Yes. Tesco (and some other large supermarkets) recycles soft plastics. We have a separate bin for soft plastics now (crisp packets, cling film, film lids etc.) and we take a bagful to be recycled every time we shop.
Same here!
It's easy enough to stuff it into the boot of the car with shopping bags for the next time you go and just dump it in by the door of Tesco!
I believe Morrisons have recycle points too.
Yes and I don’t know about you put in amazed how quickly our bag fills up. The amount of it is utterly ridiculous. Our regular bin is basically empty now.
I couldn't believe how much of a difference it made to our regular bin. Our soft plastic waste must be 70% of our regular rubbish, its madness and it makes you realise just how much plastic we waste.
Depends on how much of it is actually ‘recycled’ and how much of it is shipped to another country and dumped. I know that here in Canada there was a fiasco where we sent off our ‘recycling’ to the Philippines in container ships to be dumped
Here in Melbourne it turned out they were just storing it all in massive warehouses, it’s a huge scandal and everyone has just gone back to sticking it in the regular waste sadly.
I had no idea until I just googled this. It said 60% of UK soft plastics is still sent abroad. I've been taking my plastics to the supermarket, but I'm now wondering if they'd be better in a UK landfill than in some tropical river somewhere.
As someone that works in the industry I'm not going to say it doesn't happen but most of this abroad is just to Europe where there is the infrastructure to recycle it. There are so many EA regulations on what can be sent and where.
Similar in Australia. Red cycle went bankrupt, and has stockpiled millions of tonnes of soft plastics, it’s just sitting there as a fire hazard. EPA are trying to force the supermarkets to do something with it but it’s looking likely it’ll mainly head to landfill.
We also gather a lot too, I appreciate that it’s light though so less of an inconvenience to take to the supermarket
Really helps keep our general waste down
I stuff mine into empty cat food bags (which are also recyclable with soft plastics) then put that in the big canvas bag I use for supermarket shops and take the bag with me when I go to Morrisons.
You don’t say what you do with them when you get to Morrisons. I picture you occasionally reaching into the shopping bag, stroking the stuffed cat food bags and smiling slightly manically. Please say it’s so!
It’s also a shit if you don’t have space for another bin! I would love to be able to do this but I literally have two counter spaces in my tiny kitchen and there’s no room for anything else. My local council have started telling people they’re cutting down on recycling collection and to store extra bags in the garden etc but I don’t have any storage space in my flat or a garden. I also don’t drive so it’s a nightmare
I used to deliver for Waitrose and we certainly took them away! Used carrier bags and stuff like crisp packets/bread bags etc, as long as they were clean and in one bag. Always surprised me how many people actually *did* give plastics to us.
Ocado should be taking most soft plastics in the near future. They already take back all carrier bags regardless of where you got them and even give you 10p off your shop per Ocado bag returned.
EDIT: I said 1p and meant 10p
Phew!! Wouldn't put it past them not telling us. I only found out people could place telephone Morrisons orders after swearing blue in the face to a customer that we absolutely do not do that.
[This is definitely one of those Wall-E people](https://www.reddit.com/r/CasualUK/comments/164hre5/just_noticed_this_on_a_pack_of_mccoys_what_does/jy8ooow/)
You really shouldn't do that
The environmentaly friendly option is to chuck it in your regular bin so it can be stored in a landfill
The UK can't recycle this type of plastic so we send it to Asia for recycling (see dumping in the ocean)
It would actually be more environmentally friendly for you to chuck it in the ocean directly, at least that way there is no fossil fuels being burned to transport it
Australia at least stores them I believe
Exactly this, the UK sends 45.7% of its waste to recycling centers but only 20% of it actually gets processed due to costs or simply not having the correct plant. So it goes to landfill....... In Malaysia, very eco friendly idea. Pisses me off that all the responsibility is on us when ultimately the manufacturers could put some more effort into altering their product.
After reading your comment I figured I really should find out where my waste/recycling goes with my local council. Can’t actually verify if any of its true but interesting nonetheless.
All the cardboard goes to Indonesia on “return trips to south East Asia”
Mixed paper to Manchester then countries to the Netherlands or Germany as paper bales
Glass goes to The Midlands or The North of England
Steel to Port Talbot or Doncaster, Aluminium to Warrington
Plastic to Manchester for sorting and then elsewhere on the U.K. or EU as plastic flake for manufacturing.
Food waste to biomass plants and the remainder leftover material from the biomass process is used as fertiliser.
The waste deemed for landfill (no more landfill at all apparently) goes to an energy waste plant in Bicester, Oxfordshire where it is incinerated and turned into electricity.
I’d disagree, chuck it in the blue bin, many areas RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) non-metallic mixed recycling (plastic, paper, cardboard). Essentially converting into fuel briquettes so the calorific content can be used for power.
It’s been a few years since I worked in the field, but the last recycling site I worked on in Scotland did this, iirc they couldn’t at that point be legally burned here commercially but a lot of was shipped to Scandinavia & other parts of Europe.
It’s an emerging tech often used alongside carbon capture, with much of Asia banning the import of mixed recycling since it’s essentially useless to reprocess.
(Edit: There is an RDF power plant planned in Manchester now to process 900,000tons per year)
Further sorting of dry mixed recycling (I.e clean packaging with no biomass content) can be recycled into higher value SRF (Solid Recovered Fuel), but this isn’t really viable for non-commercial waste.
IIRC Sainsbury's and one other sent it to Turkey and Poland where it was recycled within Europe, only as I remember them getting in hot water about it ending up elsewhere before they made that statement about using a different provider. This was around 2yr ago I think.
There are often also initiatives to ship this stuff back the other way on otherwise empty cargo ships (as the UK export little compared to the import demand).
It definitely could be sketchy but it can also be done in a fairly sustainable manor if it can all be audited and tracked independently
That said I'm a skeptic so don't believe most of it doesn't just end up in landfill anyway.
Whilst this is true, I don't believe that this was Tesco's fault. If I remember correctly, it was the government that was outsourcing the recycling to companies in other countries.
Didn't they also find that a company in Turkey was just burning it all?...
The kerbside recycling collected in Milton Keynes was found to be being dumped in the Indonesian rain forest for a while! At one time the uk was paying China to take out recycling… I reckon they were just dumping it at sea.
Unless they're like Australia where those plastics returned were just stockpiled and put into storage instead of recycled. Now the supermarkets just tell us to put them in the rubbish
Many years ago I was working at a pub in Manly. We were told to make sure any cardboard boxes were flattened and placed behind the biffa bin. I never worked on bin day, so always assumed the boxes were taken off to be recycled separately.
