Recycling – information & advice

Recycling – information & advice

Here you will find tips, advice and guidance on everything from what you can recycle to where to take your rubbish and how to reduce your food waste and Love Your Clothes.

Where can I recycle?

Alongside your kerbside recycling bin, there are also many other ways you can recycle in the county.

  • Check what you can and can’t put in your kerbside bins here.

Please use the links below to view maps/opening times of recycling centres:

Please note the following changes at the Northumberland Household Waste Recovery Centres:

  • There have been recent changes to the household waste permit scheme, including a new self-serve permit option. Find out more here.
  • In September 2015, a new pay as you throw policy for disposing of rubble, plasterboard and soil was introduced. Find out more here. 

Tours of West Sleekburn
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.
 

Community recycling and reuse

Information on community waste and recycling organisations.

Recycling furniture, electrical goods & bikes

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-  
 
Swap shops & national recycling projects
Swap shops
The following are national swap shop websites that provide household furniture, garden goods etc. The following national organisations may offer to collect unwanted items or give advice on how to reuse and recycle:  
Funding & grants for community projects
National waste & recycling events
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.

Useful links

Recycling & reuse tips

Help in understanding what can and cannot be recycled and top tips for reducing waste and reusing things.

Recycling is a great way to help the environment, but it is much better to reduce the amount of waste you produce. It’s really easy, and we have a few top tips to help you along the way.

Tips to reduce waste
  • Love your clothes- take a look at this great website for inspiration
  • Reuse plastic bags when shopping, or buy a bag for life.
  • 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.
Recycling facts
  • 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:
Leaflets

Recycling at an event

Here we provide help with keeping your event environmentally-friendly.

If you are organising an event, it is worth thinking in advance about how the waste generated will be managed and recycled. If it is a large scale event, please contact us to discuss arrangements that could be made to help.

You can order recycling containers for your event that divide recyclable and general waste items in clearly marked ways. For a quote or to find out more contact us. You could also consider a litter picking event, depending on event scale, afterwards. For more information on organising a community litter pick up please click here.