What can you recycle?

This is Epsom & Ewell Environment Forum's Waste & Recycling Action Group (WRAG)'s Unofficial Recycling Guide.

Keeping up to date: Things change fast in the world of recycling, and so if you find any of the information in this guide is out of date, please could you let us know. If you have any additions, suggestions or corrections that you would like to make, please phone Leslie Diana Coman on 0845 833 7467 or email: greencircle@environmentaction.biz

Aerosols

Aerosols can be recycled, either in your kerbside collection or at the "bring" sites, with other mixed cans. But please ensure that the old aerosols are completely empty. There is a danger of explosion, and of operatives being hurt, if full or half-full cans are put in; so please be careful. And please also try and remove plastic lids and other bits of easily removable plastic.

Aluminium Cans and Foil

You recycle cans in the Council collection bins, and foil at the Blenheim Road depot.

Your aluminium cans and foil can raise money for a charity called Parents' Project UK, for research into muscular dystrophy. Please contact mrs.chris.watts at ntlworld.com for further details. The charity also collects brass, copper and used stamps.

You can also send clean foil to Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice, Farnham 01252 729 433.

Antiques

Give to a charity shop or find an antique shop or house clearance shop through Yellow Pages.

Architectural Salvage

Tiles, bricks, timber, doors, fireplaces, garden ornaments etc can be recycled at Woodland Farm Nursery, near Guildford (01483 235536) or Ely Building Supplies, Addlestone (01932 857237).

Baby Equipment

The National Childbirth Trust has branches nationwide, and may hold sales or swaps. The Dorking Branch can be contacted on 07005 802748.

Refugee Action Kingston need baby things, (020 8547 0115).

Batteries

Car: Blenheim Road (the Tip) can dispose of them properly. Care is needed as they contain lead, a toxic metal.
Household: There is now a container for batteries at the Blenheim Road depot.
Mobile phone: These contain toxic metals, so don't put them in the bin. The mobile phone shops will take them back.

ãBedding, towels, sleeping bags

Animal sanctuaries (Wildlife Aid, Leatherhead, 01372 377332 ) or vet surgeries will accept clean linen etc. Sleeping bags are needed by the Salvation Army for the homeless.

Bicycles

Bicycle Recycle, Sherwood Centre, Warren Road, Kingston-upon Thames 020 8546 6360.

Bicycle Re-Cycle are a charity that collect second hand bikes to send to developing countries. They are based in Essex - www.re-cycle.org 01206 382207.

Bikes can also be taken to the civic amenity tips as a final option. They will go for recycling with the rest of the metal.

Books

There are second-hand book shops in Ewell and Leatherhead High Streets. There is a book bank at Kiln Lane recycling bank. Or try charity shops.

Bric-à-Brac

Charity shops, jumble sales, school fundraising sales, car boot sales, or the refugee charities (020 8337 8181 or 020 8547 0116).

Bridal Wear

This can be donated to charity shops, or to a school for their wardrobe department for school plays.

Try second hand clothes boutiques, found through the Yellow Pages or phone directory.

Building Rubble and Soil

Most skip companies will sell this rather than landfilling it. There are skips for hardcore at the Blenheim Road depot.

Cardboard

Do not put this into the doorstep paper and magazines collection. Place in the skips at Blenheim Road or Kiln Lane, for cardboard and mixed paper.

Carpets

Pieces can be used as door mats or as garden mulch for the allotment. Or try the refugee charities if you have carpet in good condition.

Cars

Check in Yellow Pages under "Car & Commercial Vehicle Dismantlers" for disposal.

CDs

Schoolchildren can make use of CDs and all sorts of materials for craft activities. Call the Children's Scrap Project: 020 8985 6290 or contact Waste Watch Wasteline - 0870 243 0136 for your nearest scrapstore.

CDs can also be deposited in the books and music bank at Kiln Lane.

Children's Clothes

Charity shops, local car boot or jumble sales. Refugee Action Kingston needs clothes (020 8547 0115).

