Unwanted medicines

Medicines and health

You can take unused medicines, prescription or otherwise, and empty inhalers back to your local pharmacy, like Boots. Incidentally this applies to all unused medicines, including tablets or liquids. Do not be tempted to flush them down the loo!

Your local chemist, including all Boots pharmacies, are obliged to accept back unwanted medicines from patients.

If you have empty blister packs that contained medical tablets, these can be recycled in your blue top kerbside bin in the same way as all foil containers. Please do check the blister packs are empty.

Boots also take and recycle contact lenses.

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Plastic flower pots

Most gardeners will admit to hoarding far too many pots in the garden shed. Unfortunately, garden plastics, for example plant pots, seed trays, tools and furniture, cannot be recycled in your kerbside recycling bin. The reason is that they are often made of a different type of plastic to the plastic used for household bottles, tubs and trays.

So how can you dispose of unwanted plastic plant pots?

• Do ask the retailer you bought your plants from if they will recycle used plastic plant pots.

• You can take plastic plant pots to B&Q stores, as they operate their own recycling scheme. Do you know they have a big recycling container that accepts small electrical items, batteries, light bulbs and florescent tubes too?

• Do offer them for free on social media sites or offer them to your local allotment holders.

• A national plant pot take-back scheme has just been launched by the Horticultural Trade Association (HTA), which will enable its members to send trays and pots for recycling. The HTA (with 1,800 garden centre members across the UK) says will not only enable members to become more sustainable but will also save them money.

You can now take these to Burgess Hill tip, where they can be deposited separately for recycling. - This is currently a trial to ensure that the items can be collected separately and the council will look at the feasibility of rolling it out to other sites in the future.

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General bin etiquette

Whilst many of us have been in lockdown, we have had an opportunity to declutter rooms, garages, or sheds. Under normal circumstances we would take the clutter to charity shops or to the HWRS (Household Waste Recycling Site), the TIP.

I would ask you not to simply dump all your declutter into your black top kerbside rubbish bin. Declutter is not household waste.

The Household Waste Recycling Site (the Tip)
Did you know that 80% of what you take to the Tip is recycled?

First organise all the rubbish at home for the Tip into different waste streams into boxes, so disposing is easy when he gets there!

Also remember to take your ID to show you are a West Sussex resident.

Your general waste bin

- Try to put as little as possible in this bin – can anything be reused?

- Bag or double bag all food waste.

- Check what can be recycled and put this clean, dry and loose into your recycling bin. Check this site for what can be recycled – more than you think - www.recycleforwestsussex.org

Your recycling bin

We want you to keep recycling, and you will need to get as much as possible in your bin.

- Cut up or rip up cardboard to cereal box size – great stress relief

- Plastics, squash or open out

- Do not leave recycling next to bin. They will not take it as there is a handling risk.

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Bubble wrap and bags

Bubble wrap is made of the same type of plastic as plastic carrier bags and so can be taken to the carrier bag bin in Co-op, Marks and Spencers, or Waitrose, and you will no longer need to put then into your black bin. A simple routine of a bag to pop it into and drop off before you start shopping.

Note: As of November 2023, Sainsburys, Haywards Heath will no longer be accepting soft plastics for recycling. They will still offer the recycling of plastic hangers, batteries, cosmetics, and water filters.

I don’t think everyone is aware of this. Carrier bag bins (at supermarkets) can recycle so many more plastic items, such as:

• Plastic carrier bags

• Plastic bread bags (shake out)

• Plastic cereal bags (like porridge oats bags, not inners from boxes of cereals, although some are recyclable - check the label)

• Plastic wrappers and ring joiners from multipacks of cans

• Toilet roll and kitchen roll plastic wrappers

• Plastic freezer bags

• Plastic magazine and newspaper wrappers (from your letterbox post)

• Fruit and veg supermarket bags

• Bubble wrap

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