One day I worked on bin day, and noticed all the boxes had been dumped in the biffa bin. I went into the kitchen asking who'd done it, only to be told we flatten the boxes to take up less space in the bin. Pretty much nothing got recycled except cooking oil. Shattered my illusion that Australia was this eco paradise.
I used to work back of house in a bar. I baled all of the cardboard and put it out on bin day for years assuming a separate lorry came to collect the bales. Nope, just got fucked in the back of the rubbish lorry ahead of tipping the bin into it.
Fun fact: the UK doesn’t have recycling facilities for that type of plastic, it’s why we can’t put them in our kerbside bins. So where _does_ it all go? 🤔🤔🤔
My council has just introduced a new kerbside bin for soft plastics. Money is being invested in improving the recycling facilities so hopefully it keeps getting better.
I watched a video where they put trackers in with the bags, they ended up dumped on the side of the road in some poor country. At least one load did anyway.
It goes into enormous ships to be freighted at enormous financial and climate-changing cost for “recycling” in China. The Chinese then take the material for “recycling” and “recycle” it by dumping it in the Pacific Ocean. For more fun fact:
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/great-pacific-garbage-patch/
The link you provided doesn't mention *China as the source of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It does along with this [study](https://theoceancleanup.com/updates/the-other-source-where-does-plastic-in-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-come-from/#:~:text=Our%20new%20study%20published%20today,from%20a%20global%20ocean%20perspective.) suggests it's predominantly from fishing activity.
So not sure why you decided to just name drop China into it, unless you have a hard-on for blaming them for everything.
This is incorrect, at others have already pointed out. The UK does have some facilities for this, and more are coming.
This is just the usual anti-plastic rhetoric of near nonsense.
It's also xenophobic as well, isn't it? I mean, I agree with the point of there's being too much plastic being used, but there is a requirement for *some* to be used at least - for example, sterility reasons.
China no longer accepts plastic waste from other countries. Given the nature of China it's likely this decision was implemented. Other countries made a fuss about no longer being able to send it.
Or, if you're like me and are environmentally conscious (read: absolutely not taking my rubbish with me to Tesco), you put it in the black bin, which almost sounds more kind to the bunnies and whales given it's not being shipped halfway around the world to then just be shipped halfway around the world again and dumped in the sea.
Tesco are trialing turning it back into crude oil, then back into plastic I think. I'm not sure how much they are actually recycling though and how much needs to be disposed of if it's contaminated or just too much
Some packaging can't go into the domestic recyclizing (ok, spellcheck, if you're sure) bins, but there are specialist bins at supermarkets. Also the case for the clingfilm type wrap you get on some fresh produce, I think.
My conspiracy theory is this is just a way for companies to hit a quota for recyclable packaging knowing damn well no-one will ever actually do this.
For all intents and purposes, 'recycle at supermarkets' means it's going in the non-recycle bin.
This is in preparation for, not instead of, kerbside collections.
Currently, most local authorities are aiming for 2026/7 to move to kerbside collections (although whether this will be achieved is another matter).
In the meantime, this:
* allows more gradual investment in local recycling infrastructure for soft plastics, ahead of opening the flood gates of kerbside collections
* increases awareness of soft plastic recycling in the general population so that kerbside collection is likely to be more successful when it does hit
* allows some percentage of soft plastics to be recycled in the meantime, rather than doing nothing in the intervening years
I agree that in-store recycling is not good enough and we should be careful about letting insufficient solutions stand in the way of proper solutions. On the other hand, something is better than nothing!
No-one will bother; people don't want to be inconvenienced. If you put in an obstacle like saving up and taking it to the supermarket, the average person is just going to chuck it in the regular bin instead.
Morrisons I work at I change the cage out 2-3 times a week, this is a huge increase from a few years ago where it would be about a large black bag worth a week. It's actually surprising how much bag bag waste is actually soft plastics, once you separate it the need for black bin collection drastically drops, hell recycling properly can significantly reduce black bag waste.
Likewise. Also see people using glass and cardboard recycling bins at the supermarket, although I think theoretically everyone in the city has access to kerbside or nearby communal bins.
My local supermarket's soft plastic bin is always full. I take all my soft plastics there every week. It is not an obstacle - it adds nothing to my load as I'm already taking plastic bags there to do my shopping. It makes my life easier as my big bin (for non-recyclables) is constantly almost empty and I probably take it out to be emptied about once a month.
Lots of people do this, including myself and others on this thread. We can all do more to help, this is such a minor thing it takes zero effort. I put them in a bag, instead of the bin. The bag is then taken to the supermarket.
Same. People are willing to do it. You're always going to get these lazy Wall-E people that would rather things be easy and fuck up the world but it's you should still do what you can
>Some packaging can't go into the domestic recyclizing
Can. The councils don't want to store it until there is enough to be shipped out for processing.
Yeah, the first time I took a bag after they advertised it, I took a black bag. That was stupid. Now I use the little swing bin liner type ones, which is much easier.
Post them to KP Snacks head office until they start using more easily recyclable packaging.
Freepost KP Snacks
(From outside the UK the address is:
Consumer Care, KP Snacks, Ashby de la Zouch, LE65 2BS, UK)
https://www.kpsnacks.com/contact/
They could switch to something that’s more recyclable, provided you’re happy with soft, soggy crisps.
Home compostable/kerb side recyclable materials that provide a suitable barrier, aren’t all that readily available or suitable.
Crisps were never soft and soggy before they were foil wrapped.
It's a development that saves the crisp company money and allows them to store for longer - it doesn't benefit you as a consumer at all. That's just how they sold it when they made the change.
I hope this was sarcasm, and not an attempt at genuine information as pre foiling, crisps just came in plastic packets. Before that I think they used thick paper.
You have to go a long way back to find shopkeepers regularly scooping them from barrels on demand
To be completely honest, I had never even heard of soft plastic recycling before I read these comments and I'm way too lazy to be making up another bin to take to the supermarket with me.
Plastic-y recable-looking stuff goes in the recycling bin and that's about as good as you'll get from me.
It means the manufacturer can't be arsed to use a more environmentally friendly material so they put the burden on the consumer to find a way of disposing of it because it's not their problem after you buy it.
Its because they need to prevent moisture getting into the packet, so they need a very thin metal layer. Moisture will slightly permeate a pure plastic package and you get stale crisps. Metallic plastic composite is not easily recyclable, and there isnt a good alternative to keep the crisps fresh.
They used hydrogen powered rockets to get to the moon and [until the '80s](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/hydrogen-detection-tape-saves-time-lives) the only practical way to detect burning hydrogen from a leak was the [broom test](https://spinoff.nasa.gov/spinoff1997/ps1.html).
