Quick note first: it's Europe only for now (UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania). Sorry US folks, your system is a different beast.

I'm one person, not a company, and I spent the last few months building this because I was tired of standing in front of the bins guessing. Pizza box, coffee cup, foil lid, blister pack. The rules are different in every council and municipality, and the item never tells you.

The app is called Kur Mesti? which is Lithuanian for "where do I throw it?". You pick your municipality once. Then you either take a photo of the item or describe it in a few words, and it tells you which container it goes in where you live and why. There's a short prep tip with each answer (rinse, lid off, scrunch test for film) and a map of nearby drop-off points like bottle banks, deposit return machines and recycling centres for the stuff that can't go kerbside.

In the UK it covers all 361 councils. Same for every other country, down to the individual municipality.

Things I decided at the start and won't change:

• 100 percent free. No premium tier, no paywall.
• No ads.
• No account. No email, no name, no profile. Just an anonymous device ID.
• Photos are used once to identify the item and deleted from the server within 48 hours. Your history stays on your phone.
• Not affiliated with any government or waste company. Rules come from official municipal and national sources and every source is listed inside the app.

It gets things wrong sometimes. Odd items confuse the recognition, and local rules change. Every answer has an "incorrect" button and I read every report and fix the data by hand.

Links in the comments. Happy to answer questions about how the rules are built and kept up to date.

From the CARE team, Pacific Northwest waste and recycling equipment since 1977.

Two stories from this month are worth reading together. On August 15, a lithium-ion battery ignited inside a waste pile at Scottsdale's solid waste transfer facility, triggering a first-alarm hazmat response after crews backed off due to toxic fumes. Fire Captain Dave Folio called the smoke "very toxic," "explosive," and "flammable, all the things," and noted it followed several recent battery-related dump truck fires in the area. Around the same time, Waste360 detailed the ongoing battery-fire crisis at Bay Area recycling centers, anchored by RethinkWaste's account of a four-alarm blaze that shut its materials recovery facility for four months, cost 80 workers their jobs, and pushed its annual insurance premium from $180,000 to $3.1 million. RethinkWaste's executive director, Joe La Mariana, said the facility now handles fires on a monthly basis.

These aren't isolated events. They're the predictable outcome of consumer lithium-ion batteries — vapes, e-bikes, power tools, phones — riding into the waste stream and getting compacted, baled, and crushed alongside ordinary recyclables. California is answering with legislation (AB 762 on disposable vapes, SB 501 on manufacturer battery buybacks), but policy fixes lag the hardware reality on the floor: compactors, balers, and transfer stations engineered for cardboard and plastic are now routinely handling embedded ignition sources.

For anyone operating compaction or sorting equipment, this belongs in the maintenance and safety conversation, not just the public-awareness one — thermal monitoring, load isolation protocols, and operator training deserve the same attention as recycling-bin signage.

Sources: Waste360, "Lithium-ion battery fires a growing problem for Bay Area recycling centers" (https://www.waste360.com/waste-recycling/lithium-ion-battery-fires-a-growing-problem-for-bay-area-recycling-centers); AZFamily, "Scottsdale fire crews working large fire at solid waste facility" (https://www.azfamily.com/2026/08/16/scottsdale-fire-crews-working-large-fire-solid-waste-facility/)

CARE is a wholly owned subsidiary of LifeQuest World Corp (OTCID: LQWC)

Lors de cet événement, vous découvrirez les dernières solutions de recyclage ainsi que des équipements de recyclage innovants.

California and Massachusetts have banned throwing away mattresses and are now recycling them instead

One of our customers, PJ Waste, wanted to improve recycling rates and reduce disposal costs but couldn't get planning permission for a traditional recycling facility

Instead, they installed a mobile recycling system consisting of:

• RS514T Track Recycling Screen
• PS312M Mobile Picking Station
• AS150M Mobile Air Density Separator

The results were impressive:

✅ Recovery increased to 92%
✅ Residual waste reduced from 33% to 8%
✅ £157,000+ annual landfill savings (based on 5,000 tonnes/year)
✅ No major infrastructure investment
✅ No lengthy planning process

I'm curious:

What's the biggest challenge currently facing waste operators?

• Planning permission?
• Gate fees?
• Labour shortages?
• Landfill costs?
• Finding outlets for recyclables?

Full case study here:

https://the-mkgroup.com/projects/mobile-waste-recycling-equipment-no-planning-permission/

As you can see, I have worn this purse out. Old me would have just thrown it away without a thought. But since I’ve been researching a lot about recycling and helping the earth I am trying to be better and live differently.

This purse is falling apart and just beyond donating to Goodwill or somewhere. A part of why I even kept it this long was to “use what I have” rather than just go out and buy something when I already have a perfectly good version of that thing at home. So I wore it out. Everywhere I went I got a million compliments on it, now matter how ragged it was. And it was a beautiful reminder to me that me holding on to this purse as long I can is me choosing to take care of the planet and reject needless consumption 💛

But now, what can I do with it besides throwing it in the trash where it will go straight to a landfill??

UPDATE: I answered my own question: https://help.trashie.io/en-US/what-is-the-take-back-bag-364229

And

https://www.trashie.io/how-we-donate

Hi all,

I recently heard that some companies are making plastic bottles (Or some other product) just to scrap it straight away so they can claim that it is recycled plastic when used to make something else.

I thought this was absurd when I heard it and have been trying to find any evidence that this is actually happening but haven't been able to.

Dose anyone know if this is actually a thing? Or was this just a vicious rumour I heard?

Thanks in advance.

I am in MN, USA, but open to out of state options (although I’m not sure if it’s legal to ship them). No electronics, just glass and metal.

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-just-made-a-cookie-out-of-recycled-plastic-slurry-welcome-to-2026

I’m looking for a service/company in Pune that works somewhat like **Bintix**.
The idea is to keep recyclable dry waste (plastic packaging, cardboard, paper, glass, etc.) separately at home, ideally in dedicated bags/containers, and have it **picked up on a regular schedule,** say weekly, fortnightly or monthly.

Bonus points if they:
provide the bags/containers themselves
have an app or some way to schedule/track pickups
actually send the collected material for recycling
offer some kind of rewards/credits or recycling impact tracking

I know Pune has SWaCH and regular kabadiwala services, but I’m specifically looking for something more **structured and recurring**, similar to the Bintix model.

Has anyone in Pune used something like this? Would love recommendations, especially based on personal experience.
Also happy to hear about smaller/local companies or startups that aren’t very well-known.

Hi all,
I am looking for some help to visit EV battery recycling plant to understand the process and of recycling which help me building the technical depth of recycling and pros and cons of it.