Mostly, yes: the glass bottle itself is recyclable in most UK kerbside collections once it’s empty and rinsed, but the pump, cap, and any plastic or metal atomiser parts usually need to be removed first and often go in general waste, since mixed materials are hard for recycling plants to separate.

What actually happens at the recycling stage

Glass recycling plants sort by colour and melt bottles down, but only after removing contaminants, so a pump mechanism left attached can mean the whole bottle gets rejected on the sorting line rather than recycled. It’s worth popping the pump off if it comes away easily, giving the bottle a quick rinse to clear any residual oil, and checking your local council’s guidance since some areas accept mixed-material items and others don’t.

Atomisers and decorative bottles with metal caps or crystal detailing are trickier and sometimes better suited to reuse than recycling. We’ve got some practical suggestions for that in our answer on what to do with an empty perfume bottle, part of our wider home fragrance guide. For more on sustainable choices in fragrance generally, the complete guide to perfume touches on packaging too. If your local council isn’t clear on this, a quick check of their recycling website usually spells out exactly what mixed-material items they’ll accept. A quick rinse takes seconds and makes a real difference to whether the bottle actually gets recycled.