Did you remember to put your bins out this week and your recycling bags and box if it’s your neighbourhood’s week for a kerbside collection? Great if you did, but did you know that there are now more ways of recycling your waste than ever before?

Cornwall Council’s kerbside recycling service collects ever more types of materials so that they do not end up in landfill or being incinerated. Everything from aerosols and shampoo bottles to tinfoil and magazines can all be collected from your doorstep.

In addition to the kerbside collection service the Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) – otherwise known as the dump or tip to most of us – also collect an array of materials. You can find an A-Z guide to everything that the council can dispose of here https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/rubbish-recycling-and-waste/recycling/recycling-a-z/

In addition supermarkets and shops all over Cornwall can take a number of other materials which cannot currently be recycled by the council. For example, Boots stores can take everything from toothpaste tubes to lipsticks which can then be disposed of responsibly.

Sainsbury’s supermarkets can take all carrier bags; bread and cereal bags; bags and wrapping used for fruit, vegetables, salad and flowers; bottle and can multipack wrapping; biscuit and cake wrappers; toilet and kitchen roll wrappers; rice and dry food wrappers; cheese wrappers; frozen food bags; baby food pouches; microwaveable pouches; pet food pouches; crisp packets; plastic or foil coffee packaging; film lids from meat, fish, fruit and vegetable trays.

Tesco also collects a large range of soft plastic packaging which is currently not recyclable by the council – among the most common forms taken to the company’s stores are bread bags, fruit and vegetable packaging, crisp packets and salad bags. However the stores can also take pet food pouches, reusable bags and other plastic wrapping.

And Asda stores also accept plastic packaging at their points for the recycling of carrier bags as well as offering battery recycling collection points and clothing banks at many stores.

Co-op stores around Cornwall will also accept soft plastic packaging at its stores – the company says it doesn’t matter where the plastic was bought, just clean it, scrunch it up and add it to the blue bins which can be found at stores. The Co-op says that 25% of its own brand products have soft plastic packaging and that the other 75% is items like bottles and trays which can be collected and recycled by the council.

At Lidl stores you can also find recycling points which can collect the same materials as the other chains as well as having points for cardboard, tins and plastics – although all of these can currently be put out for the council’s recycling collections.

And if you are doing your shopping at Aldi they also have collection points for soft plastic packaging such as bread bags and crisp packets which are currently not collected by Cornwall Council.

With more opportunities to recycle rubbish than ever before it is easy to make sure that you are limiting what is being thrown into the bin and helping to cut the amount of waste going to landfill or incineration.

Cornwall Council’s new waste collection service, which is expected to have been rolled out across Cornwall by 2025, will mean that black bag waste will only be collected fortnightly and each household will only be allowed to have one wheelie bin of rubbish to be collected.

Recycling more waste will not only help the environment but also ensure that households are prepared for the changes when they are introduced.