Between 2000 and 2013, the rate of household recycling in the UK jumped from around 10% to 45%. But in the last five years, there has been little increase in the amount of waste that is recycled. Now the government wants to kick-start recycling and encourage the reuse of products that are still fit for purpose, or which can be refurbished. And it says the companies behind the brands we buy – and the stores that sell them to us – have an important role to play.



In July, Wrap launched a £1 million grant to increase business waste recycling in England. The grant is to help towards the ambition of the Resources and Waste Strategy for England to achieve a 55% recycling rate by 2025 for non-household municipal waste. This refers to the waste generated by sectors such as hospitality and food service, education, health, transport, retail, wholesale and offices.

Although it still has a long way to come, with the recycling rate for NHM sector waste currently stood at around 40%, here’s what some brands you might recognise are already doing to make recycling and reuse easier. If you take part in their schemes, you might even be rewarded for your efforts.

Walkers

Following a consumer campaign that saw the Royal Mail inundated with crisp packets being posted back to Walkers HQ, the snacks brand launched its own crisp packet recycling scheme.

It accepts crisp packets from any brand, which can be dropped off at a collection point. Alternatively, if you’ve started a workplace collection, for example, you can have them picked up by courier once you’ve collected 400 packets or more.

After cleaning, the packets are shredded and used to make other plastic products such as outdoor furniture, trays and flooring.

Boots Opticians

If you wear disposable contact lenses, you can not only drop off the blister pack and foil cover, but also the used contact lenses themselves, at over 600 Boots Opticians stores and some independent opticians across the UK.



JONGHO SHIN Getty Images

Nike

Trainers that are ready for the great foot locker in the sky could enjoy a second life. Pop up to ten pairs of trainers (they don’t have to be Nike trainers) into a Nike Reuse-A-Shoe collection point at selected Nike stores, and the rubber, foam, leather and textile components will be separated and turned into granules, ready to serve as new clothing, footwear or even sports and playground surfaces.

H&M, Zara, & Other Stories

Drop off clothes you no longer want from any brand in any condition at H&M stores – just ask for the garment-collection box. They’ll either be sold as second-hand clothes, made into things such as cleaning cloths, or turned into textile fibre to be used for insulation. Meanwhile, you’ll receive an H&M voucher.

Zara runs a similar scheme at selected stores only, and & Other Stories, which is owned by H&M, accepts empty packaging from its beauty products as well as textiles in return for a 10% discount.

Levi’s

Drop off unwanted clean, dry garments or shoes at branches of the denim retailer and receive a 10% discount voucher to use on full-priced clothing in-store.

Lush and The Body Shop

Return to any Lush store five of the black pots that some of the cosmetic brand’s products come in and receive a free face mask. The pots you return will be ground down and turned into new Lush packaging.



The Body Shop offers a similar scheme with its Return, Recycle, Repeat programme. Return five of its empty bottles, tubs, tubes or pots and receive a £5 reward. Just note, you have to hold a Love Your Body Card, but you can sign up for this online or in-store for free.

MAC

If you buy make-up regularly, take advantage of the Back to MAC scheme for recycling packaging. By returning six MAC primary packaging containers to one of its makeup counters, you can bag yourself a free lipstick of your choice. Given these are worth £17.50 ⁠— it's one of the more generous perks ⁠— and you're making a sustainable choice, too.

tifonimages Getty Images

Apple and Currys PC World

Return your old Apple device and, if it’s still serviceable and can be refurbished, you could receive an Apple Store Gift Card to put towards a newer model. If your gadget’s time is up, Apple will recycle it. Old iPhones, for instance, can be taken apart to recover some of the resources inside for reuse. The tech giant says it currently disassembles 200 iPhones an hour.

Currys PC World offers a similar scheme for old phones, tablets, laptops and smart watches.

Tesco and Sainsbury's

Earn Tesco Clubcard points by returning empty inkjet printer cartridges (via Freepost) to The Recycling Factory or use the scheme to donate to Tesco Charity Partners. Only certain types of inkjet cartridge are eligible to earn Clubcard points although all inkjet printer cartridges are accepted.



In selected stores, Sainsbury's is trialling a reverse vending machine for recycling. It allows allows customers to return plastic bottles and drinks cans bought from Sainsbury’s in exchange for 5p coupons towards their shop.

Like this article? Sign up to our newsletter to get more articles like this delivered straight to your inbox.

SIGN UP



This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io