything from baked bean tins and plastic bottles for cleaning products to takeaway trays and yoghurt pots. Don’t forget to wash and squash items to reduce contamination and save space in your bin.  

 Almost everything we use can be reused or recycled – and many items which can’t go in your recycling bins can be handed in at one of our household waste recycling centres.  

 Research from Recycle Now reveals that almost nine out of 10 people now recycle, but 55 percent of households put items in the general rubbish bin that can be recycled, including plastic shampoo and conditioner bottles as well as cleaning and bleach bottles.     

 Cllr James Higginbottom, Cabinet Spokesperson for Environment and Highways, said: “By recycling right, you can help increase our recycling rate further and reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfill.  

“All sorts of items can be recycled in your wheelie bin or accepted at our recycling centres, helping us to create a cleaner, greener and more sustainable Barnsley.  

“With 45 percent of Barnsley's waste already being reused, recycled or composted, together we can go further to increase how much we recycle.  

“As part of our #EverybodyThink campaign, we’ll be sharing tips that we hope will help residents to take action and join the Big Recycling Hunt.”  

Cllr Dominic Beck, Chair of the Joint Waste Board in South Yorkshire, said: “We all lead busy lives and sometimes don’t realise that many of the items we throw away can be recycled.  

“Often, it’s the ordinary things such as yoghurt pots and bottles that are put in the general waste bins when they could be put out for recycling.   

“Households across South Yorkshire are already supporting us to protect the environment and we hope the Big Recycling Hunt will help them to recycle even more effectively, which in the long term will benefit everyone.”  

Did you know all these items are accepted at our Household Waste Recycling centres?  

• Car oil  
• Cooking oil  
• Household batteries  
• Cardboard drinks cartons  
• Tetrapaks
• Light bulbs  

So, what should we all be looking for?  

• Cleaning product bottles after their final spritz, and all those yoghurt pots, butter tubs, food tins and plastic meat trays that we’ve emptied along the way. Plastics can be processed and may be used again in drinks bottles and food trays, clothes, refuse bags, car park and flowerpots.  
• Empty bean tins after a full English. Recycled steel can be turned into new cans and a variety of products from train tracks and cars to bicycle frames and paperclips.  
• Aluminium takeaway trays from last night’s tikka masala. Please remember to wash these out thoroughly before recycling. Recycled aluminium can be reused in new cans, food trays and other varied areas including building, transport and packaging.   

If you are unsure what items go in each bin or whether they are accepted at our recycling centres, please visit barnsley.gov.uk/waste-a-z.  

Make sure you're following our Everybody Think page on Facebook for more top tips.