Many of the items used in your home on a daily basis that end up in your bin each week can be recycled. The benefits of recycling include a cleaner environment, the safe disposal of hazardous materials, greater awareness of excess packaging and a more careful approach to the way in which you use and re-use materials.

Over 5 million tonnes of household and commercial waste is disposed of by local authorities and private contractors in Ireland each year. One of the costs of disposing of this waste is the creation of landfill sites where domestic and commercial waste is buried and can take many years to degrade. Recycling your domestic waste reduces the volume of waste going to landfill sites. In addition, recycling and composting your domestic waste also has the knock-on effect of helping you to cut your weekly domestic waste collection charges.

To help facilitate the recycling of products and goods, many items carry international recycling symbols that will help you identify how the product can be reused and how it should be disposed of safely. See 'Recycling symbols' under 'Rules' below for more information. There are a range of recycling services and facilities in your area that recycle domestic waste. (Many of the services outlined below are free of charge to the public).

Bring centres cater for almost all types of recycling. Whether it's:

- Glass recycling
- Paper recycling
- Plastic recycling
- Cardboard recycling
- Textile recycling
- Food & drink can recycling

Bring centres are unstaffed collection points and are commmon in most areas. You will find a range of banks where you can deposit glass, plastics and cans. Some bring centres also have banks for paper and engine oil. Lists of bring centres in your area and what can be recycled there are available from your local authority.

Civic amenity centres are similar to bring centres, but can accept a larger variety of items. They are usually staffed, so there will be someone there to give you advice or information. These sites cater for all types of recycling including:

- Glass recycling
- Paper recycling
- Plastic recycling
- Cardboard recycling
- Textile recycling
- Food & drink can recycling

These centres essentially collect everything from paper, cardboard, plastic and glass bottles, drinks cans and food tins, textiles and footwear, electrical equipment, fluorescent tubes, waste oil, to DIY waste and construction and demolition waste. Some centres also collect green waste like Christmas trees and grass clippings. Check with your local authority to see if there is a centre near you.

Composting is the breakdown of organic material such as kitchen or garden waste by organisms that feed on the waste and convert it into an earth-like mass. The compost can then be used as a soil conditioner. Most garden waste, such as grass cuttings, hedge clippings, weeds, old plants and garden cuttings, vegetable wastes and fallen leaves can be composted. Kitchen waste like fruit and vegetable remains, tea bags and coffee grounds, flowers, crushed eggshells, newspaper and light cardboard can also be composted. Most local authorities provide home composters at subsidised rates for people interested in composting their household waste. Organic materials can also be brought to civic amenity centres to be composted.

Rules Items that can be recycled

• Glass bottles and jars (some bring centres recycle plate glass or windows)
• Paper (newspapers, magazines, telephone books, office paper, junk mail, comics and light cardboard)
• Paper; laminated or waxed papers (for example, paper cups) and beverage cartons (for example, Tetrapak, milk or orange juice cartons).
• Aluminium cans (soft drink and beer cans, foil)
• Plastic (drinks bottles, detergent bottles, carrier bags, clingfilm, bubblewrap, yogurt and butter cartons)
• Food tins (fruit, vegetables, pet food)
• Plastic bottle tops, metal and aluminium lids
• Batteries (lead acid, nickel cadmium, nickel metal hydride, lithium/lithium ion and all household primary, powerpack and mobile phone batteries)
• Green waste (see items that can be composted)
• Textiles (clean clothes, bed linen, towels, coats and jackets)
• Waste tyres
• Waste oil (mineral and vegetable oils)
• Cars
• White goods (washing machines, cookers, dryers, dishwashers, fridges)
• Other household electrical appliances (kettles, toasters, computers)
• Wood (without nails)

• Teabags
• Coffee grounds
• Egg cartons
• Grass cuttings
• Hedge clippings
• Weeds
• Old plants and garden cuttings
• Vegetable wastes
• Fallen leaves
• Fruit and vegetable remains
• Crushed egg shells
• Newspapers
• Light cardboard

• Crystal glass, Pyrex, television tubes, opal glass, (that is, alcohol bottles where a large amount of foil is glued to the bottle) and car windscreens
• Porcelain, pottery, stones and ceramic tiles
• Lead foil (occurs on certain brandy bottles)
• Carpets and rugs, cushions or mattresses