Christmas Trees and Cards

Snowman The Woodland Trust (01476 581111) is organising a collection of cards during January, in connection with WH Smith (and Tesco, outside borough) so take your cards there. The Woodland Trust both recycles them, and make money from the landfill diverted.

Take Christmas trees to the tip after Christmas, or compost or shred (if you have, or can borrow a shredder) them at home.

For more information on reducing waste at Christmas, please click here.

Clothing

Jumper Charity shops, local sales, refugee charities. Perhaps pass them on to friends and relations. There are bins for clothes and shoes at Kiln Lane and Blenheim Road.

Compostable waste

Compost at home, (cheap Council composters often available) or take grass clippings, shrub prunings and other green waste to the Tip, to the Green Waste windows. Kitchen scraps, peelings, tea bags, apple cores etc can be composted at home. For advice on how to start composting, please click here.

Computer Hardware

You can recycle cathode-ray tube screens at Blenheim Road. Sadly there is little demand for old computers. You can get upgrades at computer shops. Pro-Com Computers (St Helier Av, Morden 020 8404 0153) will ship some abroad. Most organisations can only use computers above Pentium 2, and less than 5 years old, in working order. Seeability in Leatherhead (01372 389 469), or Surrey Springboard (01306 741359) can sometimes help. MERU (Medical Equipment Resources Unit) Carshalton, which makes devices for disabled kids can only use old laptops. Free Computers for Education, at The Niven Suite, The Mansion, Ottershaw Park, Surrey KT16 0QG may take them. (0800 052 6179). www.free-computers.org

Computer Games

Games Exchange, North Cheam (020 8644 666) will buy any game.

Curtains

Charity shops or refugee charities.

Drinks Cartons (Tetra packs)

These can now be recycled at Kiln Lane. Squash them flat, so that more cartons will fit in the container.

Egg Boxes

Gibb & Evans, Upper High St, Epsom, or the Langley Vale Stores will take these to re-use. You can also use them when you buy eggs at the Farmers' Market.

Electrical and Electronic Appliances

There is now a skip for electrical items at Blenheim Road.

Envelopes

Those with gummy glue or plastic windows should not go into the doorstep paper collection. Take to the mixed paper and cardboard skip at the Tip or at Kiln Lane. You can buy envelope re-use labels from some charities, such as Friends of the Earth (Tel: 020 7490 1555).

Fridges and Freezers

Fridge If still working, the Mental Aid Project in Tolworth (020 8399 3136) can take them. Otherwise, be sure to take them to the Tip, where they will be disposed of properly, to prevent escape of the ozone depleting chemicals contained.

Furniture

Princess Alice Hospice, Kingston (01932 222733) take items in good condition and will collect. Missionary Mart, Wallington, 105 Stafford Road, Wallington, Surrey SM6 9AP (0208 669 3495) buys and sells second hand furniture. Also Mental Aid Project (020 8399 3136) or the Surrey Springboard (01306 741359) Dorking or the Shaftesbury Resource Centre, Camberwell (020 7737 7475). British Heart Foundation also take furniture (020 8773 0618). There is a container at the Tip for furniture, which is then re-used. Anything upholstered needs a fire-proofing label.

åGlass

Clean bottles and jars should be recycled in your doorstep recycling collection. You do not need to take the labels off. Sadly, Pyrex, window glass, drinking glasses or Visionware cannot be recycled. Please do not put these into the recycled glass collections.

For the full story on glass recycling, please click here.

Greetings cards

(Not Christmas cards). Epsom Medical Equipment Fund, at Epsom Hospital, take them for re-use. (Bess Harding 020 8337 8181).

Haberdashery

Cotton reels, elastic etc can be donated to "Tools for Self Reliance" for Africa. (020 8647 2977). They will go to local tailors.

Hazardous Household Waste

Take old medicines, cleaners, solvents, chemicals etc to the Tip, Blenheim Road, for safe disposal

Historic Items

The Bourne Hall museum can use any items older than the end of WW II (around 1945 or so) and anyone thinking of throwing them away, or clearing houses for elderly relatives etc. should first ask the Bourne Hall museum if they could be of use.

