Can I put photographs in the recycling bin?

If you don’t want them, I would ask the people in the photos if they would like them before throwing away, I’m the opposite I have to keep all the photos of my children ?

I hope you have gone through all the photos and kept the most important and interesting ones. Have your family got some as momentoes of their childhood?

A few years after I got married my parents emigrated to join my elder brothers in North America. It was only a year later I was told that Mum had saved about a dozen family photos and had binned the rest without asking/telling me or my brothers. I was very upset and even now when a friend posts a photo of a primary school birthday party on FB or I attend a school reunion I feel a real sense of loss as I have no records at all.

Could you not ask your family if they would like them, I lost so many photos of my kids due to a jealous ex partner who threw them on our open fire in a temper, id give anything to have them back.

When I replied to the OP I didn’t imagine that the photos were personal family photos, mainly because I wouldn’t dream of throwing away photos of my family.
I’m so glad my parents didn’t throw any of ours away as I’m doing the Family Tree and it’s fascinating. I was also given family albums by various Aunts and Uncles, so maybe other family members might like them?
I would be very upset if they had thrown away personal family photos, after all it’s all we have left as our memories start to fade.
So please Chestnut get rid of your landscapes and pics of Town Halls, but keep photos of your family.
BTW, I have bought a few photographs in albums from Charity shops and there is always a buyer for old photos on eBay, but as I said earlier I would never sell or send to a Charity Shop any family pics.

I had a real clear out like you, a few years ago. I found quite a few photos were doubles, especially the school ones. I offered some to my children, and then binned any left over. I thought I’d made sure they were all shredded, but one small piece got away. I know this, because when the bin men left, and I went outside to fetch the bin, there was the face of my daughter, aged about 5, on a piece of school photo, lying in the road.

It made me feel really sad, even though I had a much larger copy, and a few small ones. I went for the landfill bin, then I knew they would burn.

It's not much use asking our children if they want them because in many cases they don't know themselves. Then later on when they're our age they become nostalgic and desperate to see old photos! It's often an age thing and younger people don't have the interest, but it doesn't mean they never will.

Photos of your toddler in the bath? Why on earth would you not want to keep them?
I do understand the need to de-clutter and I have recently been sifting through stuff myself including old photos but the only ones I tore up were those which weren’t very good, a bit blurry.

Have you asked your daughter if she would like at least some of the photos you want to get rid of?

I rip them up and put them with the household rubbish.

Photographs are not paper or cardboard so have to go to landfill. I would suggest gong through them and not to throw out any of family members or family homes as these are often precious to children or grandchildren when they're older. Even views and city streets can be valuable historical documents depending on the location. Be very careful what you throw out.

If I really didn’t want to keep them I’d be putting them through the shredder before binning them.
As you say OP, there could be personal stuff amongst them.

No it is not- you have to be able to scrunch paper in your hand without it opening up again and you cannot do that with photos. I would pop them in a black bag and dump the bag in the ordinary household waste bin.

You could always ask the Council’s recycling /waste collection department if it would be acceptable.

Thank you all for your comments. I'll be putting them in the brown (non-recyclable) bin. I don't like the idea of strangers looking at pictures of my daughter when she was young ie toddler in the bath.
It has been heart-wrenching going through them with all the memories, good and bad, they invoke. But nobody has looked at them since we moved house, about 8 years ago, and I'm concentrating on the thought of having a loft we can actually use not just as a dumping ground.

I did put a lot ( landscapes and duplicates) in the recycling bin last year it never ended my head that they weren’t suitable, ah well not much I can do now

Bit of a long shot but if you have an art school near you I'd have thought there would be students who would take them for collages etc.

I`m another who just can`t get rid of photos, mine go back to when Adam was a lad!

I could never get rid of photos. So many memories- I've got thousands, but to answer your question I don't think you could recycle them.

Please, please not the charity shop. We have enough stuff that people dump on us and it costs us money to dispose of it.

Charity shops won’t be able to sell personal photographs, Oopsadaisy1. They would have to pay to have them collected and disposed of by the council.

Put them as a job lot on eBay, or send to a Charity shop, they aren’t recyclable.

If I wasn't keeping them I would certainly shred them albeit with huge difficulty.

No. Photos are unsuitable.

i'd not risk it, the chemicals.
put in ordinary rubbish.
but do you really want to throw photos away; i couldn't do that.
why not just put them in with the things for charity shop; some people collect old photos for art projects etc.