Where do Drinking glasses and wine glasses go?

Drinking glasses are made to be thin, clear and tough, which means additives that bottle glass does not have — and crystal contains lead or barium. They melt at a different rate from container cullet and behave as contamination in the batch, so glass banks exclude them along with Pyrex, mirrors and window glass. Whole glasses are worth donating: charity shops sell them readily. Broken ones get wrapped and taken to a household waste centre, or go in general waste where your council allows that.

How to prepare it

1. Donate whole glasses rather than disposing of them.
2. Wrap breakages thickly and label the parcel "broken glass".

What not to do

• Never put drinking glasses in the bottle bank; the composition is wrong for container cullet.

Kerbside collection rules genuinely vary by council and county, and local rules always win over general guidance. The reasoning above is what transfers — if your service differs, it will usually be for a reason described here.

Other things that go to household waste recycling centre

• Leftover wet paint Household waste centre or a community paint reuse scheme. Liquid paint is not accepted in any household bin.
• Car batteries (lead-acid) Garage, scrap yard or household waste centre. Lead-acid is the most successfully recycled consumer product there is.
• Used motor oil Household waste centre oil bank, or a garage that accepts it. One container of it contaminates an enormous volume of water.
• Small electricals (kettles, toasters, hair dryers) Electrical waste. Household waste centre, a shop take-back point, or a kerbside small-electricals sack if your council runs one.
• Pyrex and heat-resistant glassware Never the glass bin. Ovenware is formulated not to melt like bottle glass, and one fragment can ruin a whole batch.
• Televisions and monitors WEEE recycling. Old CRT sets contain several kilograms of leaded glass.
• CFL energy-saving bulbs Household waste centre or a shop take-back point. They contain mercury and must not be binned.
• LED bulbs Small electricals recycling. No mercury, but they are electronics, not glass.
• Smoke alarms Household waste centre or manufacturer return. Ionisation alarms contain a tiny sealed radioactive source.
• Crockery, mugs and ceramics Not glass and not recyclable at the kerb. Donate what is whole; broken pieces go to the household waste centre or general waste.
• Fluorescent tubes Household waste centre, intact. Mercury inside, and a tube that breaks in transit is a spill.
• Camping gas canisters and butane cartridges Household waste centre, as gas cylinders — not the metal skip and never a bin, whether or not they feel empty.
• Fire extinguishers Household waste centre or a fire equipment company. It is pressurised until a professional has discharged it.
• Mirrors Household waste centre. The reflective backing means it is not recyclable glass.