What to do with kitchen roll and paper towels?
Cooking spills, messy dinners and kitchen clean-ups. Paper towels and kitchen roll have plenty of uses around our homes but what can you do with sheets once they have been used?
Household recycling collections
Kitchen roll and paper towels should be placed in your non-recycling bin. Used kitchen roll sheets are usually contaminated with foodstuffs, cleaning products or household messes so placing these along with clean paper and cardboard recycling can cause problems.
The inner cardboard tube is widely collected as part of household recycling collections.
Household waste recycling centre (HWRC)
Kitchen roll sheets are not accepted at household waste recycling centres unless they are part of non-recycling waste disposal.
The inner tube can be recycled alongside cardboard.
Other recycling collections
The plastic outer packaging of your kitchen roll can be recycled with carrier bags at larger supermarkets. Look out for collection points at your local store or ask a store colleague if they provide this service.
Are there alternatives to using kitchen roll?
Keep a basket of washable kitchen cloths on the counter for spills and splashes. These can be popped in the washing machine when you’re done and reused over and over again.
If you’re worried that your kitchen roll holder will be feeling left out then you can buy rolls of reusable kitchen towels.
Use fabric napkins for catching the crumbs and wiping sticky fingers at the dinner table.
Recycling is constantly evolving and changing so check back for updates or try our recycling locator to find out what you can recycle at home and where you can recycle or pass on unwanted items in your local area.