Rescue your recyclables for Recycle Week 2026

14th September, 2026

Derby is backing this year’s Recycle Week (14-20 September), the nation’s biggest annual recycling campaign.

Inspiring action since 2004, the week shows how recycling truly makes a difference. This year’s theme calls on residents to rescue their recyclables which are the items that often get overlooked.

The awareness week is delivered by Recycle Now, a campaign led by leading environmental organisation WRAP (the Waste and Resources Action Programme), which works to reduce waste and tackle climate change.

Each year, billions of items that could be recycled are put in the wrong bins around the UK.  Each item that is recycled correctly helps save energy, and keeps valuable materials in circulation to be used again and again.  

To help bring this to life, the Recycle Week campaign stars a cast of recyclable characters, whose stories show how valuable they are, and why they’re worth rescuing from the rubbish. 

How you can help

Your blue bin accepts: 

• Paper and cardboard

• Food tins and drinks cans

• Plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays

• Glass bottles and jars

• Food and drink cartons

And don’t forget to rescue these often-missed items that should also go in your blue bin: 

• Toilet roll tubes

• Shampoo bottles and other plastic toiletry bottles

• Trigger sprays and cleaning product bottles

• Aerosols

• Aftershave and perfume bottles

• Yoghurt pots

• Clean kitchen foil and foil trays (no food residue)

Remember to 'wash and squash' the items and, with your help, we can make sure these valuable materials get recycled and put back to good use.