Rugby households encouraged to “rescue their recyclables” this Recycle Week

This year’s national Recycle Week campaign, led by Recycle Now, asks people to “Rescue your Recyclables” and focuses on a simple question: does your recycling make a difference?

In Rugby, the answer is clear. Over a 12-month period, residents recycled more than 10,000 tonnes of household waste, including around 30 million plastic bottles, 16 million aluminium cans, and 250 tonnes of plastic film and wrapping.

Recycle Week 2026 will focus on materials which can sometimes be overlooked around the home, including shampoo and cleaning bottles, aerosols, foil, cardboard tubes, perfume bottles and yoghurt pots.

Recycling from Rugby’s blue-lid bins is taken to Sherbourne Recycling in Coventry, a state-of-the-art sorting facility jointly owned by eight West Midlands councils, including Rugby Borough Council. At Sherbourne, mixed recycling is separated into different materials using a combination of screening equipment, magnets, AI-assisted technology and quality checks. The separated materials can then be sent on for recycling into new products.

Cllr Sam Edwards, Portfolio Holder for Operations and Traded Services at Rugby Borough Council, said: “Residents should be able to trust that when they put the right things in the right bin, those materials are being properly sorted and given the best possible chance of being recycled.

“Our job as a council is to make that process as clear and easy as possible — by giving people simple information, showing what happens after collection, and being open about where materials go and what they can become."

Cllr Richard Harrington added: “Recycling only works if people feel that the effort they make at home is worthwhile.

“Recycle Week is a chance to celebrate the part residents already play, answer some of the questions people still have, and show that small actions really do add up when a whole borough takes part.”

The council is also improving its online recycling information so residents can more easily check what belongs in each bin and understand what happens to their waste after collection.

Residents who are unsure about an item can use Rugby Borough Council’s What Goes in Which Bin? directory at www.rugby.gov.uk/whichbin to find the correct disposal route.

Recycle Week runs from 14 to 20 September 2026, with Rugby’s campaign continuing with further recycling information and local stories over the following weeks.