New recycling rules for England: The everyday items tripping households up

As the changes roll out, waste experts warn that a handful of everyday items are still routinely ending up in the wrong bin — creating confusion, contamination and extra work for collection services.

The overhaul is designed to create a more consistent recycling scheme across England, where households have historically faced different rules depending on where they live.

The government's stated aim is to make recycling simpler, improve the quality of the materials collected and ensure more waste is reused rather than sent for disposal. In practice, though, some items that look recyclable are anything but.

Receipts are one of the most common culprits. Because most till receipts are printed on thermal paper, they cannot go in with normal paper recycling.

Pringles tubes are another: despite appearing to be simple cardboard, they are made from several bonded layers of different materials that many councils cannot process. A quick check before binning can make the difference.

“Many people assume receipts can be recycled with other paper, but most till receipts are printed on thermal paper, which contains chemicals that make them unsuitable for standard paper recycling,” said Graham Flynn, waste management expert and managing director of Anenta. If a receipt has a shiny coating, he advises, it is likely thermal and should go in general waste.

With Pringles tubes, the advice is to check locally, as some authorities do accept them. As the new rules bed in, experts say the simplest safeguard is to confirm what your own council collects before putting anything questionable in the recycling bin.