In 2021, plastic bags and wrapping began to be more widely accepted in specific stores across the country. Progress in the industry has meant that you can now take your plastic back to the store to be recycled.
Kerbside recyclers in the UK are yet to offer a recycling service for soft plastics, leaving the duty to the manufacturers & retailers. Below are just a few of the places you can take your pet food packaging to recycle. For more information, visit the website of the location to make sure the item can be dropped off.
More and more people recycle every day. This helps to reduce the need for landfill and more costly forms of disposal. Recycling also reduces the need for extracting (mining, quarrying and logging), refining and processing raw materials all of which create substantial air and water pollution. This helps to save energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help to tackle climate change.
TerraCycle
Overconsumption and a throwaway culture have led to a global waste crisis. While even complex rubbish is technically recyclable, most materials are not profitable to recycle. As a result, waste piles up in landfills and pollutes our planet while virgin materials are extracted from the earth to create new products.
TerraCycle is working towards creating more recycling points across the UK, and these points will accept pretty much anything you can think of, from Pringles cans to ice cream tubs. In terms of pet food, you can purchase a zero-waste box which will accept both flexible and rigid packaging types. You may also find stores that have these boxes and recycle them there.
Pets at Home
Pets at Home have multiple recycling points. Visit their website for specific information about your location.
From their website:
You can bring back any pet food pouch that’s made from flexible plastic. If it’s a flexible plastic and can be bent, squeezed or scrunched – we can accept it. Just give it a quick clean at home to remove any remaining food. All brands are accepted.
Tesco
Shoppers can now return all their soft plastic packaging to recycling points at every large Tesco store in the UK.
Tesco‘s soft plastic recycling points are usually found at the front of the store. These points will accept soft plastics like your pet food bags, and other bags like your shopping bags or bread bags.
Once collected by Tesco, the old soft plastic is sent for recycling where it is washed, and sorted and as much of the material as possible is recycled into new products and packaging. Tesco directs the collected material between recyclers, packaging producers and suppliers. Tesco will keep the collected material out of landfill.
RecycleNow
RecycleNow has a wealth of information on its website regarding recycling throughout the UK. Simply enter the item you need to recycle in the search bar. On 28 March, Recycle Now and Clear on Plastics are joining together to launch a campaign across UK and Northern Ireland to raise awareness. To take part, look out for the #RepeatTheCycle hashtag.
Marcus Gover, CEO WRAP, said: “Tackling plastic bags and wrapping is the UK Plastics Pact’s number one priority, and increasing front of store collection points is a great step forward. As little as six per cent of this problematic plastic is collected and recycled in the UK, despite making up nearly a quarter of all plastic packaging by weight. By offering shoppers a simple and consistent collections system Tesco is helping to ensure that much more of this problem plastic is captured and goes on to be recycled. I welcome this move which will help considerably towards the UK Plastics Pact’s target of increasing plastic recycling.”
If you’re looking for more information on our company and the services we offer, feel free to download our Company Brochure. You’ll find examples of our work with local and global brands and retailers, as well as information on our Ready2Recycle range.
For anything else, you can visit our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) or just contact us directly.
