Pictured: Deputy Leader of Milton Keynes City Council, Cllr Lauren Townsend
For Recycle Week 2025 (22–28 September), Milton Keynes City Council is asking local people to make a special push to find things that are often overlooked for recycling, including the humble toilet roll tube.
Milton Keynes residents are already brilliant recyclers, with the city ranking 7th in England for recycling, having jumped an impressive 76 places since last year. That amazing rise follows the city council’s introduction of separate wheelie bins for paper recycling, and for glass, plastic and cans in 2023, making it far less likely that paper and card gets wet or covered in food, and can’t be recycled.
The city council is asking residents to help MK get to number one next year, and one of the simplest ways to help is to think about commonly overlooked recyclables. “Rescue Me! Recycle Me!” is the theme of this year’s national Recycle Week campaign, giving commonly binned items a second chance by recycling them properly. Nationally, 57% of households miss recyclable items.
Milton Keynes’ most commonly overlooked recyclables are:
- Cardboard toilet roll tubes, too often put in the bathroom bin.
- Deodorant cans
- Yoghurt pots
- Old electronics, including cables and cords. These should be taken to one of MK’s household waste recycling centres, where it’s quick and easy to book a space.
“Recycling is good for the city and obviously for the environment. We’re so pleased local people have helped MK get into the top ten for recycling and we really think we can reach first place next year. Recycle Week is a good opportunity to remind yourself to recycle more, and especially to think about these simple overlooked items. If you need a refresher on what goes in which bin, there’s lots of advice on our website.”