How to use communal recycling bins

What you can put in communal or shared recycling bins. These are the large recycling bins on streets or shared bins for blocks of flats.

What you can put in communal recycling bins

You can put the following into your communal recycling bins, mixed together:

  • tins and cans - empty and washed, with lids inside 
  • aerosols - empty with lids removed
  • cardboard - flattened and folded so that it fits into the box
  • paper - including magazines and windowed envelopes
  • plastic bottles - washed and squashed, with lids put back on

Please keep glass items like bottles and jars in a black box together, washed, with metal lids back on. Plastic lids should be placed in your household rubbish.

If you have electrical items, clothes and other non-household or garden waste, these can't go in the communal bins. You’ll need to:

Batteries can be recycled at battery recycling points listed on Recycle Now's website.

Shared recycling for blocks of flats

If you live in a block of flats, you'll likely have large shared bins in the bin store for household recycling.

The recycling bins might be small green wheelie bins or large black bins. They'll be clearly labelled with recycling stickers..

At least one bin will be for glass and the other bin(s) will be for recycling materials.

Help with moving rubbish

If you are elderly, disabled or for any other reason can’t take your rubbish and recycling to a communal bin on the street, you could get an assisted collection.

More information

Find out how to recycle other household items in our A to Z guide to recycling.