The Confectionery Recycling Programme - FAQ

Anyone based in mainland UK or the Isle of Wight can participate in our recycling programmes. Unfortunately people based in the following locations cannot participate at this time: the Hebrides, Isle of Mann, Shetland Islands, Orkney Islands, Isles of Scilly, Jersey or Guernsey. This is due to logistical reasons but please be assured the TerraCycle® Operations Team are looking into solutions for us to provide free recycling programmes in these locations in the future. We apologise for any inconvenience.

Drop off your plastic confectionery packaging at your nearest public drop-off location

Find your nearest public drop-off location on the interactive map and drop off your plastic confectionery packaging.
To learn more about public drop-off locations, please click here.

Accepted Waste:

All brands of plastic confectionery packaging are accepted in the programme such as:

• Plastic chocolate and sweets pouches and bags
• Chocolate and sweets multipack outer plastic packaging 
• Individual chocolate bar wrappers
• Plastic chocolate block wrappers

Waste that is NOT Accepted:

• Breakfast, granola and energy bar wrappers
• Aluminium foil, cardboard and paper wrappers. For example: individual foil and paper packets (like ROWNTREE’S® Fruit Pastilles or KITKAT® Biscuits) and cardboard tubes and boxes (like SMARTIES® or AFTER EIGHT®) are not accepted in this programme. These can be recycled via local council facilities.
• Metal tins and rigid plastic trays or tubs. For example: QUALITY STREET® plastic tubs or DAIRY BOX® chocolate box packaging are not accepted in this programme. These can be recycled via local council facilities.
• QUALITY STREET® wrappers as these are biodegradable via home composting.

You can download the Accepted Waste Poster here.

Once you have joined The Confectionery Recycling Programme (by setting up a public drop-off location) and when you are ready to send a shipment, please follow these steps:

1. Download a free UPS label from your account (Go to "my account", click on the "send us your waste" button and then click on "create free postage label". You will receive your label via email.)
2. Print out your label
3. Attach your label to your parcel
4. Simply book a free pick-up via UPS by calling 03457 877 877 or book online via this link. Alternativley, you can also drop off your parcel at your closest UPS drop-off point, which you can find here. 

You can download as many labels as you have parcels to send.

You can use any cardboard box to send your waste, however the box must be clean and sturdy. Once you have your box, put your waste directly in it, close it well and stick the prepaid shipping label on the box (the shipment is of course completely free).

If you have not received your points within two months after your shipment was sent, please contact us so that we can investigate it for you.

No - we do not provide any collection boxes for this programme.

Once collected, the plastic confectionery packaging is shredded, washed and then pelletized. These pellets can be used for a number of moulded rigid plastic products like benches, or used as film for products such as rubbish bags. Click here to learn more about the recycling process.

You must send at least one shipment every 6 months. If you do not send a shipment within 6 months, you might be removed from the programme to allow other people to participate. If you are removed from the programme, you will receive an email notifying you about this.

TerraCycle® points are credited to the account of the public drop-off location administrators as a reward for their collection efforts. The number of points given is determined by the total weight of the shipment. 1 TerraCycle® point is worth 1 penny.

Once credited, the points can be redeemed into financial donations to the charity or school chosen by the owner of the points. The points must be redeemed on the TerraCycle® website.

100 TerraCycle® points will be awarded for each kilogram sent. Be careful, the points will only be awarded if the shipment weighs more than 4 kilograms.

To redeem your points as financial donations, a minimum of 1,000 points or £10 is required.

All points redeemed between the 1st of May and the 31st of October will be donated in December. Points redeemed between the 1st of November and the 30th of April will be donated in June.

To redeem your points for the charity or school of your choice, simply log in to your TerraCycle® account and go to the "my charities" tab. Once on this page, TerraCycle® offers 3 ways to choose a charity:

1. Redeem your points to a TerraCycle® partner charity by clicking on "redeem" and by choosing one of the charities from the drop-down menu.
2. Add the charity or school of your choice by clicking on "add charity". Please check if this charity is not already registered on our website first by looking for the charity in the search bar at the top of the page. If you cannot find it, please fill in the fields for creating a new charity. Once completed, validate the form and do not forget to send us the bank details through this form to [email protected].
3. Choose a charitable gift by clicking on "redeem". You will find the list of charitable gifts in the field of the environment, the fight against hunger, education, childhood or prematurity at the bottom of the page. Then simply select the gift and click on "redeem".

If you have chosen to donate to a charity (either by selecting an existing charity or by adding a new one), you must choose the number of points you wish to redeem (as a reminder, you must convert a minimum of 1,000 points).

Check the contents of your cart and click on "checkout" to close the transaction.

If you wish to stop collecting this waste, log in to your account, select the "my recycling programmes" tab and click on the small grey cross to the right of the name of The Confectionery Recycling Programme.
Please also send an email to [email protected] so we can remove your location from the public drop-off map.