Everything you need to know about recycling in Brighton & Hove
There are three main ways that Brighton & Hove City council allows you to recycle. There are also alternative ways to recycle in your local area that allow you to recycle items that aren’t accepted by the council. Click the icons below to read more about each method.
Recycling Centres
Kerbside Recycling Bins
Textiles Recycling Bins
Ways to donate
Non-council collectors
Recycling Centres in Brighton & Hove
Brighton
Wilson Avenue, BN2 5PD
Hove
Old Shoreham Road, BN3 7AE
Find out what you can take to each of these recycling sites by visiting the Council website.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Always remember that the best way to reduce the amount going to landfill is by reducing the amount of things we buy in the first place. Next time you’re about to buy an item, ask yourself these three questions:
1 – Do I really need this?
2 – Once I’m finished with it, can I give it to someone else to re-use it?
3 – Can it easily be recycled?
By making a conscious effort to reduce the amount we’re buying, we can ultimately keep our planet green.
Kerbside recycling in Brighton & Hove
There are two types of kerbside recycling bins you can have in Brighton & Hove: a mixed recycling bin and a garden waste recycling bin. These bins are collected by Brighton & Hove City Council.
When is my recycling collected?
You can find out when your bins are collected by visiting the Council’s website.
What can I put in my recycling bin?
Here’s the complete list of what you can place in your recycling bin in Brighton & Hove:
Including magazines and paper
Flattened and folded so that it fits into the box/bin
Empty and washed, with lids inside
Empty with lids removed
Washed and squashed with lids put back on
Items such as glass bottles or jars need to be kept in a separate box. They need to be washed with their metal lids back on. Any plastic lids need to be placed into your household waste.
Please note that it’s always best to check on the Council’s website if you’re unsure about what items you can place in your recycling bin.
If you put items in your recycling bin that are not accepted, it can result in contamination at the processing centre. It can also increase the council’s cost, have an environmental impact and cause damage to recycling equipment at the processing centre. So please make sure that you only put accepted items into your recycling box/bin.
What can I put in my garden waste bin?
The following items are accepted in garden waste bins across Brighton & Hove:
- Fruit and vegetable peelings, small amounts of cooked vegetables
- Tea bags and coffee grounds
- Leaves
- Twigs
- Grass
- Plants
- Hedge cuttings
- Tree cuttings
What you can’t put in your garden waste bin:
- All other food waste
- Plastic bags, including compostable bags
- Rubbish you’d normally put in your black bags
- Bits of wood over 10cm wide or long
- Paper, cardboard, cans, glass, plastic bottles
- Stones, rubble, soil, packaging
- Food trays
- Clothes, textiles
- Pet waste, including bedding
Textiles Recycling In Brighton & Hove
If you have items of clothing or other textiles that are no longer usable, you can recycle them by putting them in a textiles bin near you. This will stop the textiles being sent to landfill and allow them to be turned back into raw materials to be recycled.
It’s worth noting that not all textile bins are for recycling. Others are for charities to either recycle themselves to raise funds or for them to hand out to people in need. So make sure you know what the bins are for before putting textiles in. You don’t want to put unusable items in a bin that will be donated to people in need. In the same way you don’t want to put useable items into a recycling bin.
What can I put in textile bins in Brighton & Hove?
What you can place in textiles bins will be dependant on which bins you put them in. Generally speaking, you’ll be able to put the following in the bins:
- All clothes (including denim)
- Shoes
- Accessories (such as bags)
Usually, the bin itself will have a list of what it accepts on it. So make sure you check the bin itself before you place items in.
Where can I find textile bins in Brighton & Hove?
The Council has a full list of textile bin locations on their website. Although the chances are, once you keep an eye out for the bins, you’ll start spotting them more and more!
You can find the locations of The Salvation Army textile bins by putting in your location on their website.
Remember, that you can always recycle textiles at your nearest recycling centre too.
Can I put pillows, duvets and other bed linen in a textiles bin?
Usually, textiles bins do not accept these types of items; however, the Dunelm in Shoreham does! Through their Textile Take Back Scheme, you can give them your used duvets, pillows, bed linen, towels, curtains, cushion covers, cushion inners and bedding protection. Dunelm then sort it by what can be recycled and what can be re-used so that nothing goes to waste. Most of the things they collect are rehomed to keep products in use for as long as possible.
Recycled items are combined with other post-consumer sources and repurposed into new items as part of their Conscious Choice Remade Collection. Dunelm has said that items in that collection are made from at least 40% recycled materials.
Donating your unwanted items
If you have items that you no longer want/ need, but can still be used by somebody else, donating them is a great way of getting rid of them without sending them to a landfill. The good thing about donating your unwanted items is that it allows your chosen charity to either send your items to people in need or sell them to raise vital funds for their important work.
What’s more, if you donate to a charity shop, the person who purchases your item doesn’t have to buy the item brand new. Saving the planet’s resources.
Where can I donate my unwanted items in Brighton & Hove?
One of the easiest ways to donate your unwanted items is by giving them to a local charity shop. Brighton & Hove have a selection to choose from which will gratefully accept your donation.
Before you donate your items, you need to ask yourself two questions:
- Are my items in good enough condition to be used by someone? If the answer is no, you’ll need to get rid of them a different way. Either at your local recycling site, a textiles bin or through a non-council collector.
- Is my chosen charity shop accepting donations? You can usually find out by looking for a sign outside the shop as you approach. Generally, the shop will have a sign outside telling you that it’s not accepting donations.
Charity shops in Brighton & Hove
Use our map below to locate the various charity shops in Brighton & Hove
Non-council collectors in your area
Aldrington C of E Primary School in Hove collects various items for Terracycle to recycle. Terracycle is a recycling company that, through sponsorship from big brands, recycle various items through different waste streams.
Find out what Aldrington C of E Primary School collects below. Click each item type to find out exactly what you can recycle.
Air, home and laundry packaging, cheese packaging, dental care items, coffee packaging
Other items that can be recycled in Brighton & Hove
Brighton:
Hove:
The Tesco Superstore in Church Road allows you to recycle soft plastic. Find out more about the scheme and what you can recycle here.
There are various opticians that allow you to recycle your contact lenses. See the list below and find out exactly what they accept by heading to the Terracycle website.
Brighton:
Boots Opticians on London Road
The Specky Wren on Marshall’s Row
Ollie Quinn on Gardner Street
Boots Opticians on North Street
Eyesight Brighton on North Street
Through Maybelline’s Terracycle programme, you’re about to drop off your cosmetic packaging (of any brand) at various shops in the area. See the list of locations below and find out exactly what they accept here.
Brighton:
Superdrug, Churchill Square
Superdrug, St James Street
You can recycle a range of pens, highlighters and Tippex products at Ryman Stationery on North Street. Find out exactly what they accept here.
Brighton:
The Tesco Express on Jubilee Street has a batteries recycling point
Hove:
The Tesco Superstore in Church Road has a batteries recycling point
There are most likely more, so if you know of somewhere else you can recycle batteries, please let us know.