The will take any old photos of the local area, or of local people, or of anything that might possibly be of interest.

They have a hands-on section of the museum, for children, and they often need new things in there, as they get a bit worn by being handled. Things like WWII gas masks, old clothing, old bottles and cans of domestic products, old school books ... or whatever.

Houseplants

Please consult Surrey's Household Waste Guide

Jewellery

If you have any bits and pieces of gold or silver jewellery, like redundant links or single ear-rings, send them to the Greek Animal Rescue, 69 Great North Way, Hendon, London NW4PT.

Junk Mail

To stop receiving unwanted mail, contact the Mailing Preference Service, (0845 7034599) Web site: www.mpsonline.org.uk. You can recycle it, including envelopes) at the mixed paper skips at Kiln Lane (but not in your doorstep collection).

Junk Faxes

Magazines

These can go into your doorstep paper collection, but give any you can to local doctors' or dentists', or hospitals' waiting rooms.

Metals

Your surplus brass and copper objects (e.g. piping) can raise money for a charity called Parents' Project UK, for research into muscular dystrophy. Please contact mrs.chris.watts@ntlworld.com for further details.

Non-ferrous metals (zinc, copper, lead) can be sold to Sparrowhawk, on Epsom Downs, if you have some quantity. (01737 352889). All other metal objects should be taken to the metal section at the Tip, where they will be sorted and parts recycled or re-used.

Mobile Phones, chargers and batteries

These can be recycled, for money for charity. Ask at the Tip where to put them.

You can send them to Mobilephones4charity, at Dorset House, Regent Park, Kingston Rd, L'head, KT22 7PL. Web: www.mobilephones4charity.com (01372 824265).

Or CRUMP Campaign to Recycle Unwanted Mobile Phones, (Tel. 0800 083 2103).

Or return them to your mobile phone shop.

Further details on www.fonebak.co.uk

Motor Oil and Oil Filters

If not disposed of properly, this can cause serious problems to water courses. Please take don't ever pour them down the drains, but take them to the Tip for proper disposal.

Nappies

If possible, try re-useable nappies. You can get advice from the National Assoc of Nappy Services (0121 693 4949).

Newspapers

Recycle them in your doorstep collection. They go to Aylesford, in Kent, and are turned back into more newsprint within the week.

For the full story on paper recycling, please click here.

Office Furniture

The Furniture Centre, New Malden, (020 8543 6066) will buy and sell second hand office furniture.

Paint

Even single cans may be used by Scrapstore, Canterbury Rd, Morden. (020 8640 9510)

Paper

Newspapers and magazines can be recycled in your doorstep collection. Dyed paper, like the Financial Times or Yellow pages must not be put into this collection, as the fibres are dyed (rather than just being a surface dye). The odd pieces of other white paper can be added, but most other white paper should be taken to the paper skips at Kiln Lane. (If too much of the wrong paper is sent with the Aylesford collection, the whole lot can be refused, and then just landfilled).

For the full story on paper recycling, please click here.

Petrol and Diesel

Please take to the Tip and ask the staff where to put them. Don't mix diesel and petrol, as they can then not be recycled, and please don't ever pour them down the drains.

Plastic Bottles

These can now be recycled in the banks at Kiln Lane and Blenheim Road.

Plastic Furniture, Toys etc.

Solid plastic items can now be recycled at the Blenheim Road depot.

Printer Ink Cartridges

There are now banks for ink cartridges (not Epson) at Kiln Lane, Dorset House (Cheam Road) and Depot Road.

Office World and the Town Hall (Age Concern) collect laser printer toner cartridges for charity.

The British Red Cross can recycle Lexmark and Hewlett Packard inkjet cartridges. They receive £1 for every cartridge recycled. Further details on http://www.redcross.org.uk/34968 or email freepost at redcross.org.uk to request a supply of Freepost envelopes.

Action4Disability can recycle Hewlett Packard, Lexmark and Canon BC01/02/05/06/20/BX2/BX3 inkjet cartridges. They too receive £1 for every cartridge recycled. You can obtain a Freepost envelope from PC World or from disabilitybags at inkagain.co.uk