My advice on toothpaste tubes was to take them to Boots as this was the only way they could be recycled.

Not any more! (November 2024!) WSCC has just announced that you can now put toothpaste tubes with the caps on into your kerbside recycling bin.

All we ask is for you to squeeze as much toothpaste out as possible, put the cap back on and pop it into your recycling bin. We accept you cannot get every last drop out. Think of it as we use it to clean the ‘teeth’ of all our recycling machinery!
If you are tempted to cut the tube open to get out the last drop, either cut off the bottom and put the small bit into your rubbish bin or cut down the length instead. Please do not cut in half as the halves will be too small for recycling.

We have modified our recycling plant so that we can accept them as part of your regular recycling routine.

Do not be surprised if other councils tell you they cannot be recycled at home. We can in West Sussex.

Hard toothpaste tubes with pumps on top should be placed in the general waste bin, as they are made from a different type of plastic and cannot currently be processed.

Relevant to all Mid Sussex

Recycling home page

‘Can the plastic tubes listed here be recycled in my blue top recycling bin? Toothpaste, tubes of shampoo, face wash, foot cream, etc.’
Edit: See Toothpaste Tubes for updated information.

Plastic tubes are fine, just being as empty as possible. Do NOT cut them in half to empty them (as this makes them smaller). Tubes like this can be recycled, just put the lid on. Anything plastic smaller than coffee jar lid, the optical readers cannot detect them, and so we cannot recycle them. So, any toothpaste tubes, cosmetic tubes, hand or foot creams etc. are OK to go into your blue top recycling bin. Empty as much as you can from the tube. Lid on. If too small, then dispose of them in kerbside rubbish bin.

However, all plastic tubes you list can be recycled at Boots stores. In Haywards Heath, for example, there is a green cardboard recycling bin on the right by the front door. You can also enrol into their recycling scheme and when you recycle five items you receive £5 onto your Boots Advantage card off your next spend over £10. Who doesn’t like a bargain? Here are details of the Boots Scheme www.bit.ly/3MOVmlW

It is not necessary to enrol to recycle at Boots, you can simply drop off your recycling when you are passing. They created the Recycle at Boots scheme so you can bring your empty beauty, health, wellness and dental products, from any brand, that can’t be recycled at home.

John Lewis also has a similar scheme. Take back empty beauty products to the store and if you’re a My John Lewis member, you’ll get £5 off when you spend £20 or more on beauty that day. Just bring in five or more clean, empty beauty product containers to any of our beauty counters.

They do not take glass containers or aerosols. What we have are alternative schemes that are being set up by industry to work with, and not in competition with, local councils. Boots or John Lewis do not want plastic bottles, tubs or trays for example. Hope you find this useful.

Toothpaste tubes

Recycling home page

Cosmetic tubes

Recycling home page