Nearly 3 million tonnes of plastic rubbish is generated every year in the UK alone, but only 5% is recycled.

In 2006/07 Wiltshire recycled over 900 tonnes of plastic from items such as milk, fizzy drinks and shampoo bottles, margarine containers and ice cream tubs.

Why plastics aren't collected at the kerbside

Plastic is very light and bulky, making it costly to collect, sort and transport. If we collected plastic bottles from the kerbside, it would involve many more trips to the recycling depot at Lower Compton Basset. More lorries on the road is unsustainable.

However, plastic bottles and some containers (ice cream pots, butter tubs, yoghurt drink containers etc) can be recycled at any of Wiltshire's household recycling centres.

We can accept these types of plastics at our Household Recycling Centres:

	Polyethylene terephthalate - Fizzy drink bottles and oven-ready meal trays.
	High-density polyethylene - Bottles for milk and washing-up liquids.
	Polyvinyl chloride - Food trays, bottles for squash, mineral water and shampoos

From the 1st March 2007, West Wiltshire residents can recycle plastic drinks bottles at local bring sites. Please wash and squash bottles and put the lids back on. This helps to create a vacuum within the bottle and reduces the space required for each bottle - this allows us to collect more in the containers before they need emptying. Click here for more information.

Tips to reduce the amount of plastic that we throw away