Recycling is vital in protecting our environment and ensuring a sustainable future. By recycling, we can divert waste from landfills and incinerators, significantly reducing environmental harm.
Why Recycle?
When waste ends up in landfills, it can take years to decompose, releasing harmful gases that contribute to climate change, contaminating soil and water, and endangering wildlife. While Hampshire County Council sends only 5% of non-recyclable waste to landfills, the majority is incinerated, which has its drawbacks, including toxic air pollution and increasing carbon emissions.
For a deeper dive, Channel 4’s Dispatches report, The Dirty Truth About Your Rubbish, explores these issues in detail.
Adopting the 4 Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose
Rethinking how we handle waste is essential. The 4 Rs approach encourages:
- Reduce unnecessary consumption.
- Reuse items wherever possible.
- Recycle what you can.
- Repurpose waste into something useful for yourself or others.
Following these principles not only minimizes waste but can also benefit charities and give items a second life.
Remember: Much of the general waste at Andover Household Recycling Centre ends up in landfills. Recycle as much as possible!
What Goes in Your Green Bin?
Recycling can be simple, but it’s important to get it right! Putting the wrong items in your bin can lead to recyclable materials being wasted or spoiled.
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council accepts only five specific items in green recycling bins. Ensure these are clean and loose—no plastic bags, please or they will be treated as waste and incinerated.
Please don’t put plastic bags in your green bin!
1. Tins and Cans
Acceptable: drink cans, food tins, pet food cans, sweet and biscuit tins, lids and metal bottle tops.
Rinse and leave lids attached or place within the emptied, clean container.
2. Aerosols
Acceptable: Deodorants, air fresheners.
Not acceptable: camping gas cylinders or hazardous materials with warning symbols (an orange skull and crossbones e.g. oven cleaner).
3. Paper and Magazines
Acceptable: newspapers, magazines, junk mail, catalogues, envelopes, battered old paperbacks.
Not acceptable: shredded paper, glittery or foil gift wrap, wet or soiled paper, tissues, paper towels, photographs
4. Cardboard
Acceptable: cereal boxes and similar, flattened large boxes (tape and staples)
If too big for the bin, leave it beside it, but only if dry. Wet cardboard is not accepted.
Not acceptable: soiled/greasy takeaway boxes.
5. Plastic Bottles
Acceptable: All bottle shapes, including drink, shampoo, and cleaning product bottles. Rinse bottles and squash. Lids can remain attached, including pump and trigger sprays.
Not acceptable: Plastic bottles that are not bottle-shaped.
Leave Out Of Your Green Bin
- Paper Coffee Cups
- Shredded Paper
- Drinks Cartons
- Polystyrene
- Food Trays
- Yoghurt Pots
- Nappies
- Food
- Pet Litter
These items should be bagged and put in your normal Household Rubbish Bins to be incinerated.
Visit the Basingstoke and Deane Recycling Page for further guidance.
Glass Recycling
Basingstoke and Deane will also collect your glass bottles. Only glass that fits flat in your green box will be collected. If you have a lot of glass to be collected, you can apply for a Bottle Wheelie Bin.
Metal lids can go in with tins or cans (see above).
Not accepted: Pyrex, lightbulbs, window panes, or broken glasses.
A Little Note on Batteries
Please do not put any batteries in your recycling bin or normal household waste bin as they can cause fires in the bin lorries or waste depots.
Recycling Beyond Your Green Bin
Recycling doesn’t have to be overwhelming! Check out our A-Z Recycling Guide to learn how to recycle items that don’t belong in your green bin. By taking these extra steps, you can help create a cleaner, greener future for our community.
Soft Plastics
Most supermarkets now accept soft plastics for recycling. If it’s flexible and regains shape after being scrunched, it qualifies.
- Yes: Bubble wrap, bread bags, yoghurt pot lids, crisp packets, and frozen food bags.
- No: Biodegradable bags, dirty bags, blister packs, foam, or polystyrene.
See our A-Z Guide for a full list for what to take to the supermarket for recycling
Ensure you check the symbol numbers and place in the correct bin!
Make a trip to Regenthill Ltd worthwhile by visiting nearby attractions like The Weyhill Fairground Café, craft shops, or the Zero-Waste shop.
Hard Plastics
Regenthill Ltd. in Weyhill specialises in recycling rigid plastics, including food trays, plant pots, and polystyrene.
- What to Bring: Clean plastics, separated together into types (recycling symbols 1 and 5) and polystyrene (recycling symbol 6).
- Bin 1 – lightweight crackly clear plastic food trays used for fruit, vegetable and meat trays. (recycling symbol no. 1)
- Bin 5 – Harder usually white or opaque plastic such as yogurt pots, margarine and ice cream tubs. (recycling symbol no. 5)
- Bin 6 – Polystyrene – both hard and soft. (recycling symbol no. 6}
- Drop-off Details:
- Address: Fyfield Road, Weyhill SP11 8DN
- Hours: Monday to Friday, 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM
- Contact: 01264 771519 to drop off as gate is closed.
What you can do to reduce your plastic waste use!
Whilst it’s best to avoid plastic packaging altogether, it isn’t always possible, so we can do our bit by using these local facilities to recycle our plastic and prevent tons from going to landfill or being burned.
However, the recycling system just cannot keep up. Every piece of plastic that has ever been manufactured and ended up in our environment is still on this planet and will remain there forever in some form. This is because plastic degrades rather than decomposes. So although these initiatives are a step in the right direction, ultimately, we need to reduce the amount of plastic that we use.
Tips for Recycling and Reducing Waste
- Take items to Andover Household Waste Recycling Centre. Book an appointment.
- Scott Close, Andover, Hampshire, SP10 5NU
- Put a free ad on a website or local selling group e.g Freecycle.org
- Take a reusable coffee cup to many outlets and you will get a discount.
- Remember your reusable water bottle!
- Pop some small fold-up shopping bags into coat pockets for that unplanned shopping trip.
- Take your own containers to refillable shops
- Local Zero at Weyhill, Andover.
- The Boundary, St Mary Bourne.
- The Village Refillery, Overton.
- My Fab Find, Andover for refillable liquids
- Buy milk in glass bottles from The Boundary or Weyhill Farm Shop vending machine.
- Take lightweight reusable bags to supermarkets or Kenyons in Andover for loose fruit and vegetables.
- Use a soda syphon for your own fizzy drinks with natural flavouring.
- There is a wide range of TerraCycle Recycling available in Whitchurch. See our A-Z Recycling Guide for details.
If you want to recycle something that is not on our list, you might find out how by searching Basingstoke and Deane’s A-Z Recycling Guide
