The Pet Food Recycling Programme - FAQ
Recycle all pet food plastic pouches and flexible plastic bags
Anyone based in mainland UK or the Isle of Wight can participate by dropping off their waste in this recycling programme. Unfortunately Cats Protection centres and charity shops 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 waste at your nearest public drop-off location
Find your nearest public drop-off location on the interactive map on this page and drop off your pet food plastic pouches and flexible plastic bags during the opening hours.
To learn more about public drop-off locations, please click here.
The following types of plastic pet food packaging are accepted in the programme:
- All wet pet food pouches
- All pet treat flexible plastic packaging and pouches
- All dry pet food flexible plastic packaging
Please note that the following types of plastic pet food packaging are not accepted in the programme:
- Cans
- Cardboard packaging
- Paper packaging
- Hard plastic packaging
- Plastic bottles
Most of the items listed above can be recycled by most of the household recycling
collections.
When you drop off your waste at a public drop-off location, any points earned from the waste are credited to the account of the public drop-off location administrators.
Once collected, the aggregated plastic pet food packaging are sorted, shredded and washed. Food residue is composted. The material is then and densified into hard-granulated plastic granules. The granules are then extruded so they can be incorporated into the production of different plastic products such as fence posts and benches.
Click here to learn more about the recycling process.
This programme is sponsored by Mars Petcare® and Purina PetCare®. Click on the brands to learn more about it.