Recycle Week 2026: Waverley joins the call to rescue your recyclables!

Waverley Borough Council is supporting Recycle Week 2026 (14 to 20 September), encouraging residents to rescue valuable recyclable items from their rubbish and make sure they end up in the right bin. 

Every item that is recycled correctly helps keep valuable materials in circulation, saves energy compared with producing new materials, and reduces the amount of waste going to incineration or landfill. For example, Recycle Now estimates that recycling a plastic shampoo bottle uses just 12% of the energy required to make one from scratch. 

In Waverley, residents can put paper, cardboard, glass, tins and some plastics in your blue bin for recycling. There are also a range of new materials that we can now collect for recycling. These are: 

• Toothpaste tubes and other squeezy plastic tubes, such as cosmetic tubes 

• Clean, non-black plastic plant pots  

• Cartons and Tetra Pak, including juice, plant milk and soup cartons 

• Empty squeezy metal tubes, such as tomato purée tubes 

We also collect food waste weekly, offer a garden waste collection service (on a subscription basis) and will collect batteries, small electrical items and textiles for free on request.  

To find out what can (and can’t) be recycled in your household recycling bins and to find out more about our recycling and waste collection services, please visit: Recycling, Waste and Composting | Waverley Borough Council 

If you want to check if a particular item can be recycled and the various options for disposing of it, use the Surrey Recycles’ search tool. This provides specific advice based on your postcode and the item you want to dispose of, including whether it can go in your household recycling or whether it should be disposed of via another route, such as taking it to your as your local Community Recycling Centre. 

For information on locations in Surrey where you can reuse, refill, repair or recycle take a look at Surrey’s Zero Waste Map. 

Top tips for recycling in Waverley 

Blue recycling bin 

• Make sure items are empty, clean and dry before placing in your recycling bin 

• Keep items loose, rather than putting them into plastic bags or black sacks 

• Please don’t put batteries or items containing them in any of your bins as they present a serious fire risk. Use our free collection service for batteries, small electricals and textiles, or they can be taken to your local Community Recycling Centre.  

• Please don’t put nappies, wipes, food waste, textiles or food‑soiled cardboard in your recycling bin. 

Food waste 

• Cooked and raw food, including fruit and vegetable peelings, bread, meat and fish bones, tea bags and coffee grounds. 

• Please don’t put liquids (e.g. oil or milk) or plastic packaging in your food waste bin. 

Councillor Adam Duce, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Sustainability, said: 

“Recycle Week is a great opportunity for us all to take another look at what we are putting in our bins and make sure we aren't throwing away things that could have another life. 

"Here in Waverley, residents can recycle an even wider range of materials from home this year, including toothpaste tubes, cartons and non-black plastic plant pots. Small actions like remembering to recycle an empty shampoo bottle or putting your banana peel into your food waste caddy really do add up. 

"We'd encourage everyone to use Recycle Week as a chance to check what can go into their blue bin and food waste caddy. Getting it right helps us keep valuable materials in use for longer and reduce the amount we throw away.” 

To find out more about Recycle Week 2026, visit www.recyclenow.com/recycle-week-2026