Recycling Tips

Recycling turns our waste materials into new useful products. This reduces the use of finite raw materials, saves energy and helps control air, water and land pollution. Recycling is a group effort. We all have our part to play to not only recycle as much waste as possible but to also make sure our recycling is properly sorted.

Recycling that includes non-recyclable items or is contaminated with food waste can end up in landfill. It only takes a few minutes to rinse out plastic, glass and tin containers and sort our cardboard to avoid a disposal problem that will live with future generations for hundreds or even thousands of years.

What can go in your Green Bin?

PAPER

  • Newspapers
  • Magazines
  • Junk Mail
  • Envelopes
  • Paper
  • Phone Books
  • Catalogues
  • Tissue Boxes
  • Sugar Bags
  • Calendars
  • Diaries
  • Letters
  • Computer Paper
  • Used Beverage And Juice Cartons
  • Milk Cartons
  • Egg Boxes
  • Holiday Brochures
  • School Copy Books
  • School Books (If They Cannot Be Donated Or Reused)
  • Paper Potato Bags
  • Paper with personal information on it isn’t separated out for shredding. Both Repak and the recovery operators recommend shredding or ripping up paper with personal information before placing it in your recycling bin.

CARDBOARD

  • Food Boxes
  • Packaging Boxes
  • Cereal Boxes
  • Kitchen Towel Tubes
  • Toilet Roll Tubes
  • Please remove any plastic inserts from cardboard boxes before placing into bin

ALUMINIUM CANS

  • Drinks Cans

STEEL CANS

  • Pet Food Cans
  • Food Cans
  • Biscuit Tins
  • Soup Tins
  • Steel lids from jam and other glass jars

PLASTIC CONTAINERS (PET 1)

  • Mineral Bottles
  • Water Bottles
  • Mouth Wash Bottles
  • Salad Dressing Bottles
  • Rigid/Hard Trays Including Biscuit / Bakery Good Trays, Bread Trays, Salad Bowls / Trays, Fruit And Veg Plastic Trays And Meat Trays.

PLASTIC CONTAINERS (HDPE 2)

  • Milk Bottles
  • Juice Bottles
  • Cosmetic Bottles
  • Shampoo Bottles
  • Household Cleaning Bottles
  • Laundry Detergent Bottles
  • Window Cleaning Bottles
  • Bath Room Bottles

PLASTIC CONTAINERS (PP 5)

  • Yoghurt Containers
  • Margarine Tubs
  • Rigid Food Packaging
  • Liquid Soap Containers
  • Fruit Containers (With Netting Removed)

Make sure you know what shouldn’t be in your recycling bin:

  • Soft plastics
  • Contaminated Packaging (greasy, dirty or with residue)
  • Do not put food waste or other compostable materials (such as tissue paper and soiled pizza boxes) into your recyclables bin, these materials should be placed into your compost bin.
  • Polystyrene
  • Nappies and Sanitary Products (including baby wipes)
  • Food waste
  • Garden cuttings / soil
  • Liquids / Oils
  • Textiles – including clothes/shoes and home furnishings
  • Dismantled furniture
  • Medical waste
  • Glass – bring this to your local bring bank, see below
  • Light Bulbs
  • Electrical and Electronic Equipment i.e. anything that can contain a battery or a plug
  • Batteries
  • General waste that should be in the General Waste Black Bin

How to lighten your Recycling Bin

  • Leaving packaging in the shop if allowed. e.g.shoe boxes
  • Invest in a refillable water bottle, coffee cup & lunch box to reduce waste when you are on the move
  • Look out for compostable & recycling symbols on packaging
  • To reduce weight ensure that used food containers are clean and dry
  • Choose goods in refillable packaging such as detergents & coffee
  • Look for goods with less packaging
  • Place a NO JUNK MAIL sticker on your letter box

You can also bring recyclables to the following recycling centres for free:

What can you put in your Brown Bin?

  • Frank & Honest Compostable Coffee Cups & Lids from Centra
  • Kitchen Food Scraps
  • Fruits and Vegetables
  • Bread
  • Cakes & Biscuits
  • Eggs & Dairy
  • Out of Date food (No plastic packaging)
  • Cooked and Raw Foods
  • Tea leaves and Tea bags
  • Meat
  • Fish
  • Poultry & Bones
  • Plant trimmings
  • Grass clippings & Leaves
  • Cut Flowers & Old plants
  • Wet or greasy cardboard or paper eg soiled pizza boxes
  • Paper towels and napkins

You can also bring these items to Ballyogan Recycling Park including garden hedge clippings, etc, click here for more details.

How to lighten your Brown Bin

  • A home garden composter is another way to get rid of garden waste, eggshells/boxes, fruit, vegetables & teabags. No dairy, bread or meat products should go into your  home garden composter. For more information go to www.stopfoodwaste.ie
  • Make sure fruit and veg is stored correctly so you get time to eat it.
  • Check the use-by date before purchasing to ensure you will have time to eat it before it goes out of date.
  • Keep all dairy products in the fridge to preserve them as long as possible.
  • *Use up leftovers to make another recipe, or as tomorrow’s lunch! * Note: Food safety guidance should be followed when storing and preparing food
  • Use newspapers to line your kitchen caddy or compostable bin liners which are widely available to buy (regular biodegradable bin bags are not suitable). https://www.brownbinrescue.ie/ is one company
  • When shopping try to make a list of what you need and stick to it!
  • Use your freezer – it’s your ally in preventing food waste
  • Click here for additional information on how to make compost at home.

