Waste and recycling bins

Yes please:

• All uneaten food and plate scrapings
• Tea bags and coffee grounds
• Out of date or mouldy food
• Raw and cooked meat, including bones
• Raw and cooked fish, including bones
• Dairy products such as cheese
• Eggs and egg shells
• Rice, pasta, beans
• Baked goods such as bread, cakes and pastries
• Fruit and vegetables including raw and cooked vegetables and peelings

Remember:

• Remove all food from its packaging

No thanks:

• Non-food products including nappies
• Packaging of any kind
• Any material that is not food waste
  • Only food is suitable for this process. If packaging and other materials are included this causes a problem
• Liquids such as milk – these may leak, causing spillages when transporting the food waste

Yes please

• Grass
• Leaves
• Weeds
• Flowers and plants
• Hedge clippings and prunings
• Branches and twigs
• Windfall fruit

No thanks:

• Plastic bags, flower pots, trays or other plastic items
• Animal waste including pet litter and bedding
• Vacuum dust or fire cinders
• Soil, stones or rubble
• Wood that has been treated or painted

Yes please:

Plastic pots, tubs and trays:

• Pots (e.g. yogurt, soup, etc.)
• Tubs (e.g. margarine, ice cream, etc.)
• Trays / punnets (e.g. raw meat or ham trays; take-away trays; fruit /veg trays)
  • • remove any film lids and put separately in the burgundy bin and remove any absorbent pads in the bottom of trays and put these in your general rubbish
• Plastic chocolate and biscuit tubs and trays
• Toothpaste tubes
• Other clear plastic packaging

Plastic bottles:

All clear and coloured plastic bottles from around the home, including:

• Day-to-day cleaning product bottles (e.g. bathroom cleaners, washing up liquid, bleach):
  • remove pumps and dispose of these (these are currently not recyclable); and
  • triggers can be left on to be recycled
• Cosmetics bottles (e.g. shampoo, shower gel)
• Drinks bottles (e.g. juice, squash, milk).

No thanks:

• Black plastic – sorting equipment cannot detect the colour black and therefore it is not recycled
• Laminated pouches (e.g. cat food/coffee pouches that spring back when you try and scrunch them
• Plastic toys
• Medicine packs (e.g. headache pills, etc.)
• Expanded polystyrene e.g. packaging inserts
• Plastic bottles containing chemicals (e.g. anti-freeze). -Strong chemicals that are highly poisonous are hazardous to staff and can damage the recycling equipment. Check the bottle for disposal instructions

Please remember:

• Rinse food packaging. Leftover food residue can contaminate other recyclables. A quick rinse will do.
• Empty and rinse bottles, squash and replace lids/tops. If bottles contain liquid, they might not be recycled as they go through the automated sorting process. (the extra weight stops the bottle being pushed into the correct recycling stream).  Liquid can also damage the machinery instinct, contaminate other recyclables.
• Bottles can be squashed to give more space in the recycling bin.
• Labels and bottles could all be left on, but plastic film must be removed and put in the recycling, loose.
• Separate any cardboard and paper from plastic packaging and recycle separately.

Yes please:

• All plastic bags, except biodegradable or compostable bags
• Shrink wrap e.g. from multi-packs of water, cans etc
• Breakfast cereal liners
• Bread bags
• Bags for vegetables & fruit
• Magazine wrappers
• Toilet roll wrappers
• Dry cleaning bags/bags covering new clothing
• Bubble wrap
• Frozen food bag e.g. bags around frozen vegetables, chips, etc

Top tips:

• All items should be clean and free of food
• Tear off sticky paper labels where possible
• As a general rule, if you can stretch the film then it can be recycled

No thanks:

• Any dirty bags/film
• Compostable bags
• Any film claiming to be biodegradable

Reasons:

Compostable and biodegradable bags are not designed to be recycled and if they enter the recycling stream can potentially cause quality issues in the recycled material.

Yes please:

• Drinks cartons (e.g. juices)
  • You can leave plastic tops on cartons and straws in drinks cartons –these will be removed and recycled
• Food cartons (e.g. soups)

Please remember:

• Empty drinks cartons and rinse food cartons
• Left-over liquid or food residue can contaminate other recyclables. A quick rinse will do.

No thanks:

• Laminated plastic food/drink pouches (e.g. baby food pouches, cat food pouches, coffee pouches).

Yes please:

Paper:

• Newspapers and supplements
• Magazines, brochures and catalogues
• White paper (e.g. computer paper, letters)
• Telephone directories
• Leaflets and flyers
• Envelopes
o You can include those that have a window.
• Brown paper

Tip: if you scrunch paper and it doesn’t spring back, then it can be recycled.

All card from around the home, including:

• Cardboard boxes (e.g. cereal boxes, dishwasher table boxes)
• Corrugated cardboard (e.g. online delivery boxes, cardboard envelopes)
  • Remove all plastic inserts and polystyrene, as well as packing tape
• Greetings cards without glitter
  • Tear off the glitter section, as well as any badges and batteries – the glitter cannot be removed and the recycled card has to be rejected

Please remember:

• Ensure that boxes are empty of food stuffs (e.g. cheese, pizza) and other contaminants including polystyrene

No thanks:

Glitter covered greetings cards or wrapping paper.

• Non-paper gift wrap (e.g. foil-based or glitter wrapping or bags) which springs back when you scrunch it
• Sticky papers (e.g. post-it notes, sticky labels and paper tape)
• Wallpaper
• Hygiene/Sanitary products (i.e. nappies, wipes, sanitary towels etc.)
• Tissues and used paper towels
• Wet wipes
• Cotton wool, make up pads

Yes please:

• Drinks cans
•  Food tins
  • Pop tin lids inside the tin
• Biscuit/chocolate tins and their lids
• Aerosols
  • Remove plastic caps and recycle with plastics
  • Only recycle empty aerosol cans
• Aluminium foil (e.g. for baking, covering food)
  • Scrunch foil together to form a ball
• Aluminium foil trays (e.g. take-away trays)
• Aluminium tubes e.g. tomato puree
  • Remove plastic caps

Please remember:

• Empty and rinse items – left over foods or liquids can contaminate other recyclables
• You can leave labels on: machines ensure these get removed

No thanks:

• Laminated foil (e.g. cat food / coffee pouches that spring back when you try and scrunch them. Pouches are currently not recyclable).

Yes please:

All glass packaging from around the home, including:

• Bottles of any colour (e.g. wine, beer, spirits)
• Jars (e.g. sauces, jam, baby food)
• Non-food bottles (e.g. perfume, aftershave, face creams)

Please remember:

• Empty and rinse – it doesn’t need to be spotlessly clean; a quick rinse will do. Left over liquid and residue can contaminate other materials which may mean they are not recycled
• Metal lids and caps can be put back on – these will be removed and recycled. These are different metals to cans/tins/aerosols so are recycled in a different way and by putting the lids/caps back on glass jars and bottles it reduces the chance of them getting lost through the sorting process

No thanks:

• Glass cookware (e.g. Pyrex).
• Drinking glasses.
• Vases.
• Ceramics (e.g. crockery or earthenware).
• Nail varnish bottles
  • It is difficult to remove the varnish and the bottles are so small that they are filtered out during the recycling process.
• Microwave plates.
• Mirrors.

Why’s that?

These types of glass do not melt at the same temperature as bottles and jars. If they enter the glass recycling process it can result in new containers being rejected.