D - O of Recycling & Waste Reduction

DIY Waste

Take to the Household Waste Recycling Centre (householders only). There are separate bays for scrap metal and wood & timber and plasterboard. They also accept small amounts of soil and rubble. Please click on the link to the Re3 Smallmead Household Waste Recycling Centre below for details of the maximum limits of materials accepted.

Drink etc. cartons (Tetrapaks)

These can now be recycled through new banks at the Household Waste Recycling Centre at Smallmead (Island Road), Rivermead, Milestone Centre, Palmer Park and Tilehurst Triangle.

DVDs/Videos

Take to your local charity shop or use one of the Media Banks found at selected local neighbourhood recycling sites.

Electrical Items

Take to the Household Waste Recycling Centre, and use the container supplied (WEEE – Waste, Electrical and Electronic Equipment) or ask the site staff for help. You can also arrange for any electrical or electronic items (anything with a plug or contains batteries) to be collected as part of a new collection service offered by Reading Borough Council and Wastecare. All collections are free with the exception of fridges and freezers. To arrange a collection please click on the link at the bottom of this page to visit Wastecare's WeeeCollect website or telephone them on 0800 731 6646.

Envelopes

Paper envelopes can be recycled with your other paper in your red recycling bin/box. Padded and plastic envelopes cannot be re-cycled.

Fire Extinguishers

These should be returned to the original supplier or manufacturer or disposed of by an approved company - see Yellow Pages for details.

Fluorescent Tubes

Take to the Household Waste Recycling Centre. Please note there is a maximum limit of 3 tubes per trip.

Food Waste

Fruit and vegetable peelings can be put in a home compost bin. Reading Borough Council and re3 waste partnership have teamed up with Evengreener.com to offer Reading residents a fantastic range of low cost compost bins and other accessories. Please visit the Get Composting link below or phone 0844 5714444 for more information. You could also consider buying a Green Cone at a discounted rate to Reading residents from Great Green Systemsto dispose of all your organic kitchen waste including meat, fish, bones, dairy products, fruit and vegetables . For more information visit the Great Green Systems website and enter your post code, you will find a link at the bottom of this page.

Furniture

Before you dispose of any unwanted piece of furniture, consider that others might be able to reuse it. Try second hand shops, or local charity Christian Community Action (CCA)* (as long as fabric/foam covers comply with the relevant fire regulations).

Reading Borough Council offer a bulky waste collection service. For more information please click on the Bulky Waste link in the related content box above or contact us on the number below.

Alternatively, take them to the Household Waste Recycling Centre.

* If you would like to donate any furniture to CCA, please contact them (Monday to Friday 10am-12pm and 2pm–4pm). You will find their contact details under ’Christian Community Action (CCA)’ in ’Contact This Service’ on the right of this page.

Garden Waste

Place in your Green Garden Waste Bin/Bag or home compost bin.

Gas Bottles and Cylinders

These should be returned to the original supplier, or disposed of by an approved company – see Yellow Pages for details.

Glass

Take glass bottles and jars to your local neighbourhood recycling site or the Household Waste Recycling Centre. Please do not put other types of glass such as pyrex, lead crystal glass, window glass, light bulbs or non-glass items in the glass banks.

Hardcore and Rubble

Hire a skip. Small quantities can be taken to the Household Waste Recycling Centre (householders only). Please click on the link to the Re3 Smallmead Household Waste Recycling Centre below for details of the maximum limits of materials accepted.

Junk Mail

Put junk mail in your red recycling bin/box. Please remove any plastic wrappers first. However if you want to stop it arriving in the first place register with the Mailing Preference Service. You will find their contact details under ’Junk Mail’ in ’Contact This Service’ on the right hand side of this page.

Light Bulbs

Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFLs) have largely replaced all the higher wattage normal (Tungsten filament) bulbs, and look like small strip lights, often bent or twisted to take up less space. These bulbs contain tiny amounts of mercury, and should not be put in the bin; treat them with care and avoid breaking the glass. They can be recycled and can be taken to Household Waste Recycling Centre where there is a special container.

You can also recycle bulbs through the CoBRA community scheme which sets up CFL bulb recycling points within the community. For more information about the locations where you can take your compact fluorescent light bulbs or to become a volunteer for the scheme click on the CoBRA link below.

Some retailers or wholesalers (inlcuding Homebase and Robert Dyas) operate a RECOLIGHT recycling scheme for your CFL bulbs (see the External link below to find your nearest recycing point, or for more information).

Other, even more efficient, low energy lights are increasingly made with LEDs (Light emitting diodes); these do not contain mercury, but should still not be thrown in the bin.

Litter

Use our new on-street recycling litter bins when you are out and about. They are emptied weekly and the contents recycled.

Medicines

Return unwanted or unused prescription medicines to your pharmacist or doctor for safe disposal.

Metals

For food, drink and pet food cans, see the entry for ‘Cans’. Please take all other metals to the Household Waste Recycling Centre, or if they are too large to transport yourself use the council’s ‘Bulky Waste Collection’ service (for a small charge). For more information about the Bulky Waste service please click on the bulky waste link in the related content box above or contact us on the number below.

Mobile Phones

Lots of charities operate a mobile phone recycling scheme e.g. Oxfam.

Nappies

Consider using ‘real’ nappies. For more information check out Ready Wraps, Reading’s local real nappy project, you will find a link to their website at the bottom of this page.

Oil (from vehicles)

There are oil banks at the Household Waste Recycling Centre for small amounts (up to 10 litres) from householders (NOT from garages).

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