Aluminium foil

Recycle clean aluminium foil and foil trays in your mixed recycling bin at home.

Aluminium is actually a very recyclable material and goes in your mixed recycling bin at home.

Most commonly used in drinks cans and foil trays; after cleaning, melting and recasting, it can be reformed into hundreds of different items without the need for any new material.

Making products from recycled aluminium uses only five per cent of the energy it takes to make new foil from raw materials. Let’s make the most of it.

1. The first thing you should do is determine whether what you’re about to throw away is aluminium or not. To do that you’ll need to do the scrunch test.
2. If you can, simply scrunch the item in your hand. If it remains ‘scrunched’ it is aluminium foil and can be recycled easily. Put it in your mixed recycling bin at home.
3. If it springs back (like crisp packets, for example) it is probably metallised plastic film, so put it in your general waste bin at home.