Recycling domestic waste
Introduction
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 waste collection charges.
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.
Recycling services
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 can compost it yourself if there isn't an organic kerbside collection service or a facility that accepts organic waste in your area – see ‘Composting’ below..
There are 3 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 or from your local authority.
Bring banks
There are almost 2,000 bring banks throughout Ireland. These 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
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
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
Kerbside collection of recyclable waste (often known as a ‘green bin’ collection) is increasingly being run by private companies. Recyclable materials include plastic bottles, glass bottles, drink cans, food tins, newspapers or magazines, cardboard and compostable material. Some areas have a special bin collection for organic waste – often called a ‘brown bin’ collection.
Composting
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 your area has this service. Many local authorities sell home composting bins at subsidised rates.
What can I recycle?
A wide range of items can be accepted for recycling. Check with your local centre or collection service 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)
- Laminated or waxed papers like paper cups
- 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
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. It means that the supplier of that packaging is committed to protecting the environment by funding the recovery and recycling of their 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 bin/domestic waste charges – check with your service provider.
Most local authorities also provide home composters at subsidised rates.
Where to apply
For details of kerbside collections in your area, contact the Environmental Services section of your local authority.
To find a recycling facility, you can use Repak’s search or check the website of your local authority.
The ENFO website has information on waste management in general. It also provides links to websites that facilitate re-use of unwanted items, along with other relevant sites.
Websites such as Free Trade Ireland enable people to find new homes for unwanted items.
What happens to recycled items?
Batteries
Lead acid batteries (from cars, trucks, boats, tractors, etc.) are made of plastic and contain dilute sulphuric acid and lead. During the recycling process, the batteries are crushed, the acid is drained off and neutralised and the plastic and lead are compacted and baled for recycling. Button batteries (cameras, hearing aids, watches, computers and calculators) can be recycled using a thermal process. Domestic rechargeable batteries (mobile and cordless phones, laptops, power tools and cordless appliances) can be also recycled using a thermal process, which reclaims the cadmium, nickel and iron. The reclaimed cadmium is used to make new batteries while the nickel and iron are used to make stainless steel.
Glass
Glass must be sorted according to colour to avoid contamination. It is crushed and turned into ‘cullet’. In the making of new glass, cullet can be up to 40% of the raw material. This amounts to significant savings in raw materials and energy needed to melt the glass.
Vehicles
Vehicles can be dismantled, stripped of any valuable materials and crushed for smelting.
Household white goods
Household appliances like washing machines, cookers, dryers, dishwashers and toasters can be dismantled. The ferrous and non-ferrous metals are separated and the rest is disposed of. There are also specialist recyclers who process the more complex items such as computers and televisions. These recyclers separate components of the equipment for resale or recycling of valuable materials. They may also refurbish entire systems for resale.
Aluminium
The aluminium can is one of the most valuable waste materials. Aluminium foil can also be recycled – both the heavy foil that comes with take-away meals, ready-cook meals etc. and the lighter ‘tin foil’ used in cooking. Baled aluminium cans and foil are smelted into ingots, which are then rolled before being made into cans and other products.
Oil
Waste mineral oil (fuel oil and lubrication oil) can be reprocessed and re-sold as low-grade industrial lubricant or industrial boiler fuel oil to generate heat, electricity or both. Vegetable oils, such as cooking oil, should never be mixed with mineral oil. These oils can be cleaned and used in animal feeds, or in fuel for adapted cars. Some recycling centres accept domestic cooking oils.
Paper
For fire safety reasons, paper recycling facilities must be supervised. Newspapers, magazines, office paper, junk mail, light cardboard, telephone books, greeting cards, calendars and diaries, paper bags, comics can all be recycled. Collected paper goes to paper mills, where it is recycled into new paper.
Plastic
The plastics industry has a code for labelling different plastic materials to help with identification and recycling. The majority of plastic containers found in the home are made from HDPE, LDPE, PVC or PET. Most of the containers for soft drinks are made from PET (polyethene terephthalate). These bottles can be shredded and recycled as fibre for the polyester lining for sleeping bags, pillows and quilted jackets. Recycled plastics can be used for fencing, garden furniture, car bumpers, plastic bags, PVC pipes and flooring.
Green waste
Home composting provides an excellent soil conditioner and allows most kitchen and garden waste to be recycled. Some civic amenity centres provide composting services and sell the compost. Most local authorities also recycle Christmas trees. They are shredded and the shavings are used for landscaping.
Textiles
Clothes and textiles that are suitable for re-sale are sent to charity shops to be sold. Clothes and textiles that are not suitable are recycled into carpet underlay felt, machine-wiping cloths or fibre filler for furniture.
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Related Documents
- Composting domestic waste
Recycling and composting of domestic waste in Ireland is being promoted by your local authority as a way of reducing household waste sent to landfill. What is composting and how do you get started? - Domestic refuse services
A brief description of how domestic waste is disposed of. - Burning household waste
Burning household waste at home or in your garden is illegal. If convicted of illegally burning waste, you can incur a fine or a prison sentence.
Contact Us
If you have a question relating to this topic you can contact the Citizens Information Phone Service on 0761 07 4000 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 9pm) or you can visit your local Citizens Information Centre.