Frequently Asked Questions

Over the years as the world has become more aware of environmental issues there have been a huge number of different symbols developed to indicate different environmental standards on products.

It is really great that awareness of the environment has increased however the different symbols can be confusing particularly since some products are made abroad so may have symbols relating to environmental programmes running in other countries.

Some symbols that seem to indicate that something is recyclable may mean something very different, e.g. that it contains recycled material or that the producer has made a contribution towards packaging recycling. Here are a couple of common symbols.

 The Green Dot is used on packaging in many European countries and shows that the producer has made a contribution towards the recycling of packaging.

The Mobius Loop with a percentage inside shows that the object contains a percentage of recycled material.

You can find a full guide to some of the different symbols and what they mean at: http://www.recyclenow.com/why_recycling_matters/recycling_symbols.html

Also, very importantly, the materials that can currently be recycled by the council are limited by external factors such as the type of machinery at the materials recovery facility and whether there are factories that can turn the materials into new products. So even if a material can be recycled somewhere else in the UK it may not be possible to recycle it in your area. The best way to tell if a product is recyclable is to check on the council website or call the call centre.