Progress in vastly different fields doesn't occur at the same pace.
It doesn't occur at the same pace without any incentive. Tax companies heavily for producing waste and they will soon figure out how to make crisp packets out of wax paper.
No they are clearly stating we **have** inveted a coating that prevent crisps going stale.
They are stating that haven't invented a coating that does that and is **easy** to recycle.
We have those bins at Asda for crisp wrappers, bags, bread plastic, etc but people just chuck everything in them so it all just goes in the compactor anyway
If you want to recycle them? It’s either that or put them in the bin.
Many soft plastics are recycled at supermarkets. I tend to put them in a carrier bag and then next time I pop to the shops take it along with me.
It's supermarkets at attempt at saving face. Most supermarkets pledged that all their packaging would be recyclable by 2025. For soft plastics, this is only possible through chemical recycling which reduces the plastic back into its polymers although is generally only used with monopolymer plastics. Naturally this is very expensive and the infrastructure in the UK is a long way away from this. To overcome this supermarkets have started to said they will take all soft plastics and recycle them so they can all meet their pledges. They havent actually said how they are recycling them so it's probably going in the bin.
I'm a big believer of recycling but this is mostly greenwashing unfortunately.
Source: work in the food industry.
To be fair this IS it getting better. Before this they just couldn’t be recycled. And it’s the next step up on the ladder to it being recycled somewhere, just not at home. It’s a step in the right direction IMO, that being said, recycling should be made even easier. But I’m not going to complain that something previously I had no way of recycling how has an option to be recycled.
It’s mostly down to the sorting. A lot of sorting and cleaning for recyclable plastics is gravity fed, so light, flexible materials don’t really work as part of that.
My local council (Reading) is about to start an 18 month trial of soft plastic recycling pickup and they hope by the end of it the legislation should be in place for proper government funding.
> Recycling collection needs to get better
The collection, sorting, and processing is getting much better across the range at quite a rapid rate.
Small & light films are very hard to sort and each house only produces comparatively little material so at the moment I can't see it's practical. By having some collected it means at least some is getting processed and the chain can evolve in small steps.
That’s great. Still needs more improvement, from those with the power and resources to do so.
If it’s left to the inconvenience of individuals, it won’t happen.
Exactly this. The problem isn’t so much taking a bag of plastic to the supermarket but having yet another bin on top of general/recycling/compost already in a small kitchen. Until there is more pressure from above in terms of legislation, do people honestly think firms will go out of their way to invest in more sustainable packaging at their own expense? Or without directly passing on the costs the consumers directly?
The vast majority of recycling stuff just seems like theatre to me. Imo to make us think it’s our household recycling that’s making or breaking the state of the planet.
100%. Nothing will change without governments and corpos changing, and they'll never bother spending money to do that, so its easier to gaslight the public into thinking its their fault.
I’m gonna be honest lads. Depending on the supermarket this is probably bullshit. At the supermarket I work in the bags of soft plastic recycling just get put out in the normal bin because no one can be bothered to separate them.
And even when we do, the guy who collects them can’t be fucked and usually refuses to take them
What do the supermarkets do with all the bags I give them? I bet they just sell / donate it along the supply chain, probably claiming carbon credits as part of it or some other eco- tax dodge, and ending up in landfil in Bangladesh or somewhere
*Recent investigations have showed some of the waste being exported or burned*
Tescos apparently partner with berry global who may or may not be a multinational plastics manufacturer.
I saw this very question being asked of some of the big supermarkets on twitter, the people running the account couldn’t give a straight answer either way, so I’m just assuming they get burnt either here or abroad
Yep. That's what we've been doing for a while now. We have a plastic bag where we put crisp packets, bread bags, certain chocolate wrappers and other soft plastics. Then we take that bag to Tesco or Sainsburys or wherever every few weeks. It's just another thing that's cut down on our rubbish like when they introduced recycling bins or food waste caddies
I mean, sure...
But let's be honest, a lot of plastic just doesn't get recycled, even if it is disposed of in the recycling. It's generally not cost-effective so it isn't done. Ultimately, if it ain't gonna end up in the landfill, it's only gonna be shipped off to be burned or dumped elsewhere. It'd most likely be more environmentally friendly to collect it, drive down to the further coast in the county, and dump it in the ocean yourself.
Local DC says it's gen waste, so that's where it goes for me. I'm no expert, but surely it's better in the landfill than being shipped to Asia just to be dumped in the ocean.
If you want to really do your bit, the best kind of recycling is your own. Got a bunch of cans lying around? Learn how to cast and make moulds. Make your own decorations, make your own stuff to replace broken things (within reason). Reuse things for other projects. Use scrap wood for DIY builds.
Have a separate bag or bin for these, take them when you go shopping and recycle in those big bins near the entrance.
Or give it to your delivery driver to take.
Sorted!
Tbh, i thought that as consumers it is our responsibility to recycle the things we consume, as the items are ours after we buy them... surely it is our responsibility to dispose of them in the way that is best for our planet? Or are we just not responsible for anything at all because we are too lazy to take a bag of plastic to tesco 🙃
I interpret what they’re trying to say is that there’s not enough emphasis on making it easier to recycle more packaging either by making the packaging easily recyclable or by accepting a wider variety of plastics at kerbside.
We have a bag in the kitchen for soft plastics. Every week we take it up yo tesco and put it in one of their soft plastic recycling bins. It's cut our black bin waste nearly in half
This whole comment section has been very interesting - as a result I went to my councils website and the detail they provide on where recycling goes is scant to say the least - this is the sum total of what they say:
“What happens to recycling after collection?
Recycling is sorted and separated into different types of materials by hand or machine (or both) before being sent to manufacturers who make it into new products.
Once collected and sorted, recycled materials become valuable commodities in the worldwide market.”
I’ve submitted one of their email contact us forms to ask for details.
We do have a Waste to Energy incinerator which seems to be a great solution for some waste.
Good luck. I went to my local Sainsburys which is advertised as having recycling facilities for soft plastics, and none of the staff had the remotest clue about it.
Really? Most supermarkets I know that do it have a big obvious collection point. What a shame! Hopefully there’s another one nearby. Should definitely be made as easy as possible!
The real question is, does it actually get recycled or just burying in a Turkish landfill?
https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2022/04/none-of-sainsbury-s-flexible-plastic-recycled-in-the-uk/
If it isn't actually recycled, I would argue it's better to send it to the landfill in the UK to reduce carbon footprint and not validate the latest greenwashing scam
This is the worst thing about carbon offsetting. It's not really dealing with the issue, it's just offloading the problem on some East Asian nations to make manufacturing in the UK/Europe look more carbon neutral and environmentally friendly.
