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Are tealight cups recyclable?

(18 Posts)
Elrel Sun 13-Dec-15 11:55:37

I used to bin the tablet packs but for a month or so have been putting them in the recycling.

What is it about black plastic food trays? Why can't they be recycled the same as other colours including brown? I assume that black keeps fruit, veg, meat fresh for longer, if not, why is it used. M&S now put black cardboard under fruit which of course is recyclable.

rosequartz Fri 11-Dec-15 23:12:40

Well, they feel like tinfoil, which goes in the recycling, but then they still have some plastic attached to them. So I am assuming the plastic would not contaminate the tinfoil during the process.

durhamjen Fri 11-Dec-15 22:31:37

yes, those are the ones I mean, roseq, and that's what I do now. Mind, I had been taking them for over two years before I realised, and feel guilty for putting them in landfill for those two years.

rosequartz Fri 11-Dec-15 20:22:47

What do you all do with your waste from tablets?
You mean the ones in the foil/plastic packs?

I put them in the plastic/metal/tinfoil/glass recycling bin and hope they can be recycled.

durhamjen Fri 11-Dec-15 17:37:28

I have started putting them in the recycling, because I read somewhere that it is possible to separate the aluminium. Like you said, they can separate them on the conveyor belt if they need to go into landfill.
I'd much rather have my tablets in bottles. There is much less waste. Unfortunately, none of mine come like that now.

M0nica Fri 11-Dec-15 15:40:30

Those I do put in the landfill bin because they are usually aluminium foil fused to plastic.

durhamjen Fri 11-Dec-15 15:12:49

What do you all do with your waste from tablets?

durhamjen Fri 11-Dec-15 15:11:28

Made of aluminium so can be recycled. It's very expensive to make new aluminium. I think Alcan has closed down in the north east.
Durham must be the same as your area, MOnica. We put everything we think could be recycled apart from glass in the same bin, and it gets sorted at the recycling centre.
I think at the last count 70% of stuff put out for recycling is recycled in this area.

M0nica Fri 11-Dec-15 11:08:20

I always put them in the recycling. If in doubt I always recycle. The unrecyclables are pulled out when recyclable waste is sorted whereas if potentially recylcable stuff goes in the landfill bin it is not sorted and goes into land fill.

thatbags Fri 11-Dec-15 08:45:44

I would have a food waste bin if the council employees who delivered them could be arsed to walk up our hill hmm. Thanks for reminding me to ring the council for one, hildajj smile

hildajenniJ Fri 11-Dec-15 08:26:08

You can recycle very little here, just paper, cardboard, plastic bottles and cans. We are away behind some areas. I would love to do more. My DD, in Scotland even has a food waste bucket.

thatbags Fri 11-Dec-15 08:22:58

Seems they are made of aluminium and you can even buy empty ones.

Some new ones are made of a fire retardant plastic. I think I prefer aluminium.

thatbags Fri 11-Dec-15 08:20:44

That's a good idea, icy. I'll get the wax out and then put the cups in the recycling bin. I'm just going to google whether they are in fact aluminium, but most metals can be recycled so it may not matter. I put other metallic things in our recycling. Like rusty nails.

Icyalittle Fri 11-Dec-15 08:15:27

So would I, somebody please tell us. We had a longish power cut in the storms and got through loads, I really didn't like just binning the empty ones. But I did use up the little bit of left over wax - I just sort of squeezed the cups and it broke up and came out, minus the wick piece. I dropped it all into a sheet of newspaper to scrunch up to light the open fire.

cornergran Fri 11-Dec-15 07:35:02

Not have I. Would love to know if I can.

kittylester Fri 11-Dec-15 07:33:14

Nor have I!

Teetime Fri 11-Dec-15 07:24:51

Oh you have made me think now I haven't been putting them in the recycling.

thatbags Fri 11-Dec-15 06:55:53

Are tealight cups made of aluminium? If so, can I put them in the recycling bin even though there is a bit of wax left in them when they finish burning?