Recycling

Recycling is collected every week.

Most households are given two recycling boxes. The only exception is groups of properties with communal waste and recycling areas.

We now provide two different coloured recycling boxes (green and black) to residents who request new or replacement boxes, to help you sort your recycling.

Put your house number on your boxes to help us return them to the correct property.

Sorting your recycling

Please sort your recycling into box one and box two, and separate the materials inside each box.

Box one (green)

• plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays including all white, clear and coloured items
• household metal packaging including foil, tins, cans, lids from jars and empty aerosols

Box two (black)

• paper and cardboard (flattened), including brown paper, newspaper, magazines, catalogues, white or coloured paper
• shredded paper - please place into a paper bag or envelope and put at the bottom of your box and weigh down with other items
• cartons including Tetra Paks (wash and squash)
• glass bottles and jars separate to one side of the box and visible, not bagged. No broken glass or sheet glass please

Items that can go in either box

• small electrical appliances including all household appliances smaller than a standard domestic toaster. For example kettles, radios, clocks, keyboards, cables, irons, watches, hair dryers, phones
• spectacles
• sunglasses
• textiles and Clothes (suitable for reuse)
• shoes (tied in pairs)
• mobile phones
• batteries 
• disposable vapes

Bag each of these separately in a carrier bag or clear plastic bag and tie loosely to keep them dry. 

How to recycle your vapes

Disposable vapes

• kerbside collections - place out for collection in a clear loosely tied bag and place into either box (keep separate from batteries)
• household waste recycling centres - only place in the vape container on site. Please do not put in with batteries, the small electrical, or general waste skips due to the increased risk of fire

Rechargeable vapes

If recycling in your kerbside box, or at the recycling centre, please remove the battery and recycle with batteries. The rest should be recycled with small electricals.

Please remember at kerbside, batteries and small electricals must be presented in a clear loosely tied bag. 

Items we don’t collect for recycling

• disposable coffee cups
• flat glass, broken glass, pyrex, drinking glasses 
• light bulbs
• black plastic
• polystyrene (non-rigid expanded or foam types)
• soft plastic film, plastic wrapping and carrier bags (take to supermarket collection points)
• hard plastic e.g. buckets and children’s toys (can be recycled at recycling centre)
• spray paint or lighter fluid containers
• gas canisters (take to recycling centre and ask staff. These start fires in bin lorries)
• car batteries
• nappies
• business waste
• crisp packets
• saucepans
• tissues and paper towels
• glass vases
• pizza boxes or greasy takeaway packaging 
• unemptied food packaging

Recycling is sorted by hand. If these items are in your box we won’t empty it but will leave a note to explain why.

Stack your boxes with the food waste caddy on top to prevent items from blowing away.

Sorting your recycling helps the crew to collect it more quickly. Quicker collections will reduce traffic delays and help to reduce congestion.

It will also help the crews to clearly see all the items in your bin, reducing contamination and increasing the quality of the recycling collected.

Better quality recycling has a higher value when sold on to be recycled. This helps to subsidise the cost of collections and helps to keep Council Tax lower.

Recycling box nets are a great way to stop litter blowing around in the wind. They are available to buy for £2 at all of our libraries.