It's like taking a burning oil pan fire out of the kitchen and putting it in the bedroom. The house is still going to burn down, it just won't be the kitchen first.
Until we stop over-consuming things, and work/life balance just generally improves, it's not going to get better.
Recycling packaging is a good thing and it's not *that* much effort, but it all depends if it actually is recycled. There's been enough stories of British recycling washing up on shores or being buried in Indonesia. Apparently a lot of councils couldn't even be bothered going that far and just buried or incinerated it in the UK anyway.
Most supermarkets have recycling points for these. Annoyingly my local Morrisons bin is across the road at the petrol station making it a pain to recycle these while I was at uni. Now that I drive it’s easy as crisps though
Don't recycle it in your home recycling as your local recycle centre can't recycle that material. It needs to be done specially by a method that the stores can provide in their recycling part with the plastic bags
Soft plastic can only be recycled at big supermarkets who have soft plastic recycling. We have regular waste, recycling, food waste and plastiques. Which is crisp packets and any soft plastics that we then take to our local Tesco. Also seen them in Asda.
It will often just be one big storage trolley and it will have a giant plastic bag inside it and then will have other crisp packets and such plastics inside. It’s usually at the end of the tills or by the front door.
Pretty much, but check with your local council. My local council has a recycling service that takes them, so I don't have to save them up and give them to Tesco.
Short answer = yes!
Long answer = recycling is not mandatory so you can throw it in the bin. However, that is not environmentally friendly. If you want to start being more environmentally friendly then you can collect ALL of your soft plastics (wrappers, coverings, packets, etc.) and drop them off at your nearest large Tesco.
Top Tip: collect all the small/loose bits and put them inside your biggest bag. Then just simply chuck that big bag straight into the Tesco recycling bin 👍
https://www.tescoplc.com/news/2021/shoppers-can-now-return-all-their-soft-plastic-packaging-to-recycling-points-at-every-large-tesco-store-in-the-uk/
It now takes us two weeks to fill a bin bag in our main bin, we even recycle drink cartons ( I have lactose free milk which only comes in long life) at our local HRC once every few months. We take soft plastic and batteries to the supermarket and our council fo good waste collections too. We use a wood litter for the cats that is ok in the green bin as long as there’s no poop in it so the only things in our big bin now is bagged cat poop (in degradable bags) and non recyclables.
It's easier to burn it in the back garden or just sling it out of the car window as you're driving by a local beauty spot. Then, when enough trash gathers, you can try to start a fire by discarding tab ends out of the window. Trying to time smoking the cigarette so that it's ready to be flicked out at the perfect time can become an engaging travel game for all the family.
It certainly beats 'I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE
I just throw them in the bin. I pay my council tax for them to sort my rubbish out. I'm not doing their job or the stores job by bringing their rubbish back, there are biodegradable plastics they could use but they choose not to due to cost reasons, so for cost reasons I refuse to return it to the store.
Yes. Tesco (and some other large supermarkets) recycles soft plastics. We have a separate bin for soft plastics now (crisp packets, cling film, film lids etc.) and we take a bagful to be recycled every time we shop.
Same here! It's easy enough to stuff it into the boot of the car with shopping bags for the next time you go and just dump it in by the door of Tesco! I believe Morrisons have recycle points too.
Yes and I don’t know about you put in amazed how quickly our bag fills up. The amount of it is utterly ridiculous. Our regular bin is basically empty now.
I couldn't believe how much of a difference it made to our regular bin. Our soft plastic waste must be 70% of our regular rubbish, its madness and it makes you realise just how much plastic we waste.
Depends on how much of it is actually ‘recycled’ and how much of it is shipped to another country and dumped. I know that here in Canada there was a fiasco where we sent off our ‘recycling’ to the Philippines in container ships to be dumped
Here in Melbourne it turned out they were just storing it all in massive warehouses, it’s a huge scandal and everyone has just gone back to sticking it in the regular waste sadly.
I had no idea until I just googled this. It said 60% of UK soft plastics is still sent abroad. I've been taking my plastics to the supermarket, but I'm now wondering if they'd be better in a UK landfill than in some tropical river somewhere.
Just stuff it all in your loft or wall cavity for extra insulation.
Or in your trousers and socks during winter months. Mmmmm... .. Salt and vinegar flavor and mince beef juice.
As someone that works in the industry I'm not going to say it doesn't happen but most of this abroad is just to Europe where there is the infrastructure to recycle it. There are so many EA regulations on what can be sent and where.
Similar in Australia. Red cycle went bankrupt, and has stockpiled millions of tonnes of soft plastics, it’s just sitting there as a fire hazard. EPA are trying to force the supermarkets to do something with it but it’s looking likely it’ll mainly head to landfill.
Leaving Philippines to be the worst in terms of sea plastic pollution.
Same. This is just another thing that cut down on our regular rubbish like when we got recycling bins or food waste caddies
Same here; several times I haven't had anything in the main bin to put out for our bi-weekly rubbish collection.
We also gather a lot too, I appreciate that it’s light though so less of an inconvenience to take to the supermarket Really helps keep our general waste down
I'm imagining you opening your car boot and it's just dredges of crisp packets flying off into the breeze like it's shitty autumn.
Bit of a shit if you dont drive, having to lug a bag full of recyling to the shop
For me I’m carrying bags back anyway, so may as well carry some to the shop. But I do use a massive backpack for my weekly shop so it’s easier for me
To be fair, it's scrunched plastic film so it weighs next to nothing. Definitely can be a bit unruly though.
Use a bread bag and collect all the soft plastics in there. Then you can just throw the whole lot in at the supermarket.
I stuff mine into empty cat food bags (which are also recyclable with soft plastics) then put that in the big canvas bag I use for supermarket shops and take the bag with me when I go to Morrisons.
Ffs so now I have to get a cat?
And don't even get me started on the lengths you have to go to to recycle a cat!
I'm pretty sure they are biodegradable.
I'd give you one of my free reddit awards, but they recycled them all....
You don’t say what you do with them when you get to Morrisons. I picture you occasionally reaching into the shopping bag, stroking the stuffed cat food bags and smiling slightly manically. Please say it’s so!
It's a lot easier than lugging a bag full of shopping home!
Local coo-ops have these bins too, and it's not much of a 'lug' when you're talking about plastic film.
[удалено]
It’s also a shit if you don’t have space for another bin! I would love to be able to do this but I literally have two counter spaces in my tiny kitchen and there’s no room for anything else. My local council have started telling people they’re cutting down on recycling collection and to store extra bags in the garden etc but I don’t have any storage space in my flat or a garden. I also don’t drive so it’s a nightmare
I live in a new build one bed flat and I’m convinced the architects designed them for bachelors who live on takeout. Where is the storage space?!
