Recycling – Local and Further Afield

All of us want to do what we can for the environment and climate change. One of the simplest ways we can do this is to recycle as much as possible using the council kerbside collection and facilities, but there are a lot of other items that can be recycled – we’re just not sure about what and where we can recycle it.

From April 2026, there are changes to Waste & Recycling Services in the Westmorland & Furness area as follows:

Collections – The roll-out of an in-house waste and recycling collection service – meaning, in future, all collections will be delivered by council teams.
General Waste – Fortnightly residual (general) waste collections, using a 240-litre wheelie bin. Collections are alternate fortnight to recycling collections.
Recycling – Fortnightly recycling collection service using 2 x 180-litre wheeled bins. One wheelie bin will be for plastic, cans and glass and one will be for card and paper. Collections alternate fortnight to residual waste collections.
Bespoke service arrangements will be looked at for any residents/communities that cannot adopt wheelie bins.
Green Waste – Garden waste collection is now an ‘opt-in’ service in the area. Garden waste will be collected every two weeks between April and March with no collections in the non-growing seasons in December, January and February. The annual subscription is £60 per bin. If you want your garden waste bins emptied, you’ll need to subscribe. If you don’t, your garden waste will not be collected. Payment must be made in full on application, it can not be made by installments. You can subscribe online here, or by telephone on 0300 373 3300. Once paid, you’ll receive a sticker by post for each bin you’ve subscribed for. Stickers must be put on the rear of the bin, under the handle.

What You can Put in Your Blue Kerbside Recycling Bins:

One for paper and cardboard.

The other for:

Plastic bottles
Pots (but not flower pots)
Tubs and trays
Cans
Aluminium foil
Lids from bottles and jars
Cartons (often referred to as Tetra Pak) *New*

To report a missed bin collection, request a new bin or plastic recycling bag or find out more, click here or you can call 0300 373 3300 for information.

Some of the larger supermarkets also offer recycling facilities on their premises, general recycling in the car park and batteries, plastic packaging, wrapping and bags normally in-store.

A couple of useful links to find out where you can recycle various different items are:

Carnforth Waste & Recycling Centre – run by Lancashire County Council, the link gives a list of items that can be recycled or disposed off at the site.

Recycle Your Electricals – just put in your postcode, choose what you’re looking to recycle and it will give you options of where you can recycle it within your council area – in Arnside’s case, Westmorland and Furness Council. However, you could just type in ‘Carnforth’ to access options nearby.

Below is a list of recycling facilities here in the local area. If you know of any others, please get in touch at support@arnsidevillage.co.uk.

Aluminium Can Recycling there are a number of ‘bins’ around Arnside to put your aluminium cans in e.g. outside the W.I. & Village Hall, on the Prom, by the Children’s Playground etc. If you are holding an event, why not ask David at Arnside Chip Shop for a bin or two to collect the cans there. The money raised goes to the W.I. & Village Hall to help upgrade it for future viability and sustainability (see also Scrap Metal below).
Aluminium Foil Recycling for Guide Dogs for the Blind at Arnside Chip Shop. Please bring your washed aluminium (milk bottle tops, kitchen foil, fast food containers, drink cans, blister pack etc) and place in the ‘Guide Dogs’ green collection bin.
Medical Blister Packs – 9Arnside Pharmacy – no box, just hand over the counter. Certain larger branches of Boots will take 5 blister packs per week and will give 100 advantage points. (The Boots system seems to be 5 packs that you register via a photo, then, once they’re OK’d, you can drop them off and get your points. However, you can drop as many off as you want though if you don’t want points.) Superdrug stores that have a pharmacy in them also take them.
Cardboard & Paper Collection point in the layby just over the railway crossing on Black Dyke Road.
Clothes & Shoes Collection point (Salvation Army) in the layby just over the railway crossing on Black Dyke Road. Also a collection point in the Fire Station car park on Silverdale Road.
Electrical Appliances, Old Cables, Phone Chargers, Batteries, Light bulbs, etc Nearest to Arnside is Carnforth Recycling Centre but you can put your postcode into the Recycle Checker for more options.
Pet Food Pouches can be recycled at Pets At Home.
Plastic Packaging, Wrapping & Bags Morrisons and Asda in Kendal, Aldi and Tesco in Carnforth. (N.B. As far as we’re aware, Aldi is the only supermarket that guarantees soft plastics are recycled properly.)
Repair Cafe once a month, Sustainable Arnside hold a ‘Repair Cafe’ at the Arnside Educational Institute where Items can be looked at for advice and repair, including: textiles/clothing, electrical, mechanical and wooden items, PAT testing for small household electrical items, advice on problems with laptops, phones or tablet e.g. memory problems or running slowly. KingSharp also attend occasionally to sharpen blunt knives, tools etc. For dates and contact information, click here.
Scrap Metal David Miller (Chippy Dave from Arnside Chip Shop) will collect scrap metal items from properties in Arnside and nearby. From small items like old garden forks, spades etc to larger items such as washing machines, radiators, metal filing cabinets, old bikes, metal gates etc. As long as it fits in his trailer, he’s happy to take it off your hands. The items go to Morecambe Metals and the money raised goes towards the W.I. & Village Hall to create a more energy-efficient, sustainable space while also reducing operating costs and the environmental impact. For full details of the work required click here. David can be contacted at the Chip Shop, on Facebook or email support@arnsidevillage.co.uk and we’ll let him know.
Spectacles & Contact Lenses Boots and Specsavers in Kendal but potentially other opticians too. (Contact lenses in pots/containers please. Boots also take the blister packs that contact lenses come in.