Green box bottles, cans and plastic recycling collection
Every other week we will collect your green box recycling which could include:
- Drink cans
- Aerosol cans
- Food tins and foil
- Glass bottles and jars - all colours (including jar and bottle tops)
- Milk and drinks bottles
- Detergent bottles
- Plastic dishes and trays*
- Yoghurt pots*
- Ice-cream containers*
- Margarine containers*
- Tetra Paks (e.g. juice cartons and other beverage cartons)
Please don't put these in your green box:
- Black plastic trays
- Plastic bags
- Plastic-film
- Plastic toys
- Plastic plant pots
- Other metal
- Pyrex
- Drinking glasses
- Crockery
- Broken glass
- Window glass
- Polystyrene
If you need another green box for your plastics, tins and glass, please contact us.
Lids for the boxes are not provided but nets to keep the contents contained are available to buy from libraries and cost £1.20 each. Nets are tied to the box handle to ensure they don't get lost.
Recycling guide - printable leaflet
Find out about what happens to your recycling
Please don't use black bags instead of a green box, as we might mistake your recycling for rubbish. However, you can use plastic carrier bags, if you prefer.
Common questions about green box recycling
How can I best manage my green box recycling, now that all types of plastic are collected?
If you need a second green box, please ask and one will be delivered to your door. Residents have told us that it is as much about managing the numerous little pockets of air the various shapes and materials appear in, as physically collecting and recycling them.
Stacking similar sized items, such as yoghurt pots, would help maximise the volume of space available in your green box. Similarly, choosing to crush all plastic bottles, tins and cans, could also save space.
Can I recycle polystyrene or plastic film e.g. crisp packets in my green box?
No. If it 'scrunches' then we can't recycle it. However, we do take all rigid plastic food containers.
My green box collection has been missed - what should I do?
Sorry if we have missed your collection. Please let us know when this happens so we can find out what went wrong and return to collect it. Sometimes collections are 'missed' because they haven't been put out by 7am or left in the correct place, which is at the edge of the property's boundary.
To report your missed collection use our missed collection report form. You can also report an ongoing problem with your waste or recycling collection - for instance, if your waste has been missed on a number of occasions.
Are wheeled bins the solution?
For this to be effective, all households would need wheeled bins, which would be a multi-million pound cost with comparatively little saving. In addition, as a round with wheeled bins takes longer there could also be other additional costs including staff and potentially vehicles too. Some residents may have practical constraints of storing wheeled bins.
Why can't I buy my own wheeled bin for my recycling?
We cannot collect from wheeled bins for a number of reasons including that this makes the service inefficient. Previous experience showed that the occasional wheeled bin led to collection difficulties for some, and the potential issues of damage to these privately owned bins.