Recycling – information & advice

If you’ve ever wondered what happens to your recycling, you can find out by visiting our West Sleekburn recycling plant, near Ashington.

It’s free and you will be able to see the entire process from beginning through to when it is ready for dispatch to re-processing plants.

The organised tours are for small groups and must be booked in advance. The tours take roughly two hours and run during working hours from Monday to Friday. The tour is specifically for people over the age of 14 and it is inadvisable for those with pacemakers to attend, due to the use of powerful magnets within the plant and other hazards.

If you’re interested in coming on a tour, please forward your contact details and we can contact you to arrange a convenient time.

Call 0345 600 6400, or one of our local phone numbers to arrange.
 

Reusable goods and furniture

You can donate furniture and electrical items to local schemes or charities.
Check which organisations are looking for donations of certain items.
 
Salvation Army Harvestfield Furniture Project

• Units 2 & 3, Windmill Way East, Ramparts Business Park, Berwick upon Tweed TD15 1UP (a few units along from the council household waste recovery centre)
• Tel: 01289 332875
• Open 9-4 Every day except Sunday

 
St Oswald’s Hospice North East

• St Oswald’s operates a collection service for good quality furniture or electrical goods that you would like to donate for resale in their charity shops. Please visit the St Oswald’s Hospice website
• Or call 0191 246 8123 for more details and to arrange a collection.

 
British Heart Foundation

• Book a free furniture and electrical collection by visiting the British Heart Foundation webpage. Someone from the BHF will give you a call to confirm your booking and check that they can accept your items.
• The British Heart Foundation can also collect donations of good quality clothing, accessories, shoes, books, CDs, DVDs and bric-a-brac at the same time, if you’re having a clear out

 
Hexham Furniture Project

• Please phone 01434 607509 to find out more about the items that can be collected or dropped off at the centre. (Items must comply with Fire Safety Regs 1988)

Bicycles

• WATBike and Recyke y’bike are community projects which accept donated bikes.
• Trained mechanics and volunteers fix them up to sell to the public to raise funds for running the projects.
• Some bikes are sent to projects in Africa to support schools and community health programmes.

Find out if there is a collection point close to you at-

• WATBIKE website or e-mail cycling@watbus.org.uk
• And Recyke y’bike, or e-mail recyke@cooptel.net or phone 0191 265 4197 

 
 

Swap shops
The following are national swap shop websites that provide household furniture, garden goods etc.

• Help From Home - click on green actions on this page to find out more
• Snaffle Up
• I love Freegle

The following national organisations may offer to collect unwanted items or give advice on how to reuse and recycle:

• furniture reuse network
• national community wood recycling project
• community composting network

 

Below you will find information relevant to grants:​

• Accessing government grants for the voluntary and community sector
• The Big Lottery Fund
• Applying for community grants from SITA trust
• The j4b community website for information on voluntary and community funding
• Funding from Waste Recycling Environmental (WREN)

 

Northumberland County Council support a number of national recycling events. Save these dates in your diary and look out for more information through the links below.

• Great British Spring Clean: 3 - 5 March 2017
• Real nappy week: 24 - 30 April 2017
• Compost awareness week: 7 - 13 May 2017
• Recycle week: 25 September - 1 October 2017
• Waste less live more: This was in September in 2016
• Love Food, Hate Waste: ongoing 
• Love Your Clothes: ongoing

Useful links

• Love Your Clothes
• Love Food Hate Waste
• Keep Britain Tidy
• Waste education in schools
• Home composting
• Love Northumberland Campaign

• Love your clothes- take a look at this great website for inspiration
• Reuse plastic bags when shopping, or buy a bag for life - Some Supermarkets have collection points for single use carrier bags and plastic wrap etc, why not check next time you are shopping?
• Donate clothes and furniture to charity – have a look at our community recycling page.
• Reduce food waste - visit the Love Food Hate Waste.
• Reuse plastic bottles in other areas, for example, gardening.
• Convert to real nappies and save money, as well as the environment.
• Rinse kitchen plastic bottles and cans at the end of your washing up to avoid wasting water.

If you have any more tips you’d like to share, please let us know.

• Materials from your household recycling bin are sorted in Northumberland.
• The majority of general waste from household bins goes to an energy-from-waste plant in Teesside and not to landfill.
• 25 plastic bottles can be recycled to make one new fleece jacket.
• Recycling one glass bottle or jar saves enough energy to run a game console for five hours.
• Recycling a single glass bottle saves enough energy to power a 100-watt lightbulb for almost an hour.

Also, take a look at the following websites for further advice and tips:

• Love your clothes
• Love Food Hate Waste
• Keep Britain Tidy
• Energy saving community website
• Farmers’ market timetable for the North East
• LOVE Northumberland
• Marine Conservation Society- beachwatch, balloon awareness, wet wipes, plastic bags and more

Here is a selection of recycling and waste leaflets that you can download and print.

• Right bin, right thing
• Recycling flier- what can I recycle at home?
• Buy a home compost bin
• Have your say about the Northumberland Household Waste Recovery Centres
• Information about permits for trade type vehicles
• Your annual limits for DIY waste
• Rubble, plasterboard and soil - Pay as you throw
• Hazardous household waste booklet
• Commercial waste services leaflet

Please note, the council phone number for all enquiries is 0345 600 6400.