It’s worth discovering your nearest TerraCycle recycling points, too. TerraCycle works with brands to offer drop-off locations for hard-to-recycle waste streams, including contact lenses, toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes, and these are often near to local authority bins.

Shopping for beauty products in a sustainable way isn’t an easy task. But planet-conscious consumption needn’t be this headache-inducing. Sarah Jossel is here with her best eco-beauty picks.

A North Somerset School has pledged to accept hard-to-recycle plastics from residents to prevent them from going to landfill sites. Shipham First School has signed up to a project managed by recycling company, TerraCycle which will award points to be later converted into money for the school.

Of course, there are still some items which end up in your regular bin – and therefore in landfill. But thanks to TerraCycle, which partners with individual collectors and companies to collect and recycle almost any sort of waste, and other schemes, it is getting easier to give old items a new lease of life and take your recycling to the next level. Here are seven ideas for starters.

Brits alone create almost half a tonne of rubbish each year – but there are easy ways to join the stars and save our planet Lots of plastics are labelled as “not yet recyclable”. Truth is, most things can be recycled, just not in your local council pick-up. Soft plastic such as grocery bags, bread bags and crisp packets can be dropped off at larger Tesco stores, while Boots are encouraging people to bring in their beauty and dental products for recycling. Check out TerraCycle, a scheme set up to recycle those “non-recyclables”, such as cheese packets, Pringles tubes and razors.

FOLLOWING in the footsteps of climate activist Greta Thunberg, Somerset school children are taking action on climate change. Collecting the community's "hard-to-recycle" waste, Shipham First School on the western edge of the Mendip Hills, is hoping to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill.

FOLLOWING in the footsteps of climate activist Greta Thunberg, Somerset school children are taking action on climate change. Collecting the community's "hard-to-recycle" waste, Shipham First School on the western edge of the Mendip Hills, is hoping to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill.

A new garden for young people with mental health problems has been made with the help of thousands of recycled crisp packets. The new Wooden Spoon Allotment on the Blakenhall Road Allotment Site in Goodwood, Leicester, includes a ping pong table, four planters, four seedling tables, a picnic table, two benches and four bird nesting boxes all made from recycled material from KP Snacks. The items were made by TerraCycle from recycling collected across the UK, including used packing for nuts, popcorn, crisps and pretzels from KP, which makes its snacks in Ashby.

A LOCAL authority is seeking to start recycling plastic film for the first time. Blackburn with Darwen Council is to launch a partnership later this year with US-based firm TerraCycle, which has a local depot, to ensure that the common packaging can be disposed of in an environmentally-friendly way. The new 'green' initiative was announced to last week's full Council Forum by borough environment boss Cllr Jim Smith.

Looking to boost your green credentials? Then welcome to Plastic Free July, a global movement that helps millions of people to be part of the solution to plastic pollution on our streets, in our oceans and our communities. Fortunately, big brands are making it easier for us to do our bit. First up is cosmetics giant L’Oréal, which will take back and recycle its empty packaging — its Maybelline brand and recycling company TerraCycle have installed recycling points in branches of Tesco, Boots, Sainsbury’s and Superdrug. Meanwhile, Aveda, The Body Shop and Faith In Nature all offer refills of your existing bottles.