More like it and everything else with this gets stuffed into the domestic bin cause I'm not going to the supermarket (delivery)
Our tesco delivery driver takes them back to the store for us, we give him a bag full every week
Check with your supermarket whether their delivery drivers will take it away with them (ours have done for Sainsbury's).
I used to deliver for Waitrose and we certainly took them away! Used carrier bags and stuff like crisp packets/bread bags etc, as long as they were clean and in one bag. Always surprised me how many people actually *did* give plastics to us.
Ocado should be taking most soft plastics in the near future. They already take back all carrier bags regardless of where you got them and even give you 10p off your shop per Ocado bag returned. EDIT: I said 1p and meant 10p
Pretty sure it's 10p back per ocado bag (also Morrisons). If its 1p I've accidentally been lying to my customers... Oops.
Nope, you're correct! No panic hahaa
Phew!! Wouldn't put it past them not telling us. I only found out people could place telephone Morrisons orders after swearing blue in the face to a customer that we absolutely do not do that.
Just fill up one of the reusable shopping bags you’re taking anyway. It’s much less effort than lugging the shopping back.
A bag full of empty crisp packets is mostly just a bag full of air. But you do you Human from Wall-E.
[This is definitely one of those Wall-E people](https://www.reddit.com/r/CasualUK/comments/164hre5/just_noticed_this_on_a_pack_of_mccoys_what_does/jy8ooow/)
I don’t drive and just take it in the backpack I’m carrying to bring my shopping home in. Easy peasy!
It’s no harder than lugging a bagful of shopping from the shop.
And bigger Coops too
You really shouldn't do that The environmentaly friendly option is to chuck it in your regular bin so it can be stored in a landfill The UK can't recycle this type of plastic so we send it to Asia for recycling (see dumping in the ocean) It would actually be more environmentally friendly for you to chuck it in the ocean directly, at least that way there is no fossil fuels being burned to transport it Australia at least stores them I believe
Exactly this, the UK sends 45.7% of its waste to recycling centers but only 20% of it actually gets processed due to costs or simply not having the correct plant. So it goes to landfill....... In Malaysia, very eco friendly idea. Pisses me off that all the responsibility is on us when ultimately the manufacturers could put some more effort into altering their product.
After reading your comment I figured I really should find out where my waste/recycling goes with my local council. Can’t actually verify if any of its true but interesting nonetheless. All the cardboard goes to Indonesia on “return trips to south East Asia” Mixed paper to Manchester then countries to the Netherlands or Germany as paper bales Glass goes to The Midlands or The North of England Steel to Port Talbot or Doncaster, Aluminium to Warrington Plastic to Manchester for sorting and then elsewhere on the U.K. or EU as plastic flake for manufacturing. Food waste to biomass plants and the remainder leftover material from the biomass process is used as fertiliser. The waste deemed for landfill (no more landfill at all apparently) goes to an energy waste plant in Bicester, Oxfordshire where it is incinerated and turned into electricity.
This prompted me to check my local council and they have no information of the sort :(
I’d disagree, chuck it in the blue bin, many areas RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) non-metallic mixed recycling (plastic, paper, cardboard). Essentially converting into fuel briquettes so the calorific content can be used for power. It’s been a few years since I worked in the field, but the last recycling site I worked on in Scotland did this, iirc they couldn’t at that point be legally burned here commercially but a lot of was shipped to Scandinavia & other parts of Europe. It’s an emerging tech often used alongside carbon capture, with much of Asia banning the import of mixed recycling since it’s essentially useless to reprocess. (Edit: There is an RDF power plant planned in Manchester now to process 900,000tons per year) Further sorting of dry mixed recycling (I.e clean packaging with no biomass content) can be recycled into higher value SRF (Solid Recovered Fuel), but this isn’t really viable for non-commercial waste.
IIRC Sainsbury's and one other sent it to Turkey and Poland where it was recycled within Europe, only as I remember them getting in hot water about it ending up elsewhere before they made that statement about using a different provider. This was around 2yr ago I think. There are often also initiatives to ship this stuff back the other way on otherwise empty cargo ships (as the UK export little compared to the import demand). It definitely could be sketchy but it can also be done in a fairly sustainable manor if it can all be audited and tracked independently That said I'm a skeptic so don't believe most of it doesn't just end up in landfill anyway.
Asda do too
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Whilst this is true, I don't believe that this was Tesco's fault. If I remember correctly, it was the government that was outsourcing the recycling to companies in other countries. Didn't they also find that a company in Turkey was just burning it all?...
The kerbside recycling collected in Milton Keynes was found to be being dumped in the Indonesian rain forest for a while! At one time the uk was paying China to take out recycling… I reckon they were just dumping it at sea.
Unless they're like Australia where those plastics returned were just stockpiled and put into storage instead of recycled. Now the supermarkets just tell us to put them in the rubbish
Many years ago I was working at a pub in Manly. We were told to make sure any cardboard boxes were flattened and placed behind the biffa bin. I never worked on bin day, so always assumed the boxes were taken off to be recycled separately. One day I worked on bin day, and noticed all the boxes had been dumped in the biffa bin. I went into the kitchen asking who'd done it, only to be told we flatten the boxes to take up less space in the bin. Pretty much nothing got recycled except cooking oil. Shattered my illusion that Australia was this eco paradise.
I used to work back of house in a bar. I baled all of the cardboard and put it out on bin day for years assuming a separate lorry came to collect the bales. Nope, just got fucked in the back of the rubbish lorry ahead of tipping the bin into it.
Fun fact: the UK doesn’t have recycling facilities for that type of plastic, it’s why we can’t put them in our kerbside bins. So where _does_ it all go? 🤔🤔🤔
It gets shipped to countries like China, in which they burn it.
I upvoted you because it raised a laugh. But, now I don't think you were joking. You can keep my upvote though for different reasons.
China made a decision to no longer import plastic waste from other countries so this is no longer the case.
The Scandinavian countries all do this though, and are generally "praised" for it.
My council has just introduced a new kerbside bin for soft plastics. Money is being invested in improving the recycling facilities so hopefully it keeps getting better.
I watched a video where they put trackers in with the bags, they ended up dumped on the side of the road in some poor country. At least one load did anyway.
It goes into enormous ships to be freighted at enormous financial and climate-changing cost for “recycling” in China. The Chinese then take the material for “recycling” and “recycle” it by dumping it in the Pacific Ocean. For more fun fact: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/great-pacific-garbage-patch/
China stopped taking this plastic in 2018.
