From 31 March, four more items can go into your Wandsworth recycling sack or communal mixed recycling bin. No new bin or container is needed.
The additions are part of the government’s Simpler Recycling programme, which comes into effect across England next Monday. In Wandsworth the four new items are: clean aluminium foil and food trays; empty squeezy metal tubes (such as tomato puree packaging); empty squeezy plastic tubes (such as toothpaste packaging); and empty aerosol cans.
The rule for all four is the same: rinse off any food residue before putting them in. Items must be clean. Aerosol cans must be completely empty.
Nothing is being removed from Wandsworth’s existing recycling list, which already covers paper, card and cardboard, glass bottles and jars, tins and cans, plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays, and cartons such as Tetra Paks. The 31 March changes are additions only.
What Simpler Recycling is
The Simpler Recycling programme is a government initiative to end the inconsistency between different councils collecting different things. Until now, what you could recycle depended on where you lived. The new national rules create a common standard.
Businesses with 10 or more staff were already required to comply from March 2025. The household phase starts on 31 March. Plastic film packaging and carrier bags are not included yet; those join the list in March 2027 (in the meantime, larger supermarkets accept plastic film for recycling).
What not to include
The council asks residents not to put anything in their recycling sacks that could cause a risk during collection or sorting. That includes hypodermic needles and sharps.
Everything else follows the same guidance as before: if in doubt, check the Wandsworth recycling guide at the link below.
Wandsworth’s recycling record
The council says the borough has seen a 25% increase in recycling since June 2024, amounting to more than 9,000 extra tonnes. That claim is worth context: Wandsworth’s recycling rate remains at around 29%, below the London average of 33%, and the service collapsed in June 2024 before recovering over 18 months. Weekly food waste collections have been rolling out since June 2024 for houses with front gardens or driveways; the rollout to flats using communal bins is ongoing.
Putney.news has reported extensively on Wandsworth’s waste and recycling service since it ran into difficulties in 2024.
The full list of what Wandsworth accepts for recycling, including the four new items from 31 March, is at wandsworth.gov.uk/what-to-recycle.
