The reason you should scrunch your aluminium recycling

Article date: 7 September 2026

Aluminium is an endlessly recyclable material that's common in every household, but it comes in many forms so it can be tricky to remember what can be recycled in St Helens Borough's kerbside sorted collections.

A handy tip is to scrunch it! Scrunching is the best way to tell if something is made from aluminium or not. Crush the item in the palm of your hand and then open your hand.

If it stays scrunched, it's aluminium.

A wide range of aluminium items can be collected in your white recycling bag, reasonably clean and free from food.

And scrunching several smaller items together into a tennis ball-sized ball ensures that your aluminium is large enough to be recycled reliably.

• Kitchen foil for cooking and wrapping sandwiches
• Foil yoghurt tops, e.g. Actimel and Greek yoghurt
• Takeaway trays
• Roasting trays for chicken and meat 
• Foil from bottle tops, e.g. Prosecco
• Foil from chocolate wrappers, e.g. Tunnocks Wafer, Quality Streets

Other common aluminium items also recycled in your white bag include:

• Drink cans - empty and rinsed
• Aerosols - fully emptied, but don't pierce or squash
• Bottle tops, e.g. wine or olive oil

Councillor Michael Gibson, Cabinet Member for Environment and Waste, said:

"Residents are doing a fantastic job with their recycling and supporting our kerbside sorted collections, which truly make a difference in both the quantity and quality of materials that can go on to be reused. This campaign highlights a few handy tips that are easy to remember and can help us to reduce our waste even further."

Don't be foiled!

Many cheeky products, jealous of aluminium's infinite recyclability, disguise themselves as aluminium... but don't be foiled! Some of these products do contain foil but it's bonded to other materials such as paper or plastic which means that it can't be easily recycled in the UK currently. Please don't recycle these products with your other foil packaging! They include things like:

• Medicine blister packs
•  Crisp packets
• Baby and pet food pouches
• Drinks pouches
• Butter wraps
• Some chocolate wrappers

For more information about aluminium recycling, visit www.sthelens.gov.uk/Aluminium