What happens to our recycling and why is it important? I Hubbub Investigates

Why is recycling important? What can go in our household recycling? Where does recycling go? We investigate and bring to you your very own rough guide to recycling. Yes, dreams really do come true! WHAT CAN YOU RECYCLE IN YOUR HOUSEHOLD? Each council in the UK has its own set of rules for what you can and can't recycle, so it's important to have a scan online at your local area. Put your postcode in here and you'll be directed to your local area's recycling page: https://www.gov.uk/recycling-collections. Whilst this isn't the simplest answer, there are a few universal tips we can all follow to increase recycling: 1) Use your purchasing power! When you next go shopping, try and buy things with packaging that is more likely to be recycled. Packaging made with HDPE (thats High -Density Polyethylene for us non-expert folk, check the packet for the symbol) are much easier to recycle than say black plastic trays. This is because many recycling processing machines can't recognise the black to pull the items out for sorting. 2) Rinse first, before you put it in the recycling. This reduces 'contamination' which overall makes it easier to recycled. If things are covered in food, there's a chance it won't end up being recycled. WHAT HAPPENS TO OUR HOUSEHOLD RECYCLING? Between 2012 - 2017 the UK sent 2.7 million tonnes of plastic and cardboard to China as a cheap way to recycle our waste. But things are changing. As of 2018, China severely tightened restrictions on what recycling it accepts into the country in a battle against what it calls 'foreign garbage'. This could create new opportunities for recycling here in the UK, however we need to improve the quality of our recycling (so do lots more rinsing, and checking of what our local collections accept) to make it a more cost effective process. READ MORE: https://www.theguardian.com/environme... https://www.refinery29.uk/2018/02/186... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl... SUBSCRIBE to our channel for more videos like this. Every other Friday ‘Hubbub Investigates’ will be getting to the bottom of an environmental topic or issue which more often that not, lead to the campaigns we run at www.hubbub.org.uk. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE US TO INVESTIGATE? We want to explore environmental topics and issues that you care about. Drop us an e-mail with your questions at: [email protected]. TALK TO US: Website: http://www.hubbub.org.uk/ Facebook:   / hubbubuk   Twitter:   / hubbubuk   Instagram:   / hellohubbub   LinkedIn:   / hubb.  . Pinterest:   / hubbubuk