Recycle Now is encouraging people to salvage more commonly binned items during a focus period for the activity.
The consumer-facing arm of the Waste and Resources Action Programme l(WRAP) launched a campaign to coincide with Recycle Week 2025.
Running to Sunday 28 September, this period is marked by a number of organisations around the UK.
Recycle Now has created posters and videos calling for people to recycle items such as deodorant cans, shampoo bottles and toilet-roll tubes.
A YouTube clip features a used toothpaste tube describing being thrown in a general waste bin as an “absolute violation” as he is a “VIP recyclable, bruv”.
Recycle Now says four in five households miss items out of their recycling and more than 2 billion things that could have been reprocessed end up in general rubbish.
Meanwhile WRAP said 61 councils now collected toothpaste tubes from the kerbside. The charity has called for dentists to talk to the public about waste management when they are in the chair.
WRAP chief executive Catherine David said: “By informing patients that toothpaste tubes now belong in recycling, you’re not only supporting oral health but contributing to the health of the planet.”
