Is there anything you can't recycle?

Published on Sunday 23 September 2007 00:04

WE'RE all used to sorting glass from plastic and paper from cardboard these days. But what do you do with all the things the council won't collect, or that don't have a handy local drop-off point?

First, check out www.recyclenow.com for advice on whether your old junk is recyclable. If not, it seems there's someone somewhere who will take almost anything off your hands.

You'll find a couple of websites dedicated to bringing you together with just the right person for that seemingly useless item you no longer have space for www.dontdumpthat.com and www.freecycle.org offer locally run groups to hook you up with people in your area.

But if you'd rather get creative, there's www.recyclethis.co.uk, which offers advice on how to reuse a host of things from plastic bottle tops to deflated balloons. "Cut along the seams, the insides are usually silver and reflective. These can be put behind a radiator to reflect the heat back into the room," suggests one contributor.

For those looking to get rid of something a little more hi-tech than an old balloon, charities such as Oxfam (www.oxfam.org.uk) will accept your old mobile phone.

And if you're planning to upgrade your computer, www.computeraid.org will refurbish your old machine and send it to one of more than 100 countries that it supplies with IT equipment.