... if there are any issues recycling old chain?

[AndyK]

U.K. address https://it-recycle.uk/can-you-put-metal ... key-facts/

Unfortunately anyone anywhere can buy a .uk domain name. That looks like a junk site, probably written by a generative AI and skimming info from multiple sources including at least some US ones. Note the lack of any real contact details and the empty privacy policy and cookie policy pages.*

A better place to start would be https://www.recyclenow.com/recycling-locator (a well-established site run by a UK charity.) Type scrap metal into the "Enter an item" box, then your postcode, and you'll get a list of nearby recycling centres that accept metal for recycling. (bikes is another option for the search, but not chains specifically.)

Obviously that won't help if you want to cycle there and your local council doesn't allow cycle access to their HWRCs, but there's already a thread for that.



*(Why would anyone bother to do that? Dunno, but my best guess it's been set up to build a good ranking in Google searches as a site that seems superficially to have useful content and a lack of junk links. Then at some future point the site owners will exploit that ranking by slipping paid-for links into the content.)

[VinceLedge]

I have a container for any small bits of metal and take it to the tip and empty into the metal recycling when I go there, chains go in that.

Are you allowed to cycle or walk to a waste/recycling facility

Had the formal Director / Councillor level response in writing, within the past two weeks, from my county council. It's not only considered too unsafe for anyone to walk or cycle within the counties "tips". Think the last response, was 2-3 yr's back.

It's also considered too unsafe to encourage anyone to walk or cycle, carrying something such as a tin can, in a pannier the 300 metres to my local tip, or the 20' to the tip I pass 3-4 times a week, both on a dual use, purpose built path, for the bulk of the distance. It is a bizarre , nonsensical rationale. I can use the same bits of dual use path, to buy a tin can at Sainsburys or M & S, 300 metres away, or use the same 300 metre dual use path to commence the ride to the railway station, but it is stated in writing, that it is too dangerous to encourage the carrying of something like a tin can, along such a path, by a pedestrian or a cyclist

I put 6 months of fruit juice containers into the bin adjacent to the tip entrance last week, prior to my 47 mile round ride to the gym. Have a double bed, metal bed frame to dispose of, but that will need cut into smaller pieces, to fit into the street bin

Don't know for certain as I only go when I have a carload. I haven't seen anything saying no bikes or pedestrians at them . We are rural so the guys at them are pretty chilled and help you unload etc.

[Nearholmer]

From that, I'd say a chain was closest to a tool, so on the No list.

Whereas, your neighbour might conclude that it’s closest to a ball-and-socket chain from an old roller-blind, so very definitely “domestic metal”, and on the Yes list.

Unless the council lists several zillion metal products, there’ll always be room for interpretation!

[PH]

Unless the council lists several zillion metal products, there’ll always be room for interpretation!

If in doubt, leave it out.

[Paulatic]

*(Why would anyone bother to do that? Dunno, but my best guess it's been set up to build a good ranking in Google searches as a site that seems superficially to have useful content and a lack of junk links. Then at some future point the site owners will exploit that ranking by slipping paid-for links into the content.)

Blimey they must be in for the long haul as they’ve had it, at the least, nearly 5 years.
Can be contacted at
IT Recycle LtD
91 Easter Rd Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Give them a ring and ask them why they bother. 0131 656 9572

[AndyK]

*(Why would anyone bother to do that? Dunno, but my best guess it's been set up to build a good ranking in Google searches as a site that seems superficially to have useful content and a lack of junk links. Then at some future point the site owners will exploit that ranking by slipping paid-for links into the content.)

Blimey they must be in for the long haul as they’ve had it, at the least, nearly 5 years.
Can be contacted at
IT Recycle LtD
91 Easter Rd Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Give them a ring and ask them why they bother. 0131 656 9572

Would that be the same IT Recycle Ltd that was set up in 2020, issued just one set of accounts declaring itself to be a dormant company, and was then dissolved in 2023 following a compulsory strike-off notice? Or the one that was set up in 2024 and is currently the subject of a first notice for compulsory strike-off?
I think I'll stick to information from a known source, thanks all the same.

