How to Recycle Your Candles in the UK with Woodcycle

Most people in the UK throw away their leftover candle wax. Wax is a perfectly reusable material, and with the right process it can be recycled and turned into something useful again. At Woodcycle, we turn your old candles into our natural firelighter teabags, helping to reduce waste and support a more circular economy.

This page explains how our candle recycling scheme works, what we accept, and how you can take part in candle recycling in the UK.

Why recycle candle wax?

Candles are often made from paraffin, soy, palm or mixed waxes, all of which can be melted down and reused. Instead of sending your candle stubs and leftovers to landfill, we blend them with recycled wood to produce a clean, convenient natural firelighter teabag.

Recycling your candle wax helps to:

• Reduce household and church waste
• Lower carbon footprint by keeping materials in use for longer
• Support UK manufacturing and local recycling
• Replace paraffin firelighters with a cleaner alternative
• Take a simple but meaningful step towards more sustainable living

What candles we accept

We accept almost all candle wax for recycling, including:

• Fragranced candles
• Coloured candles
• Paraffin, soy, palm, beeswax and blended wax
• Broken candles and used stubs
• Pillar candles and altar candles
• Wax melts (once removed from their containers)

If it is wax and not fixed in a container, we can usually recycle it.

What we cannot accept

For safety and processing reasons, we cannot take:

• Candles in glass jars or glass containers
• Tealights in foil or metal cups
• Candles in tins or non removable holders
• Wax that cannot be separated from plastic, metal or glass
• Wax heavily contaminated with non wax materials

If you can remove the glass or metal holder, the wax itself is usually fine for our candle recycling service.

How our candle recycling service works

Recycling your candles with Woodcycle is designed to be quick and easy. Here is how to recycle your candles in the UK using our prepaid label system:

1. Collect your used candles
   Gather any old, broken or part used candles. Remove any glass jars, metal cups or fixed holders.
2. Pack them into an old box
   Reuse any cardboard box you already have at home. There is no need for special packaging.
3. Weigh your box
   Use a bathroom scale or kitchen scale and note the total weight of the packed box.
4. Buy a prepaid return label
   Purchase the correct label on our website based on the box weight. This covers the cost of sending your candles to us.
5. Print and attach the label
   Print the prepaid label at home, stick it securely to your box and make sure it is clearly visible.
6. Drop it off locally
   Take your box to your nearest parcel shop, parcel locker or collection point at a time that suits you.
7. We recycle the wax
   Once your parcel arrives, we melt down the wax, clean it and recycle it directly into our natural firelighter teabags.

Your old candles become part of a new product, helping to reduce waste and support a practical candle recycling solution in the UK.

Why choose Woodcycle for candle recycling in the UK?

• UK based operation with a focus on recycled materials
• Wax is recycled directly into natural firelighter teabags
• Simple prepaid label system, no complicated contracts
• Accepts mixed candle wax that many schemes do not take
• Supports circular economy and responsible consumption

A cleaner future for candle waste

Our long term aim is to make candle recycling accessible to households, churches, venues and small businesses across the UK. Every box of wax we receive helps us produce more sustainable firelighters and keeps valuable material out of landfill.

Recycle your candles, keep wax out of the bin and help us give your old candles a second time to shine.