Plastic recycling near me: who takes business plastic, and what it pays
Where plastic goes depends on what it is. Clean, sorted plastic such as baled stretch film, HDPE and PET has buyers who will often collect it free or pay for it. Mixed or dirty plastic costs money to take away. The postcode search below opens the recyclers and collectors in your area, and the rest of this guide tells you which pile your plastic belongs in.
Plastic recycling near you: key facts
| Plastics with buyers | Clean LDPE stretch and shrink film, HDPE crates, bottles and pipe, PET bottles and trays, PP crates and pots, ABS and polycarbonate from manufacturing |
|---|---|
| Plastics that cost money | Mixed plastics, contaminated or food soiled plastic, PVC, polystyrene in small amounts, and composite packaging |
| What buyers want | One polymer at a time, clean, dry, baled or stacked, in regular quantities |
| Who may collect it | A registered waste carrier, taking it to a permitted or exempt site |
| The paperwork | A waste transfer note for every load, kept for two years |
| Small amounts | Go in your commercial recycling bin or to a household recycling centre if the council accepts trade waste |
Which plastic do you have?
Most plastic packaging carries a resin code, the number inside a triangle, and our guide to the seven types of plastic explains them. For a business the question is simpler: is it one polymer, is it clean, and is there enough of it? Stretch wrap and pallet film from a warehouse is LDPE and one of the most sought after grades in the country, because it recycles back into film. Crates, drums, bottles and pipe are mostly HDPE. Clear drinks bottles and food trays are PET. Pots, tubs and some crates are PP. Offcuts, rejects and purgings from manufacturing are often a single engineering polymer and are bought by the tonne. All of these have buyers.
What does not sell is the mixture. A skip of assorted plastic with labels, food residue, metal fixings and three polymers in it has to be sorted by hand or machine before anyone can use it, and the sorting costs more than the material is worth. That is why a collector will pay for a bale of clean film and charge for a bin of mixed plastic from the same building. Polystyrene packaging is a case of its own, covered in can you recycle polystyrene.
Finding plastic recycling near you
The directory lists the waste and recycling companies in each UK postcode area, grouped by what they do, and shows which materials each one has told us it handles. For plastic, look first at the recycling and recovery companies and the scrap and waste dealers, then at the general collectors, who will take plastic in a mixed recycling bin but rarely pay for it. Before you book anyone, check three things: that the company is on the public register of waste carriers (or the Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish equivalent), that the site it takes the plastic to holds a permit or exemption, and that you get a waste transfer note for every load. Our guide to recycling companies near you walks through those checks.
The other way round is to let the buyers come to you. Post a free listing describing the plastic, the quantity and how often it comes, with a photo, and the recyclers and collectors registered on this site can ask for your details and quote. For a regular stream it is the quickest way to find out what the market will actually pay.
What plastic is worth
Prices move with the oil price, the demand for recycled content and the quality of the bale, and they vary between polymers far more than metal prices vary between grades. Our plastic recycling prices page tracks the UK export average each month as a benchmark. As a rule, clean baled film and clean HDPE regrind sit at the top, mixed rigid plastics near zero, and contaminated material below zero, meaning you pay. A baler changes the arithmetic for anyone producing more than a few hundred kilograms a month, because a bale is what buyers want and a loose bin is what collectors charge for; our guide to balers covers when one pays for itself.
Small amounts and households
A few bags a week belong in a commercial dry mixed recycling bin, where plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays are accepted by most collectors, as explained in dry mixed recycling. Households use the kerbside collection and, for film and bags, the collection points at larger supermarkets. Some council recycling centres accept small amounts of trade waste for a charge; check before you drive there, because many do not.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I recycle plastic near me as a business?
Use the postcode search on this page to find the recyclers and collectors in your area, then check the company is a registered waste carrier and takes the plastic to a permitted site. Clean, sorted plastic such as film and HDPE often has a buyer; mixed plastic goes to a collector for a charge.
Which plastics are worth money?
Clean, single polymer plastic in quantity: baled LDPE stretch film, HDPE crates, drums and pipe, PET bottles and trays, PP crates and pots, and offcuts of engineering plastics from manufacturing. Mixed or dirty plastic is worth nothing or less than nothing.
Will a recycler collect plastic for free?
Often, for clean baled film or a tonne or more of a single polymer, because the material pays for the collection. For mixed plastic or small loose quantities you should expect to pay.
Do I need a waste transfer note for plastic?
Yes, for every load that leaves a business, and you keep it for two years. The collector must also be a registered waste carrier. These are duty of care requirements and apply to plastic the same as to any other waste.
Can I take business plastic to the council recycling centre?
Some centres accept small amounts of trade waste for a fee and many do not, so check with the council first. For regular quantities a commercial collection or a buyer is the right route.