What we can’t accept in blue top bins

 

Any plastic bags

All recyclables must be loose in the recycling bin. The machinery at the sorting plant cannot open bags. Staff do not open them because they cannot see if there is any  dangerous material in the bag. We do not collect plastic bags for recycling.

Any plastic other than bottles

There are limited facilities for recycling plastics, and we only have outlets for bottles. We do not currently send any plastics from Hampshire to the far east, partly because we have very little information about what would happen to the material once it gets there. More information on plastics is available.

 

Shredded paper

This gets blown around the sorting plant and lost. It can be put in a paper bank because this paper is taken straight to the paper mill without sorting. It can also be put in a home composter, where it works well mixed with grass.

Tetra Paks

These are a mixture of card, plastic film and aluminium. There are limited facilities for recycling this material. New possibilities are being investigated, but we need to take into consideration the energy and water used in recycling it, compared to recovering the energy via incineration.

Almost all of Hampshire’s non-recyclable waste is burned cleanly, and electricity generated for the National Grid in one of three Energy Recovery Facilities.

For more information please email customerservices@fareham.gov.uk or call us on 01329 236100