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Top tips for your next 'tip run'


Household waste and recycling centre officer showing items found at the 'tip'

Top tips before making a trip to the tip

Staff at Cornwall’s Household Waste and Recycling Centres are asking that you get your rubbish and recycling Sorted! before doing your next ‘tip run’. 

Sorting it first could save you time and money, they say, as well as the planet’s finite resources. It will also help increase Cornwall’s recycling rate and reduce its carbon footprint.

Before you drive to the tip, could any of your items be:

Reused by someone else

Reuse is even better than recycling. Consider selling or giving away your still wearable clothing, working electrical items, books and furniture to:

  • charity shops
  • Freegle
  • Freecycle
  • online marketplaces
  • friends and family

Recycled using the household collection service

Please use the recycling collection service instead of driving to the tip. Our recycling trucks are passing your door anyway.  It’s much better for the environment than us all making individual ‘tip runs’ in our own cars.

Check our A-Z of recycling to see if you can recycle your things without having to leave home. The following household items, for example, can all be recycled using the collection service:

  • cardboard
  • glass jars
  • plastics yoghurt pots, milk bottles and food trays
  • food tins, drink cans and kitchen foil
  • garden waste – through the paid subscription service

Order more recycling equipment for free

Put in your household rubbish collection

Before driving any rubbish to your nearest household waste centre, remember to make the most of the Council’s rubbish collection service. This service will collect most household rubbish from you without you even having to leave home, saving you time and fuel money.

We collect rubbish from you that is:

  • non-recyclable
  • non-hazardous
  • fits in a standard black rubbish sack
  • doesn’t contain batteries or electronic items

When to make the trip to the tip

Household recycling centres are good for recycling things that the Council doesn’t collect for recycling from your home. Things like:

  • garden waste (unless you’ve bought a collection subscription)
  • batteries 
  • lightbulbs
  • broken electrical items like toasters and kettles
  • plastic patio furniture, buckets, collapsible crates and storage tubs
  • asbestos, plasterboard, rubble and soil from home DIY (for a small charge)
  • car tyres (for a small charge)
  • engine oil
  • food and drink cartons (Tetrapaks) and Pringles tubes 
  • broken fridges, freezers and cookers

Sort your rubbish and recycling before you go

Before you leave for the tip, check online to see which materials each of our household recycling centres accept.  Then pack your waste in your car in a logical order so you can get in and out quickly and safely.

Need help?

Most issues can be resolved online, it's the quickest and most convenient way to get help.

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