If you’ve got a pet at home, new regulations in England mean that certain essentials can no longer be placed in your recycling bins at home. The Simpler Recycling rules, which came into force at the end of March this year, enables consistent, more streamlined collections from all households and businesses.
Under the new system, councils have moved to a four-bin arrangement for food and garden waste, paper and card, dry recyclable materials such as glass, metal and plastic, and non-recyclable waste.
Households should check with their local authority if they are unsure about the new rules, as councils have the power to decide how they collect different materials. And when it comes to pet essentials, there are a couple of major updates that all owners need to know about, or they risk bins not being collected.
Here are five common pet products that you should throw straight into the general waste instead.
View 3 ImagesCertain pet food containers can’t be recycled (Image: Getty Images)
While steel and aluminium pet food tins should be rinsed and recycled, the laminated foil and plastic pouches used for wet dog and cat food are excluded from metal and plastic collections.
Their mixed-material layers make them impossible for standard council machinery to separate, so they must go in your general waste.
If you have smaller pets like hamsters, rabbits or guinea pigs, their used animal bedding – such as straw, hay and wood shavings – can’t be put into your household garden waste or food waste bins.
Because it has been in contact with animal waste, it’s classified as a non-permitted contaminant and must be disposed of in your general rubbish.
Similar to animal bedding, loose sawdust used for pet enclosures, litter trays or rabbit hutches is also excluded from the standard organic and garden waste streams.
It belongs in the residual waste bin to prevent contamination at waste collection sites.
View 3 ImagesRigid bulky plastic, such as certain pet toys and carriers, can’t be recycled(Image: Getty Images)
The new regulations highlight that the plastic recycling stream is only for packaging, like bottles, pots, tubs and trays.
Bulky rigid plastics, which include hard plastic dog and cat toys, travel crates and pet food storage bins, are excluded from your household recycling collection.
The guidance states that absorbent hygiene products (AHPs) are not to be collected in the paper, card or plastic bins.
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For pet owners, this applies to disposable puppy training pads, pet nappies, and plastic-backed pads, all of which must go straight into your general waste bin.