A binman has offered the definitive word on which bin your empty crisp packets and chocolate wrappers belong. Britons get through more than eight billion packets of crisps every year, according to Statista, which also predicts that figure will climb to over 11 billion annually by 2030 — that’s upwards of 30 million packets every single day.
The UK also sits amongst the top five chocolate-consuming nations in the world, meaning we’re also churning through a staggering number of chocolate wrappers. Yet despite significant progress in food packaging recycling across the UK in recent years, there is still no straightforward way to recycle crisp and chocolate wrappers.
Modern crisp and chocolate packets frequently contain multiple layers and are commonly made from polypropylene or polyethylene with an aluminium coating — materials you’ll often hear referred to as “soft plastics”.
The ability to recycle this type of material at scale remains severely restricted, despite most local councils now offering kerbside collection for hard plastics , reports Wales Online.
Environmental charity WRAP notes: “There is still change that needs to take place for widespread roll-out of recycling collections at kerbside for plastic bags and wrappings.”
View 2 ImagesThe UK gets through more than eight billion packets of crisps a year — but do you know how to recycle them?(Image: Leon Neal/Getty)
That said, recycling policies differ considerably between councils across the UK, and some are able to collect soft plastics for recycling — so it’s always worth checking exactly what your local council will and won’t accept.
Britain’s most well-known refuse collector, who goes by The No1 Binman on TikTok where he dishes out advice to more than 177,000 followers, has now set the record straight on what to do with crisp and chocolate packets.
“They do not go in any of your recycling bins,” says The No1 Binman, whose real name is Ashley. “A crisp packet, yes it can be recycled but you need to take it [to a supermarket].
“Most supermarkets take them. And I know that means going to the supermarket with empty crisp packets to put them in their bins but if you’re asking the question of where they get recycled – that is where.
“Otherwise, you can put them in your general waste bin and they will get collected there.
“But if you’re looking to recycle crisp packets, then it goes in the bins in the supermarket. It’s the same for chocolate wrappers, because it’s such a thin plastic and made from different materials.”
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Back in 2023, the BBC shed light on how crisp packets dating back to the 1960s were found washed up on a Norfolk beach, acting as a sobering reminder of just how long plastics can last.
Among the discoveries were pre-decimalisation packets of Golden Wonder crisps, carrying a price tag of 5d, alongside 2d Spangles sweets.