Blue Bins
Information about your blue bin.
Information is detailed below on what goes in your blue bin.
On your day of collection, please place your bin on the kerbside with the lid closed by 7am Monday to Saturday.
Unfortunately, we cannot take anything that is not in the bin. It is vital that all items are in the bin with the lid shut.
What can I put in my blue bin?
Please Note: The use of face coverings and gloves may remain part of our daily life for a little while. Any disposable protective equipment (face coverings, gloves etc) used outside a medical setting should please be discarded in the grey bin and not placed in the recycling. These items are not recyclable and it is impossible to tell whether they are infected or not once they appear at recycling facilities - causing unnecessary alarm. Check out our Recycling Activities to Try at Home page to see how to make your own reusable face coverings from recycled materials at home.
What can now go in your Blue Bin
e.g. Yoghurt and pudding pots, noodle pots, ready-made soup and pasta pots. |
e.g. Ice cream, margarine tubs, ready meal tubs. Tip: Take the lids off and put them in the blue bin too. |
e.g. ready meal and microwave food trays, fruit punnets, biscuit trays Tip: Rinse to make sure they are not contaminated by food waste. |
e.g. lids from plastics bottles, margarine tubs, ice cream tubs and coffee jars. Remove lids and put them in the blue bin. |
e.g. Plastic drinks, detergent and shampoo bottles. Lightly rinse and squash them to save space. Tip: Remove the lids and put them in the blue bin too. You can recycle clear and coloured plastic. |
e.g. Clean carrier bags, bread bags, pre-packed vegetable bags, cereal and pasta bags. Tip: Please don't put anything inside plastic bags, it prevents them being separated at the recycling facility. |
e.g. Newspapers, coloured magazines, brochures, catalogues, unwanted mail, envelopes, including those with windows, shredded paper, phone directories, yellow pages Tip: Remove the plastic bags from junk mail or magazines and put them in the blue bin too. |
e.g. Cereal boxes, kitchen and toilet roll tubes, washing powder boxes, corrugated cardboard boxes Tip: Flatten cardboard boxes to save space. |
e.g. juice, soup, custard and smoothie cartons. Tip: Flatten to save space and remove lids and put them in the blue bin too. |
Tip: Make sure aerosol cans are as empty as possible and that foil and cans are not contaminated by food waste. You don't need to remove labels. Put the lids in the blue bin too. |
What NOT to put in your Blue Bin
Please be aware that tissues, kitchen roll and paper towels cannot be recycled and should not be placed in the blue bin. These should go in your grey bin.
Please don't put these in your blue bin |
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Food waste spreads through the load when compressed in the collection vehicle, so the paper and cardboard becomes wet and dirty and can be rejected by the recycling facility or manufacturers This is our biggest problem with contamination. |
Wet materials spread through the load when compressed in the collection vehicle, so the whole load can be rejected by the recycling facility or manufacturers. |
Glass is usually broken by being compacted in the back of the collection vehicle and spreads when deposited at the recycling facility. It can then hurt the staff that sort the materials on the manual picking lines and it also contaminates the paper, cardboard and plastic, which means that it can be rejected by the manufacturers. |
At the materials recycling Facility blue bin material is spread out by a low level bar as it goes onto the conveyor belts for mechanical, then manual sorting lines. If material is inside plastic bags it prevents it being separated for recycling. In addition unfortunately plastic bags often contain material like food waste, pet waste and general waste, which if opened spread across the conveyor belt, causing the whole process line to be stopped and cleaned, causing delays and increasing processing costs. |
Clothing, textiles and shoes cannot be accepted in the blue bin. They also absorb any food and moisture when mixed with the load in the back of the collection vehicle and become soiled and unusable They also cause operational problem at the recycling facility as they wrap round the wheel of the conveyor belts at the recycling facility, which have to be stopped and cut out. |
The recycling facility is not designed to capture this material. |
Potential to damage sorting equipment and recycling facility is not designed to capture this material. |
Waste electrical equipment cannot be processed at our blue bin recycling facility and those with batteries can also cause fires in our collection vehicles. We have a separate company who collect and recycle this waste from our recycling centres, therefore please take any small electrical items to one of our five Community Recycling Centres.
Batteries have the potential to cause fires in our collection vehicles or recycling facilities. Please take all batteries including household batteries, rechargeable batteries, lithium ion batteries and car batteries to one of our five Community Recycling Centres.
Top tips for blue bins:
- Everything must be clean and dry - wet and dirty materials such as food and drinks wastes, nappies and pet wastes spread through the whole load and mean it can rejected and landfilled.
- Please rinse cans, plastic bottles, trays, containers, packaging and cartons to remove food and drinks residues.
- Please do not place any material inside plastic bags. This prevents the material from being separated for recycling at the Materials Recycling Facility.
- You don't need to look at the recycling symbol on plastic containers, they can still be recycled
- You can recycle clear and coloured plastics.
- If your blue bin contains items in black bin bags or bin liners it will not be collected.
- Please try not to compact the material in your bin, this can result in your bin being half emptied on collection day. If your bin is not fully emptied due to the material being compacted, or frozen together in winter months, it is your responsibility to loosen the material ready for your next scheduled collection. No additional collection will be provided for half emptied bins.
- Due to health and safety of our staff, please ensure that your bin is not too heavy as this can result in the bin lip snapping when lifted onto the lorry. If your bin is deemed to be too heavy by our crew it will not be emptied and it is your responsibility to ensure items are removed so that the bin can be emptied on the next collection day. No additional collections will be provided for bins which are considered to be too heavy.
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