Dorset Council, in partnership with the Alliance for Beverage Cartons & the Environment (ACE UK), is launching a new recycling service for paper containers with metal ends, such as Pringles tubes, hot chocolate, nuts and other products.
Local residents can now recycle these containers alongside food and drink cartons at existing specialist recycling banks located at household recycling centres (HRCs, excluding Wimborne) and in car parks across Dorset.
The new service is the result of an agreement between ACE UK, which operates the dedicated food and drink carton recycling service available in Dorset, and packaging manufacturer Sonoco Consumer Products Europe.
Councillor Jill Haynes, Dorset Council’s Portfolio Holder for Customer and Community Services, said:
“Paper containers with metal ends such as Pringles tubes cannot be recycled through our kerbside waste collections, so we were keen to take this opportunity to include them in our recycling banks at HRCs and in car parks. The residents of Dorset have always responded well to the different recycling schemes we’ve implemented, and we hope that they will take full advantage of this new service.”
Richard Hands, CEO of ACE UK, said:
“ACE UK has been successfully running the industry’s recycling programme for the last 15 years, driving significant increases in carton recycling as part of its role as the UK’s food and drink carton industry trade body. We have worked closely with local authorities and waste management companies so that today 93% of local authorities collect food and drink cartons for recycling through either recycling banks or kerbside collection.
“Whilst our primary focus remains on increasing carton recycling, our Bring Bank network and the expertise and experience we have developed will deliver an immediate solution for Sonoco Europe’s paper containers with metal ends, helping to create a step change in recycling for these products.”
Helen Potter, sustainability commercial lead for Kellogg’s owned Pringles, said:
“We know that people want to recycle their Pringles tubes. Including a solution for Pringles in the recycling banks scheme will allow our consumers to return them to be recycled into something new and is an important interim solution as we work towards the development of our new tube. At Kellogg, we’re committed to making all of our packaging recyclable, reusable, or compostable by the end of 2025. This is another important step on this journey.”
To find out where cartons and paper containers with metal ends can be recycled, please visit our website.
I noted the new sign on the Dorchester specialist recycling bank this week and see that it now no longer takes coffee cups (made of paper outer and plastic inner). As far as I remember it did take them before. Is that correct?
That is correct Derek. ACE UK’s agreement with the cup supply chain to accept paper cups at its bring banks has now come to an end. Since the agreement was set up in 2017, the paper cup industry has put many measures in place to capture and recycle paper cups in the UK which have superseded the ACE UK bring bank agreement.
Just to clarify are you saying we can now put paper cups with plastic inner into the ordinary recycling bins? These are by far the majority of cups as far as I know and we were always told not to put them in with other recycling.
Why cannot all these go into kerbside recycling bins to make life easier for residents who cannot get to these other sites but like to recycle. If they can be recycled from these car parks, etc. why not from households?
Our recycling facilities (where stuff goes after being collected from the kerbside) cannot separate or recycle cartons and Pringles tubes. They have to be collected separate from all other materials and taken to a specialist facility near Halifax.
The items you have itemised for recycling in this message do not appear in the list of materials on your website search function to find a recycling bank to take them to.
They should be listed Jeff, albeit they’re not in alphabetical order as we’re still tidying up the information after the move to the new website.
I feel that the picture you have displayed shows items that don’t have metal ends at all (eg. soya milk carton) – if I may suggest not the clearest visual information (plus the link goes to individual HRC so you have to select one before you can see “cartons” which is not the clearest description either). Having said that, I have avoided Pringles for many years and now feel I can “pop” again, thankyou
The picture displays all the different items that can be placed in these recycling banks, including cartons and Pringles tubes.
Can you/do you produce a poster displaying this information which can be displayed in a private residents refuse store with a high turn-over of residents?
Pringles tubes can only be recycled at recycling banks Amy, we wouldn’t want them turning up in the kerbside recycling I’m afraid – James
Really positive news well done and thank you… is there any chance we will be able to recycle crisp bags and sweet wrappers anytime soon… this is a lot of my rubbish these days but I’m afraid hubby just wont give up these treats for the planet (or his health) !
Thank you JC! We don’t have any plans to introduce crisp bag and sweet wrapper recycling any time soon I’m afraid, but please have a look over at https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/brigades to see if anyone is collecting these in your area – James