New Year Reset? How to Make Recycling at Home Your New Year's Resolution

Did you know that around 40% of all UK household waste is recycled?

As a country, we’re pretty clued up on how to get rid of our rubbish responsibly and live sustainably. But, there’s always room to do a little more!

So, if you’ve been waiting to get on top of your recycling habits, now’s the time.

The New Year brings with it the ideal opportunity to put some eco-friendly resolutions in place while helping you organise your home, and we’ve got plenty of tips to inspire your recycling reset. New Year, less waste - let’s dive in!

Know What You Can Recycle

A large proportion of UK households still don’t recycle as much as they could, but by improving your recycling efforts, it can make a big impact on helping the environment as it prevents items from going to landfill and can even create a more peaceful and stress-free living space for your family.

This New Year, make an effort to learn what you can and can’t recycle. Every council has different rules, so it’s smart to check in your local area. There are lots of different materials that people frequently don’t know can be recycled, including:

• Tin foil
• Plastic bags
• Aerosols
• Crisp packets
• Electrical items

Getting to know the different symbols makes organising your rubbish from your recyclables a lot easier. Take some time to learn them this January and set yourself up for a greener year.

To help the rest of the family remember which item goes where, why not print out a handy list of recyclables to place near your bins?

Organise Your Recycling

Getting organised makes everything easier, and recycling is no exception.

By setting up a recycling system in your home, you’ll be able to easily put your recycling in the right place and get rid of it efficiently.

If you haven’t already, make sure you have separate boxes to keep your recycling away from your bin.

Our 4 Pack 2.2L Storage Boxes are ideal, allowing you to separate your recycling into groups. You might use two boxes for roadside recycling, one for recycling at larger supermarkets, and another for a local recycling scheme or donations.

Label these clearly so that the whole family knows what waste goes where.

Don’t Forget to Donate

Prioritising the zero waste ethos in your home is about more than kerbside recycling. Keeping items in the system is just as important as it extends their lifespan, reducing what ends up in the landfill from your home. That’s where donating comes in.

This New Year’s, why not have a clear out of your home and donate any old toys that are simply collecting dust. Get the kids involved in the process and make a game out of it - explaining the joy of giving unused toys to other children in need.

This will help encourage your kids to become decision-makers, allowing them to choose which toys to keep, donate, or pass along.

Our 2.5L waffle clip boxes are a great way for your kids to collect any unused toys in one place, so you can easily take them to the charity shop.

It’s a great way to get into a less wasteful mindset, take a look at what you already have around your home, and declutter - all at once!

Begin the Deep Cleaning

A New Year's reset is the perfect opportunity to not only breathe new life into your living space but also make a positive impact on the environment, helping your family enter the new year free from clutter and organised for the year ahead.

As you systematically tackle each room of your home, our multipurpose cleaning caddy helps to ensure all of your cleaning essentials are within reach at all times.

The tall sides prevent your cleaning products from toppling over and the lightweight design and handle means that you can carry it from room to room. It also helps avoid any wasted time trying to figure out where you left your polish.

Go Room by Room

Begin in one room, we would recommend the one that requires the most work. Tackling the biggest job head-on will ensure the rest won’t feel so overwhelming and it’ll keep the motivation to finish the job and get the whole house in order for the New Year.

Bedrooms

Bedrooms will benefit from a ruthless wardrobe purge. Add storage solutions in bedrooms such as our Cream 24 Compartment Smalls Drawer Organiser to improve the efficiency of your family’s morning routine when picking out an outfit for the day.

Remember to keep a extra strong black bin bag to hand so you can collect any clothes that haven’t been worn in the last year, and donate these to a local charity.

Kitchen

In the kitchen, dig deep into the backs of your cupboards, check for expiration dates and recycle packaging responsibly.

Create designated spaces for utensils, pots, and pantry essentials. It’s worth considering the accessibility of your cupboards, making daily use items like pots and pans easier to grab.

Keep countertops free from clutter as much as possible. See our range of kitchen storage solutions from cereal storage containers, fridge storage trays to tiered expandable cupboard organisers and more.

Bathroom

Transform your bathroom into a serene retreat by properly disposing of empty toiletry containers and collecting all of your towels and toiletries into our handy stackable baskets with wheels for easy access in the new year.

Add Recycling Organisation to Different Rooms

If you often find yourself throwing small, recyclable items away because it’s easier than going to your main recycling bins, it’s time to invest in recycling organisations in different rooms.

In a home office, for example, our 20L Stackable Storage Baskets are a smart solution for keeping your recyclable paper files separate from non-recyclable items. Neat, stylish, and in neutral shades, they blend into the room while ensuring recycling is as easy as possible.

Make it a weekly task (or more frequently if needed) to go around your separate recycling storage and add the waste to your main bins.

Start Your New Year on the Right Foot

Hopefully this guide has given you the inspiration and some useful tips to cleanse your home and improve recycling for 2024.

Have you got any recycling and organisation tips for the B&M community? We’d love to hear them!

Share your home organisational tips on our Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), or Instagram and let’s all make this New Year the one where we get recycling right.