A to Z of reusing, recycling and waste disposal

Consider donating unwanted magazines and comics to your friends and relatives, colleagues or your local doctors surgery. You may even find that some comics have resale value. They can be recycled in your green recycling bin or at your nearest bring site or recycling centre. They will be made into new paper products.

Try to avoid using peat based compost as rare peat bog ecosystems are destroyed to make it. Instead why don't you make your own compost from fruit and vegetable peelings, grass cuttings, garden prunings and more. We are unable to take compostable bags in brown bins because under testing we found they do not fully decompose in garden waste within 12 weeks. These bags can be home composted or should be put in your black household waste bin. You can find out more information about how to make your own compost and the compost bins we offer on the composting page.

Contact, a Leeds community interest company, are always looking for donations of unwanted computer equipment. They refurbish them for use by other not-for-profit and community organisations or recycle the materials. Their telephone number is 0113 242 4421. Computers from your home can also be taken to your nearest recycling centre. Please put them in the electronic equipment skip. Materials such as plastics and metals are recycled into new products.

Please remember that used cooking oil can be recycled and made into biodiesel. Please do not pour it down the drain. To recycle your cooking oil please take to your nearest recycling centre and put it in the used cooking oil container. It will be used to create bio-diesel or as a fuel in an energy from waste facility.

You can take broken crockery to your local recycling centre where you should put it in the rubble and inerts skip. It will be used for road building or surface cover on a landfill site. Restrictions apply for disposing of some types of rubbish at our household recycling sites including ceramics. To find out more please see our guide to DIY waste disposal.

If your unwanted table is good enough to be used by others, donate it to a local re-use organisation. You can also take it to the Revive Leeds re-use shop at the Kirkstall or Seacroft recycling centre. Alternatively, put your furniture in the reuse container at your nearest recycling site. If your table is not good enough to re-use, please take it to your nearest recycling site. Wooden, MDF and chipboard tables can be recycled in the timber skip. Other furniture should be put in the non-recyclable waste skip. If you are unable to take your table to your local recycling centre, you can book a bulky collection online.

You can recycle your unwanted telephone directories by putting them in your green recycling bin.

If you have a flat screen or portable television that is in good working order, you can donate it to a local reuse organisation. You can also take it to the Revive Leeds re-use shop at the Kirkstall or Seacroft recycling centre. If you are replacing a broken TV, the retailer supplying your new appliance should offer you a take back service. Alternatively, you can recycle your TV by taking it to your nearest recycling centre, where you can put it in the TV container.

Please see Cartons.

Please donate re-useable textile items such as clothing, bedding, curtains and towels to your local charity shop. If items are ripped or torn and not good enough to be used by someone else, they can still be recycled by taking them to your nearest bring site with a textile bank or recycling centre. These are reused and sold in charity shops or shredded and reprocessed into industrial strength blankets for protecting equipment during transport.

If you have any surplus tiles, these can be broken up and used in garden projects. You can dispose of tiles* by taking them to your nearest recycling centre and putting them in the Bricks and Rubble container. These will be used for cover and to create roads on landfill sites. *Restrictions apply for disposing of some types of rubbish at our household recycling centres including tiles. To find out more please see our guide to DIY waste disposal.

Try to re-use surplus timber wherever possible. Please remember that offcuts of clean timber can be used in wood burning stoves. You can take untreated and treated timber to your nearest recycling centre and put it in the timber container. Low grade wood is shredded and composted. Higher grade wood is sorted and processed for chipboard manufacture.

If your toaster still works, please donate it to a charity shop or your local reuse organisation. You can recycle your toaster by taking it to your nearest WEEE bank (see W for a list of WEEE banks) or to your nearest recycling centre, where you can put it in the small waste electrical container. The metal and plastic will be recycled into new products. If you are replacing a broken appliance, the retailer supplying your new toaster should offer you a take back service.

Please see Inkjet Cartridges

If your electrical tools are in good working order, you can donate them to a local reuse organisation. You can also take them to the Revive Leeds re-use shop at the Kirkstall or Seacroft recycling centres, or put them in the reuse container at your nearest recycling centre. If you are replacing a broken electrical tool, the retailer supplying your new equipment should offer you a take back service. Alternatively, you can recycle your radio by taking it to your nearest bring site with a WEEE bank (see W for a list of sites) or to your nearest recycling centre, where you can put it in the small electrical waste container.