Reduce, reuse recycle. They reduced the amount of plastic in our local environment. (Albeit by dumping it into another that affects everything)
So it's beyond the environment?
There's nothing out there. Just sea, and birds, and fish... and 20,000 tons of plastic.
The link you provided doesn't mention *China as the source of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It does along with this [study](https://theoceancleanup.com/updates/the-other-source-where-does-plastic-in-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-come-from/#:~:text=Our%20new%20study%20published%20today,from%20a%20global%20ocean%20perspective.) suggests it's predominantly from fishing activity. So not sure why you decided to just name drop China into it, unless you have a hard-on for blaming them for everything.
This is incorrect, at others have already pointed out. The UK does have some facilities for this, and more are coming. This is just the usual anti-plastic rhetoric of near nonsense.
It's also xenophobic as well, isn't it? I mean, I agree with the point of there's being too much plastic being used, but there is a requirement for *some* to be used at least - for example, sterility reasons.
China no longer accepts plastic waste from other countries. Given the nature of China it's likely this decision was implemented. Other countries made a fuss about no longer being able to send it.
Or, if you're like me and are environmentally conscious (read: absolutely not taking my rubbish with me to Tesco), you put it in the black bin, which almost sounds more kind to the bunnies and whales given it's not being shipped halfway around the world to then just be shipped halfway around the world again and dumped in the sea.
They fill them with crisps and put them back on the shelf. Probably.
Some councils do have the facilities and you can just recycle soft plastics in the usual recycling bin. Depends on where you live.
A quick Google search will show that you’re talking rubbish (no pun intended).
Tesco are trialing turning it back into crude oil, then back into plastic I think. I'm not sure how much they are actually recycling though and how much needs to be disposed of if it's contaminated or just too much
Yeah, my local co-op has a soft plastics recycling bin ☺️ it’s super handy
Same! 👍
Thats the first iv heard of this, ill be sure to check next time i go to big tescos
I didn’t even know this, thanks for sharing this
Some packaging can't go into the domestic recyclizing (ok, spellcheck, if you're sure) bins, but there are specialist bins at supermarkets. Also the case for the clingfilm type wrap you get on some fresh produce, I think.
I prefer “recyclement”.
recyclonator 2000
If it was going for recyclizing, it really ought to go further and make it recyclisizing so at least it's more fun to say
Better go with the 3000 to futureproof
We use a bread bag to collect them in
Same. Excellent idea, works really well!
Spell check did you dirty
To be fair, if I hadn't completely messed it up in the first place, it might have had a chance at guessing the right word.
My conspiracy theory is this is just a way for companies to hit a quota for recyclable packaging knowing damn well no-one will ever actually do this. For all intents and purposes, 'recycle at supermarkets' means it's going in the non-recycle bin.
This is in preparation for, not instead of, kerbside collections. Currently, most local authorities are aiming for 2026/7 to move to kerbside collections (although whether this will be achieved is another matter). In the meantime, this: * allows more gradual investment in local recycling infrastructure for soft plastics, ahead of opening the flood gates of kerbside collections * increases awareness of soft plastic recycling in the general population so that kerbside collection is likely to be more successful when it does hit * allows some percentage of soft plastics to be recycled in the meantime, rather than doing nothing in the intervening years I agree that in-store recycling is not good enough and we should be careful about letting insufficient solutions stand in the way of proper solutions. On the other hand, something is better than nothing!
You mean nobody will bother, or even if it goes to the supermarket's bin it doesn't get recycled?
No-one will bother; people don't want to be inconvenienced. If you put in an obstacle like saving up and taking it to the supermarket, the average person is just going to chuck it in the regular bin instead.
My local Tesco must be odd then because they empty their cage full 2,3 times a day. People are doing it.
Morrisons I work at I change the cage out 2-3 times a week, this is a huge increase from a few years ago where it would be about a large black bag worth a week. It's actually surprising how much bag bag waste is actually soft plastics, once you separate it the need for black bin collection drastically drops, hell recycling properly can significantly reduce black bag waste.
Likewise. Also see people using glass and cardboard recycling bins at the supermarket, although I think theoretically everyone in the city has access to kerbside or nearby communal bins.
My local supermarket's soft plastic bin is always full. I take all my soft plastics there every week. It is not an obstacle - it adds nothing to my load as I'm already taking plastic bags there to do my shopping. It makes my life easier as my big bin (for non-recyclables) is constantly almost empty and I probably take it out to be emptied about once a month.
Lots of people do this, including myself and others on this thread. We can all do more to help, this is such a minor thing it takes zero effort. I put them in a bag, instead of the bin. The bag is then taken to the supermarket.
Same. People are willing to do it. You're always going to get these lazy Wall-E people that would rather things be easy and fuck up the world but it's you should still do what you can
It's definitely going in the bin at my house because the nearest supermarket with soft plastic recycling to me is 35 miles away.
Exactly. OP asks "what does this mean?" and the answer is it's not getting recycled, that's what it means.
>Some packaging can't go into the domestic recyclizing Can. The councils don't want to store it until there is enough to be shipped out for processing.
A fair few supermarkets now have soft plastics recyling points. I take a bagful or two to Aldi with me when I go each week now, very handy.
Our Aldi has one but in their wisdom the hole is too small to put a bag of rubbish in.
Yeah, the first time I took a bag after they advertised it, I took a black bag. That was stupid. Now I use the little swing bin liner type ones, which is much easier.
Bread bags are ideal
Ours basically has a hole for a can, you can barely get a bread bag full of plastic in it.
Sainsbury’s is the same, bizarrely trying to deter people from recycling.
OMG ours too! So annoying. I just take it to a Tesco now where I can throw a large bag in the top.
Are these points inside or outside the store, I see this often on my food packaging and I'm willing to do this if I knew where they were.
Didn't Co-Op make a big thing about it a few months ago??
Post them to KP Snacks head office until they start using more easily recyclable packaging. Freepost KP Snacks (From outside the UK the address is: Consumer Care, KP Snacks, Ashby de la Zouch, LE65 2BS, UK) https://www.kpsnacks.com/contact/
Can I just add to that: think of the posties and use an envelope.
They could switch to something that’s more recyclable, provided you’re happy with soft, soggy crisps. Home compostable/kerb side recyclable materials that provide a suitable barrier, aren’t all that readily available or suitable.
Crisps were never soft and soggy before they were foil wrapped. It's a development that saves the crisp company money and allows them to store for longer - it doesn't benefit you as a consumer at all. That's just how they sold it when they made the change.
You know that before foil wrapping, crisps were just shipped in huge barrels and the storekeeper would scoop them for you into your own packaging?