[Paulatic]

Aye you do right

[mjr]

*(Why would anyone bother to do that? Dunno, but my best guess it's been set up to build a good ranking in Google searches as a site that seems superficially to have useful content and a lack of junk links. Then at some future point the site owners will exploit that ranking by slipping paid-for links into the content.)

Blimey they must be in for the long haul as they’ve had it, at the least, nearly 5 years.
Can be contacted at
IT Recycle LtD
91 Easter Rd Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Give them a ring and ask them why they bother. 0131 656 9572

Would that be the same IT Recycle Ltd that was set up in 2020, issued just one set of accounts declaring itself to be a dormant company, and was then dissolved in 2023 following a compulsory strike-off notice? Or the one that was set up in 2024 and is currently the subject of a first notice for compulsory strike-off?
I think I'll stick to information from a known source, thanks all the same.

Is there any evidence that it-recycle.uk is linked to either company?

It's a junk website. It shouldn't be any trading UK business because it doesn't comply with our disclosure laws. Its website is served up by the US company "Cloudflare, Inc" like soooo many scammers and a few real sites.

Recycle Now sucks too, requiring script permission to do a simple search, but it does at least then correctly say that my chains can go into my green bin for home collection, and the foot of every page includes the site owner details.

[Bmblbzzz]

AIUI the main issue is separating items made of multiple materials, crisp packets being the canonical example. Bike chain is only metal, and probably only one type of metal (and that steel, one of the most easily recycled of all materials) so I'd have said it was fine.

However, that doesn't guarantee the recycling collectors will take it, and I hadn't considered the possibility raised upthread of damage to the compacity mechanism.

[mjr]

and I hadn't considered the possibility raised upthread of damage to the compacity mechanism.

That's not real, is it? The compacting plate copes with the sharp bits of crushed steel cans, which seem more likely to do harm than fairly smooth chain, and the odds of 'too many' chains in one collection seems small.

[gxaustin]

I put mine in an old bean can or similar, squeeze the top over, and stick it in the recycle

[Stevek76]

Didn't realise the recycling collection lorries had compactors, the ones Bristol use don't obviously seem to have them albeit I've not paid them much attention. Certainly not in the same manner as the non-recyclable waste collection vehicle that has the classic compactor style setup.

That said I've only ever really put regular cans etc into the kerbside collection and just have a generic metal pot for other things that goes to the tip occasionally when I'm taking other stuff.

[Steve]

Round here there are scrap collectors who drive past regularly on the lookout - obviously they wouldn't stop for an odd chain, but they might for a sackful of old metal, if you can accumulate one over time.

[gbnz]

I have a container for any small bits of metal and take it to the tip and empty into the metal recycling when I go there, chains go in that.

And a new one. Knew that we're only allowed to recycle metal soft drink, baked bean and aerosol type cans in Northumberland

Didn't realise that the County Council now bans the recycling of all metals in Northumberland, other than the above limited products. We are now actively encouraged to ensure that metal pot's & pans and the like, are binned

Apparently in Northumberland, metal can't be recycled, so it is buried, in Northumberlands "modern, engineered landfill". Who'd have thought it ? I always thought that straightforward, clean, 100% single metal products even had a montery value in being recycled. An environmental fallacy ?

Don't know if we're encouraged to drive fossil fuel vehicles yet, though it is notable that all the footpath/cycle paths put in locally, have more than doubled/trebled the actual distance required to even cross the road, on foot or via bicycle.

[rareposter]

Didn't realise that the County Council now bans the recycling of all metals in Northumberland, other than the above limited products. We are now actively encouraged to ensure that metal pot's & pans and the like, are binned

You can take clean scrap metal including bike chains - to Household Waste Recovery Centres. Even in Northumberland.

Pots and pans often have ceramic / non-stick coatings which are much more of a pain - even so I'd still take them to the tip and seek guidance there.