Why contamination matters more than you think

Most of us want to do the right thing with our rubbish, and most of us are quietly unsure whether we're doing it properly. That uncertainty shows up in the recycling bin: a greasy pizza box here, a crisp packet there, and a tangle of cables shoved in on a Sunday evening. It feels harmless. It isn't.

When the wrong things end up in the kerbside recycling, they cause real problems further down the line. Film and carrier bags wrap around the spinning machinery at sorting plants and bring the line to a halt. Liquids and food residue spoil clean paper and card. Lithium batteries can spark and set fire to a collection lorry or a waste depot. Whole lorry loads can be rejected and sent to landfill or incineration, and the cost of sorting out the mess comes back to us through our council tax.

The single most useful rule is this: if in doubt, leave it out. Check your council's own guidance for your postcode rather than relying on what a neighbour does, because collection rules vary enormously from one district to the next.

Which plastics your kerbside collection accepts

The good news is that most councils now take far more than just bottles. The standard rule across the UK is bottles, pots, tubs and trays — often shortened to PPP or PTT.

• Yes: drinks bottles, milk bottles, shampoo and shower gel bottles, cleaning product bottles, mouthwash, yoghurt pots, margarine and ice cream tubs, ready-meal trays, fruit and vegetable punnets, and most rigid plant pots.
• No: cling film, carrier bags, bread bags, crisp packets, sweet wrappers, pet food pouches, polystyrene, plastic toys, coat hangers, and plastic cutlery.
• Often no: black plastic trays. Optical sorting equipment struggles to detect the carbon pigment, so many councils ask you to keep them out.

Rinse anything that held food — a quick swill is enough, it doesn't need to be spotless or dishwasher-clean. Leave lids on bottles, because loose caps fall through the machinery and are lost. You don't need to peel off labels; they're removed during reprocessing. Squash bottles and flatten trays to make room in the bin, and never put recyclables inside a carrier bag — the bag itself is the problem, and the contents could be missed.

Batteries and small electricals: keep them out of every bin

Batteries are the number one cause of fires in waste vehicles and recycling plants, and they must never go into your kerbside recycling or your general waste. This includes AA and AAA cells, button batteries from watches and cards, phone batteries, and the rechargeable batteries inside vapes and e-cigarettes.

• Most large supermarkets and DIY stores have a battery collection point near the entrance or the tills.
• Your local household waste recycling centre will have a dedicated container.
• For lithium and button batteries, taping over the terminals with clear sticky tape reduces the fire risk in transit.

Small electrical items are a separate stream. Anything with a plug, a battery or a cable counts: toasters, kettles, hairdryers, straighteners, headphones, phone chargers, remote controls, electric toothbrushes, fairy lights and electronic toys. Many retailers offer take-back in store, and every household waste recycling centre has a small electricals container. Never put cables or chargers in the mixed recycling bin — they tangle around the sorting equipment and cause hours of downtime.

Textiles, shoes and what charity shops can't take

Textiles should never go into your mixed recycling. Instead, use a textile bank, a charity shop, or a council textile collection if your area runs one. Everything should be clean and dry — a damp bag of clothes will spoil the rest of the load and may be sent for disposal.

Charity shops welcome wearable clothing, paired shoes tied together by the laces, belts, bags and accessories. Many won't accept underwear, duvets, pillows or heavily worn clothing. If your clothes are past wearing, don't despair: textile banks and some kerbside collections pass them to fibre recovery, where they're turned into insulation, carpet underlay and industrial wiping cloths. Single socks, ripped bedding and stained rags can often go in, but check the signage on the bank first. Duvets, pillows and towels are trickier — usually only the recycling centre or an animal rescue charity will take them.

Food caddies, glass and the odds and ends

Food waste collections vary, but the principle is the same: all cooked and raw food goes in, including bones, tea bags, coffee grounds, eggshells and plate scrapings. Packaging does not, and neither does cooking oil or liquid. Check whether your council wants compostable liners or accepts a plastic bag to keep the caddy clean — this varies, and the wrong liner can contaminate the load.

Glass is collected at the kerbside in some areas and at bottle banks in others. Rinse jars and bottles and remove lids, which usually go in with your metal recycling. Pyrex, drinking glasses, mirrors and vases are not accepted — they melt at a different temperature and ruin the batch. Empty aerosols are generally fine; don't puncture them. Juice and plant milk cartons are only collected in certain areas. Garden waste belongs in your council's green bin or a home compost heap, never in a plastic bag.

Setting up a system that actually sticks

The trick isn't willpower, it's proximity. Most of us recycle correctly when the right bin is within arm's reach and the awkward items have an obvious home.

• Keep a small caddy or tub in the kitchen for food waste, and a second one for batteries by the front door.
• Put a bag or box in a wardrobe or utility room for textiles, and empty it at the charity shop when it's full.
• Keep a "trip to the tip" crate in the garage or porch for batteries, cables, small electricals, paint and anything your kerbside won't take.
• Rinse as you go, or stack dirty items by the sink and rinse them in one go before bin day.
• Set a reminder for collection day, and check your council's website if you're unsure about an item — one quick search beats a contaminated load.

None of us gets it right every time. But a rinsed yoghurt pot, a battery taken to the shop instead of the bin, and a bag of old jumpers dropped at a textile bank all add up across a village — and that's exactly how the system keeps working.