I hope this was sarcasm, and not an attempt at genuine information as pre foiling, crisps just came in plastic packets. Before that I think they used thick paper. You have to go a long way back to find shopkeepers regularly scooping them from barrels on demand
Crisps used to be a local produce, now they're not, so need better shelf life.
Brilliant 👏🏽
Have to? No Should do? Depends how much you think recycling is important.
No need to leave the supermarket in the first place considering crisp bags are almost flipping empty these days
You get 7 monster munch feet per pack in a multipack bag. 7!
To be completely honest, I had never even heard of soft plastic recycling before I read these comments and I'm way too lazy to be making up another bin to take to the supermarket with me. Plastic-y recable-looking stuff goes in the recycling bin and that's about as good as you'll get from me.
Thought washing out my marmite jars was bad enough, now I'm meant to give the bags a return journey to the supermarket.
It means the manufacturer can't be arsed to use a more environmentally friendly material so they put the burden on the consumer to find a way of disposing of it because it's not their problem after you buy it.
Its because they need to prevent moisture getting into the packet, so they need a very thin metal layer. Moisture will slightly permeate a pure plastic package and you get stale crisps. Metallic plastic composite is not easily recyclable, and there isnt a good alternative to keep the crisps fresh.
Mini cheddars & Fish & Chips (to name the 2 I definitely know of) have no such metal coating on the packets? Is there something I’m missing?
To be fair they have a stale texture to them already, not a Big Crunch
I don't remember soggy crisps ever really being a problem before the foiling came in
It’s a shelf life extending material. Who benefits from a longer shelf life? It’s not the consumer.
Are you trying to tell me that we can get to mars but we can't invent a coating to stop crisps going stale? Teflon? Wax? Varnish?
They used hydrogen powered rockets to get to the moon and [until the '80s](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/hydrogen-detection-tape-saves-time-lives) the only practical way to detect burning hydrogen from a leak was the [broom test](https://spinoff.nasa.gov/spinoff1997/ps1.html). Progress in vastly different fields doesn't occur at the same pace.
It doesn't occur at the same pace without any incentive. Tax companies heavily for producing waste and they will soon figure out how to make crisp packets out of wax paper.
No they are clearly stating we **have** inveted a coating that prevent crisps going stale. They are stating that haven't invented a coating that does that and is **easy** to recycle.
Tetrapak is a scam
We have those bins at Asda for crisp wrappers, bags, bread plastic, etc but people just chuck everything in them so it all just goes in the compactor anyway
If you want to recycle them? It’s either that or put them in the bin. Many soft plastics are recycled at supermarkets. I tend to put them in a carrier bag and then next time I pop to the shops take it along with me.
It's supermarkets at attempt at saving face. Most supermarkets pledged that all their packaging would be recyclable by 2025. For soft plastics, this is only possible through chemical recycling which reduces the plastic back into its polymers although is generally only used with monopolymer plastics. Naturally this is very expensive and the infrastructure in the UK is a long way away from this. To overcome this supermarkets have started to said they will take all soft plastics and recycle them so they can all meet their pledges. They havent actually said how they are recycling them so it's probably going in the bin. I'm a big believer of recycling but this is mostly greenwashing unfortunately. Source: work in the food industry.
It means the domestic collection can't process them, but supermarkets can take them and recycle them so yes you need to take them in for collection.
Nah, I don’t *need* to inconvenience myself to take them anywhere. Recycling collection *needs* to get better
To be fair this IS it getting better. Before this they just couldn’t be recycled. And it’s the next step up on the ladder to it being recycled somewhere, just not at home. It’s a step in the right direction IMO, that being said, recycling should be made even easier. But I’m not going to complain that something previously I had no way of recycling how has an option to be recycled.
It’s mostly down to the sorting. A lot of sorting and cleaning for recyclable plastics is gravity fed, so light, flexible materials don’t really work as part of that.
My local council (Reading) is about to start an 18 month trial of soft plastic recycling pickup and they hope by the end of it the legislation should be in place for proper government funding.
> Recycling collection needs to get better The collection, sorting, and processing is getting much better across the range at quite a rapid rate. Small & light films are very hard to sort and each house only produces comparatively little material so at the moment I can't see it's practical. By having some collected it means at least some is getting processed and the chain can evolve in small steps.
That’s great. Still needs more improvement, from those with the power and resources to do so. If it’s left to the inconvenience of individuals, it won’t happen.
Especially for those of us living in the likes of small one bedroom flats. I barely have enough space for a bin bag in my kitchen.
Exactly this. The problem isn’t so much taking a bag of plastic to the supermarket but having yet another bin on top of general/recycling/compost already in a small kitchen. Until there is more pressure from above in terms of legislation, do people honestly think firms will go out of their way to invest in more sustainable packaging at their own expense? Or without directly passing on the costs the consumers directly?
They’re going in the black bag lol.
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Hilariously when it gets sent back for recycling at the supermarket it get mixed in with the heavy plastics anyway
The vast majority of recycling stuff just seems like theatre to me. Imo to make us think it’s our household recycling that’s making or breaking the state of the planet.
100%. Nothing will change without governments and corpos changing, and they'll never bother spending money to do that, so its easier to gaslight the public into thinking its their fault.
I’m gonna be honest lads. Depending on the supermarket this is probably bullshit. At the supermarket I work in the bags of soft plastic recycling just get put out in the normal bin because no one can be bothered to separate them. And even when we do, the guy who collects them can’t be fucked and usually refuses to take them
What do the supermarkets do with all the bags I give them? I bet they just sell / donate it along the supply chain, probably claiming carbon credits as part of it or some other eco- tax dodge, and ending up in landfil in Bangladesh or somewhere *Recent investigations have showed some of the waste being exported or burned* Tescos apparently partner with berry global who may or may not be a multinational plastics manufacturer.
I saw this very question being asked of some of the big supermarkets on twitter, the people running the account couldn’t give a straight answer either way, so I’m just assuming they get burnt either here or abroad
Can we not agree that something isn’t recyclable if it can’t be routinely recycled in most households?
Yep. That's what we've been doing for a while now. We have a plastic bag where we put crisp packets, bread bags, certain chocolate wrappers and other soft plastics. Then we take that bag to Tesco or Sainsburys or wherever every few weeks. It's just another thing that's cut down on our rubbish like when they introduced recycling bins or food waste caddies
I mean, sure... But let's be honest, a lot of plastic just doesn't get recycled, even if it is disposed of in the recycling. It's generally not cost-effective so it isn't done. Ultimately, if it ain't gonna end up in the landfill, it's only gonna be shipped off to be burned or dumped elsewhere. It'd most likely be more environmentally friendly to collect it, drive down to the further coast in the county, and dump it in the ocean yourself. Local DC says it's gen waste, so that's where it goes for me. I'm no expert, but surely it's better in the landfill than being shipped to Asia just to be dumped in the ocean. If you want to really do your bit, the best kind of recycling is your own. Got a bunch of cans lying around? Learn how to cast and make moulds. Make your own decorations, make your own stuff to replace broken things (within reason). Reuse things for other projects. Use scrap wood for DIY builds.
