Last updated: 11 December 2023
Next review: 1 August 2024
We are empowering residents to recycle more and contaminate less, with an aim to improve our recycling rates across the borough.
Currently, our recycling rate sits at 32%- which is mid table for London and is higher than all our neighbouring boroughs. We need our recycling rate to improve across all neighbourhoods of Waltham Forest, to make a real difference.
Are you interested in making positive change in your neighbourhood? Sign up to become a recycle right champion today.
By putting items that cannot be recycled into your recycling bin, it causes contamination, which has a huge impact on our environment.
Our top 10 contaminators are:
| Item | Rethink |
|---|---|
| Shoes | Take to recycling centre or leave on top of your green bin |
| Textiles | Take to recycling centre or leave on top of your green bin |
| Coat Hangers | Take to charity shop for re-use |
| Electrical items | Arrange a large item collection or place small items on top of your green bin |
| Wood | Take to recycling centre |
| Food packaging containing food | Empty the container of food, wash and put in recycling bin |
| Food Waste | Put into brown food and garden waste |
| Nappies | Put into black bin |
| Packaged polystyrene | Collect and take to Kings Road recycling centre in Chingford |
| Metal | Take to recycling centre |
You can recycle a huge amount of items such as wood, light bulbs and hangers at our three recycling centres.