What can you put in your Black Bin?

  • General refuse
  • Plastic bags
  • Contaminated (dirty) containers
  • Nappies
  • Plastic food wrappings, bubble wrap & cling film
  • Crisp, sweet or foil based wrappers
  • Aluminum foil
  • Animal waste
  • Ashes
  • Netting from oranges, onions, etc
  • Contents of hoover
  • Sanitary waste
  • Ceramics e.g. broken cups or plates
  • Coffee Pods

How to lighten your General Waste Bin

  • Remove any water or liquid from the item so it is as light as possible
  • Anything with a plug or battery can be recycled FREE in Ballyogan Recycling Park
  • Keep glass out and bring it to your bottle bank.
  • Before you bin anything check to see if its compostable or recyclable.
  • Timber, Steel and old paint tins are accepted at Ballyogan Recycling Park for a small fee.
  • Old toys, clothes and unwanted furniture could be sold, given away to charity if they are in good condition or given away online through sites such as www.freetradeireland.ie

What can you do with Glass, Cans & Textiles?

DLRCoCo operates an extensive Bring Centre network for glass, cans and textiles recycling throughout the county area. Click here for the full list.

Area  Centre  Glass  Cans  Textiles 
Cabinteely Cabinteely Park Car Park Yes Yes Yes
Cabinteely Seapoint Rugby Club, Kilbogget
Park 		Yes Yes Yes
Cornelscourt Dunnes Stores Yes Yes Yes
Deansgrange Meadow Vale Tennis Club Yes   Yes
Kill O’ The Grange Kill Avenue (opposite Fire Station) Yes Yes Yes
Killiney Killiney Shopping Centre Yes Yes  Yes
Loughlinstown  Loughlinstown Leisure Centre*  Yes  Yes  Yes
Monkstown  Dunedin Park (Blue Pool)         Yes  Yes  Yes
Sallynoggin  Sallynoggin Community Centre  Yes   Yes Yes

There is more information on what to do with your textiles on https://www.mywaste.ie/what-to-do-with-textiles/

What can you do with electrical, electronic and battery waste (WEEE) Items?

What can you do with your hazardous household waste?

What to do with your large items?

Recycling & Waste Information Websites

Go Green and use less chemical downloadable guides

Click here for a downloadable greener cleaning guide to help use less chemicals in your homeDownload
Click here for downloadable green cleaning recipes and labelsDownload
Click here for a downloadable greener gardening guide to help use less chemicals in your gardenDownload
Click here for a downloadable guide on a greener way to do it yourselfDownload

Did you know?

It’s easy to think that prevention and using your recycling bin doesn’t make much difference. Just look at the facts and think again.

  • You can make a bicycle out of 650 recycled aluminium cans.
  • If you recycle one aluminium can today, it can be made into a new can, get filled and be back on the shelf in just six weeks.
  • Approximately 75% of the aluminium ever produced is still in circulation today.
  • Each ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 2.2 cubic metres of landfill space and 7,000 gallons of water.
  • It is possible to recycle one sheet of printer paper up to 7 times.
  • Producing plastic products from recycled plastics reduces energy requirements by 66%.
  • Recycling just 1 tonne of plastics saves 1,000–2,000 gallons of petroleum.
  • It takes up to 500 years for plastic to decompose.
  • One million tonnes of food waste is produced in Ireland annually. That’s enough food waste to fill Croke Park two and a half times! Imagine that.
  • Over ⅓ of the food produced globally goes to waste
  • The average household in Ireland is responsible for 1 Ton of Food Waste, thats somewhere between €400 and €1000 per year!
  • All the world’s nearly one billion hungry people could be fed on less than a quarter of the food that is wasted in the US, UK and Europe.
  • An area larger than China is used to grow food that is never eaten.
  • 25% of the world’s freshwater supply is used to grow food that is never eaten.
  • If food waste were a country it would be the 3rd largest emitter of greenhouse gases (after China & the USA).
  • In most developed countries, over half of all food waste takes place in the home.
  • Glass is 100% recyclable and can be recycled endlessly without loss in quality or purity.Color sorting makes a difference, too. Glass manufacturers are limited in the amount of mixed color-cullet (called “3 mix”) they can use to manufacture new containers. Separating recycled container glass by color allows the industry to ensure that new bottles match the color standards required by glass container customers
  • Over a ton of natural resources are saved for every ton of glass recycled.
  • Recycled glass can be substituted for up to 95% of raw materials
  • Glass never decomposes, making it the worst candidate for landfill entombment! Experts suggest that it would take 1 million years for a simple glass bottle to completely break down under normal landfill conditions.
  • When you recycle one single glass bottle, enough energy is saved to illuminate a 100-watt light bulb for four hours or power a computer or television for close to half an hour.
  • Glass containers for food and beverages are 100% recyclable, but not with other types of glass. Other kinds of glass, like windows, ovenware, Pyrex, crystal, etc. are manufactured through a different process. If these materials are introduced into the glass container manufacturing process, they can cause production problems and defective containers.
  • Information is from https://www.mywaste.ie/did-you-know/