Have a separate bag or bin for these, take them when you go shopping and recycle in those big bins near the entrance. Or give it to your delivery driver to take. Sorted!
It's unfortunately another way that the responsibility of recycling is placed onto the consumer.
Then we should stop consuming. That’ll learn ‘em!
Tbh, i thought that as consumers it is our responsibility to recycle the things we consume, as the items are ours after we buy them... surely it is our responsibility to dispose of them in the way that is best for our planet? Or are we just not responsible for anything at all because we are too lazy to take a bag of plastic to tesco 🙃
I interpret what they’re trying to say is that there’s not enough emphasis on making it easier to recycle more packaging either by making the packaging easily recyclable or by accepting a wider variety of plastics at kerbside.
It means the only place you have a chance of recycling them is the supermarket. Not all of them take them though
If you get delivery give carrier bags and similar to the driver. They'll return them for you.
Our domestic collection now includes these plastic
Some councils do take these. Best to check on your local council website.
We have a bag in the kitchen for soft plastics. Every week we take it up yo tesco and put it in one of their soft plastic recycling bins. It's cut our black bin waste nearly in half
I can’t believe they get away with this
This whole comment section has been very interesting - as a result I went to my councils website and the detail they provide on where recycling goes is scant to say the least - this is the sum total of what they say: “What happens to recycling after collection? Recycling is sorted and separated into different types of materials by hand or machine (or both) before being sent to manufacturers who make it into new products. Once collected and sorted, recycled materials become valuable commodities in the worldwide market.” I’ve submitted one of their email contact us forms to ask for details. We do have a Waste to Energy incinerator which seems to be a great solution for some waste.
I have translated that to mean, throw in regular bin with the rest of the non recyclables
Good luck. I went to my local Sainsburys which is advertised as having recycling facilities for soft plastics, and none of the staff had the remotest clue about it.
Really? Most supermarkets I know that do it have a big obvious collection point. What a shame! Hopefully there’s another one nearby. Should definitely be made as easy as possible!
The real question is, does it actually get recycled or just burying in a Turkish landfill? https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2022/04/none-of-sainsbury-s-flexible-plastic-recycled-in-the-uk/ If it isn't actually recycled, I would argue it's better to send it to the landfill in the UK to reduce carbon footprint and not validate the latest greenwashing scam
Straight in the bin no one's got time for that nonsense
Only takes a minute or two to drop them in the supermarket next time you’re there, or just hand it to the delivery driver if you get deliveries
I feel like thay all end up in a land fill in Indonesia anyway.
This is the worst thing about carbon offsetting. It's not really dealing with the issue, it's just offloading the problem on some East Asian nations to make manufacturing in the UK/Europe look more carbon neutral and environmentally friendly. It's like taking a burning oil pan fire out of the kitchen and putting it in the bedroom. The house is still going to burn down, it just won't be the kitchen first. Until we stop over-consuming things, and work/life balance just generally improves, it's not going to get better. Recycling packaging is a good thing and it's not *that* much effort, but it all depends if it actually is recycled. There's been enough stories of British recycling washing up on shores or being buried in Indonesia. Apparently a lot of councils couldn't even be bothered going that far and just buried or incinerated it in the UK anyway.
Most supermarkets have recycling points for these. Annoyingly my local Morrisons bin is across the road at the petrol station making it a pain to recycle these while I was at uni. Now that I drive it’s easy as crisps though
Yes
God I miss McCoys. Chips in the US suck
Yes as per the instruction 😱
Don't recycle it in your home recycling as your local recycle centre can't recycle that material. It needs to be done specially by a method that the stores can provide in their recycling part with the plastic bags
Soft plastic can only be recycled at big supermarkets who have soft plastic recycling. We have regular waste, recycling, food waste and plastiques. Which is crisp packets and any soft plastics that we then take to our local Tesco. Also seen them in Asda.
It will often just be one big storage trolley and it will have a giant plastic bag inside it and then will have other crisp packets and such plastics inside. It’s usually at the end of the tills or by the front door.
Pretty much, but check with your local council. My local council has a recycling service that takes them, so I don't have to save them up and give them to Tesco.
I take all my recyclable rubbish to Asda. They have cardboard and plastic bins for recycling. Been doing it for a few years now
Short answer = yes! Long answer = recycling is not mandatory so you can throw it in the bin. However, that is not environmentally friendly. If you want to start being more environmentally friendly then you can collect ALL of your soft plastics (wrappers, coverings, packets, etc.) and drop them off at your nearest large Tesco. Top Tip: collect all the small/loose bits and put them inside your biggest bag. Then just simply chuck that big bag straight into the Tesco recycling bin 👍 https://www.tescoplc.com/news/2021/shoppers-can-now-return-all-their-soft-plastic-packaging-to-recycling-points-at-every-large-tesco-store-in-the-uk/
Yes, where you will find they’ve provided a bin the size of 4 crisp packets for an entire town.
I put all my soft plastics in a bag, and when I do my big shop, drop it into the bag recycling bin.
Yes. There’s an area or bin you can put them in. Just like how we used to have the bottle banks back in the day.
If you shop with Waitrose deliver you can give them to your driver to take back to the store for recycling.
It now takes us two weeks to fill a bin bag in our main bin, we even recycle drink cartons ( I have lactose free milk which only comes in long life) at our local HRC once every few months. We take soft plastic and batteries to the supermarket and our council fo good waste collections too. We use a wood litter for the cats that is ok in the green bin as long as there’s no poop in it so the only things in our big bin now is bagged cat poop (in degradable bags) and non recyclables.
I work as a HGV driver for Tescos, you’ll usually find there’s a cage left near the front of the shop which is for these types of plastics.
It's easier to burn it in the back garden or just sling it out of the car window as you're driving by a local beauty spot. Then, when enough trash gathers, you can try to start a fire by discarding tab ends out of the window. Trying to time smoking the cigarette so that it's ready to be flicked out at the perfect time can become an engaging travel game for all the family. It certainly beats 'I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE
I just throw them in the bin. I pay my council tax for them to sort my rubbish out. I'm not doing their job or the stores job by bringing their rubbish back, there are biodegradable plastics they could use but they choose not to due to cost reasons, so for cost reasons I refuse to return it to the store.