How, where and what you can recycle from your home

There is a wide range of services and facilities to recycle domestic waste. As well as reducing the volume of waste going to landfill sites, recycling and composting your domestic waste helps to minimise charges for waste collection.

Many of the items used in the home can be recycled. The benefits of recycling include a cleaner environment, the safe disposal of hazardous materials, greater awareness of excess packaging and a careful approach to the use and re-use of materials.

Many products carry international recycling symbols that help to identify how they can be re-used and/or disposed of safely – see ‘Recycling symbols’ below.

How do I recycle?

There are several ways of arranging to recycle waste. You can take it to a recycling facility or use a kerbside collection (if available). For organic waste, you may choose to use a kerbside collection or compost it yourself – see ‘Composting’ below. Many recycling facilities accept bulky organic waste as well.

There are three types of permanent recycling facility: bring banks, civic amenity sites and recycling centres. Most local authorities also set up temporary collection points for Christmas trees each year. You can find out what is available in your area from Repak, on mywaste.ie or from your local authority.

Bring banks are unstaffed collection points for recyclable materials like glass bottles, drinks cans and food cans. Some bring banks also have collection bins for unwanted clothes.

Civic amenity sites are similar to bring banks but can accept a larger variety of items. They are purpose-built, are staffed and have specific opening hours. In general they accept paper, cardboard, plastic and glass bottles, drinks cans and food tins, textiles and footwear, electrical equipment, fluorescent tubes, waste oil and DIY waste. Some also accept garden waste and Christmas trees.

Staff at civic amenity sites can provide advice and information about recycling and they may have home composting bins for sale.

Recycling centres are also staffed and gated and have specific opening hours, but accept a smaller variety of items than civic amenity sites. In general they do not accept very bulky items. They are not custom-built and tend to be located in existing sites such as local authority depots.

Again, staff can provide advice and information about recycling and they may have home composting bins for sale.

Kerbside collection of recyclable waste is often known as a ‘green bin’ collection. Recyclable materials include plastic bottles, glass bottles, drink cans, food tins, newspapers or magazines, and cardboard

Most areas now have a separate bin collection for food and organic waste – often called a ‘brown bin’ collection. Read more on mywaste.ie.

Composting is the breakdown of organic material like kitchen or garden waste by organisms that convert it into an earth-like mass, which can then be used as a soil conditioner. Most garden waste and much kitchen waste can be composted – see our document on composting. Some civic amenity centres accept organic materials, or you can use the ‘brown bin’, if available. Many local authorities sell home composting bins at subsidised rates.

What can I put in my recycling bin?

You can put the following materials in your household waste recycling bin:

Paper and cardboard: letters, brochures, cardboard boxes (flattened), egg boxes, cardboard centres from toilet roll and kitchen roll, newspapers, 'Tetra Pak' cartons for juice or milk

Rigid plastic (washed and dry): plastic drink bottles, plastic cleaning bottles, butter, yoghurt and salad tubs, plastic trays for fruit and vegetables, plastic milk containers, plastic bottles for liquid soap or shampoo

Soft plastic (washed and dry): frozen food bags, bread wrappers, plastic shopping bags, bubble wrap, crisp wrappers, pasta bags, outer wrapping on kitchen and toilet rolls, breakfast cereal bags

On 6 September 2021, soft plastics were added to the list of items that can go in your recycling bin. This change is due to improvements in technology at recycling facilities. It should help increase recycling rates in Ireland so we can meet our national recycling targets.

Tins and cans (washed and dry): soup cans, pet food cans, drink cans and food cans

All items should be clean, dry and placed loosely in the recycling bin.

For more details on what can and cannot go in your recycling bin, see mywaste.ie.

What can I bring to a recycling facility?

A wide range of items can be accepted at recycling facilities. Check with your local centre, as there can be considerable variation in what they accept.

All materials should be clean, to avoid contamination – wash out bottles, cans, yogurt pots etc. before recycling. The items most commonly recycled are:

Glass bottles and jars – recycle lids/caps separately

Paper (newspapers, magazines, telephone books, office paper, junk mail, comics and light cardboard)

Drinks cartons (for milk, juice etc.)

Aluminium (soft drink and beer cans, foil)

Plastic bottles and cartons

Food tins (fruit, vegetables, pet food)

Plastic bottle tops, metal and aluminium lids

Textiles (clean clothes, bed linen, towels, coats and jackets)

White goods (washing machines, cookers, dryers, dishwashers, fridges)

Batteries (also collected in shops and supermarkets)

Items that cannot be accepted for recycling

Crystal glass, Pyrex, television tubes, opal glass, (that is, alcohol bottles where a large amount of foil is glued to he bottle) and car windscreens

Porcelain, pottery, stones and ceramic tiles

Carpets and rugs, cushions or mattresses

Laminated or waxed papers like paper cups

Hazardous waste

Many household products contain substances that are potentially harmful to the environment. They include medicines, aerosols, bulbs and fluorescent tubes, polishes, adhesives, household cleaners, drain cleaners, solvents, weedkillers and fertilisers. Some of these items can be brought to a civic amenity centre, where they can be recycled or disposed of. Pharmaceutical drugs (such as painkillers), medical waste (such as syringes or surgical gloves) and containers for pharmaceutical drugs should be returned to your local pharmacy, which can dispose of them properly. Some local authorities organise mobile collections, where hazardous waste can be left at a central point. Contact your local authority for further details.

Recycling symbols

The most common recycling symbol on products and packaging is the mobius loop - three arrows in a circle. This means that a product is either recyclable or has some recycled content.

Another common symbol is the Green Dot – a pan-European symbol that appears under licence on product packaging. The Green Dot is not a recycling symbol, it does not mean that the packaging material can be recycled, or that it was made using recyclable content. It is simply a mark to show that the supplier is committed to protecting the environment by funding the recovery and recycling of packaging waste.

Rates

Recycling services provided to the public are mainly free of charge. However, civic amenity centres or recycling centres may charge for certain items or for large quantities – check with your local centre. A charge for kerbside collection may also be included in your domestic waste charges – check with your service provider.

Most local authorities also provide home composters at subsidised rates.

For more information on how and where you can recycle and the supports available go to the Citiznes Information website www.citizensinformation.ie