What are my bins for?
Your coloured bins are used as follows:
- Blue bin - recyclable materials
- Black bin - non-recyclable and non-compostable materials
- Green bin - food and garden waste
Use our interactive search to find out what specific items can be put in each of your bins, on our what goes in which bin webpage.
What goes in my blue bin?
Yes:
- Paper, newspapers, magazines and envelopes
- Cardboard
- Cartons (for example, Tetra Pak)
- Empty plastic bags (except black bin bags)
- Non-metallic plastic packets or wrappers, for example: bread bags, pasta bags
- Plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays (excluding any black plastic which cannot currently be recycled)
- Food and drinks cans
- Empty aerosols
- Greetings cards
- Wrapping paper (no metallic plastic)
- Tinfoil and foil trays
- Biscuit and sweet tins
- Glass jars and bottles
- Shredded paper (must be bagged in a paper or clean plastic bag)
Batteries must not be put inside bins as they cause fires in the lorries and at the waste and recycling site. To recycle household batteries including AA and AAA cells, button batteries, size C and D, put them in a small tied plastic bag and place it loosely on top of your blue, green or black bin lid.
No:
- Food
- Liquids
- Nappies
- Clothes, textiles or shoes (take to charity shops or clothing banks)
- Expanded polystyrene or Styrofoam
- Foam/sponge
- Non-packaging plastic (for example, toys and bowls)
- Metallic plastic wrappers e.g. crisp packets
- Black bin bags
- Recycling in plastic bags (except completely transparent ones)
- Flat glass or mirrors
- Pyrex
- Kitchen paper and tissues
- Dirty packaging
- Paint tins
- Batteries (inside the bin)
What goes in my black bin?
Yes:
- General household non-recyclable and non-compostable material waste
- Disposable nappies
- Polystyrene, Styrofoam, foam/sponge plastic packaging
- Cooled, bagged ash
No:
- Empty or full paint tins
- Rubble
- Bricks
- Soil
- Very heavy items
- Electrical items
- Loose ash
- Batteries (inside the bin)
What goes in my green bin?
Yes:
- Garden waste, such as grass cuttings and leaves
- Untreated wood
- Straw and sawdust
- Food waste including meat, fish, dairy, cooked food, fruit and vegetable peelings. (Wrap in paper bags or newspaper - not compostable 'plastic' bags)
- Cooled wood ash, bagged in a paper sack
- Used paper tissues and kitchen paper
No:
- Any plastic
- Plastic type bags/sacks and biodegradable/compostable 'plastic' food waste bags
- Cat or dog waste
- Soil, stones or turf
- Treated wood
- Rubble
- Loose ash of any kind, and coal ash
- Batteries (inside the bin)
A kitchen caddy and paper liners can be used for your kitchen food waste and then emptied into your green bin when full. Find out more information on our recycling pages
On your bin collection day:
- Close your bin lids firmly
- Put your bins out by 6am on the day of your collection
- Don't overfill your wheeled bin and ensure the lid is closed
- Do not leave out extra rubbish or garden waste, and follow our guidance on leaving out extra recycling
- Make sure that your bin isn't too heavy to move easily, if not it may not be emptied
- Make sure that the bin has the correct items in it, we may refuse to empty it if any are wrong
If your bin is not collected, please report your missed bin collection after 3:30pm on your collection day and by 3:30pm the following day.