Observer column 17 September 2026

Cllr Becca Horn, lead councillor for community safety and environment

This week is Recycle Week. For me, as lead councillor for environment (and self-confessed recycling nerd) it's a big week – I really want us to increase our recycling rate here in Hastings. I’ve been out with our recycling crews to find out what simple things we can do to up our recycling rate.

The rules around what we can recycle from home changed earlier this year - now we can put even more household things into our recycling collections, whether you have a wheelie bin or use pink sacks for your collection. Toothpaste tubes and TetraPaks can now be recycled from home. This is great news as lots of food and drink use TetraPaks as their containers. Don't forget to give food cartons a quick scrape and rinse and let them air dry (I tend to use the last of the washing up water to do mine so I'm not using up lots of water). Place them out early on the morning of your collection day – not the night before, so the foxes and birds don't get at them! 

Whilst out with our crews, I learnt some common things that can contaminate a recycling load. Did you know? Just one item can mean the whole lot gets incinerated and the council gets charged. 

Things like pizza boxes and other cardboard takeaway containers can only go into your recycling if they are clean. Please don’t leave your crusts, dip pots or grease sheets in the boxes when you recycle them! Only clean cardboard and paper can be recycled, no dirty napkins or tissues. 

Another common item is coffee cups – sadly these are not recyclable! They are usually contaminated (with coffee dregs) and tend to be plastic-lined, which makes them hard to recycle. If you can, I recommend using a reusable coffee cup – plenty of our local independent coffee shops offer people discounts to bring their own, so you can save money too! 

Cllr Becca Horn, lead councillor for community safety and environment

You might have seen photos or video of bin lorries on fire on their rounds – these fires cause damage to the vehicles and means the crews cannot collect until vehicles are repaired. Many of these fires are caused by the wrong things being put into bins. Small electrical items are one of these problem areas – things like vapes, batteries, electric toothbrushes, old charging cables and so on should all be put into a separate, small plastic bag on top of your general waste or recycling bin or bag on your usual collection day. Do not put them in your bin or bag. 

Another ask our bin crews have is to please make sure your bins are left kerbside where possible. This makes it easier for the bin crew to pick them up and not miss collections. 

You can check what you can put in your usual recycling collections on our website. If you have things that you can’t recycle from home, we also have some suggestions for alternative recycling options.

If you have bulky items that still have some life in them – please don't leave them outside. There are lots of charity services, or online free marketplaces where you can find them a new home. If your item has come to the end of its life, you can book a bulky waste collection, or take it to our Household Waste & Recycling Centre. 

Thanks for doing your bit to reduce waste and help keep Hastings tidy!