How to use your recycling bins and boxes

What to put into your recycling bins and boxes, what waste should be kept separate and where to put your box for collection.

What goes in your black mixed recycling bin and boxes

If you live in a residential area outside the city centre, you are likely to have recycling collected through our black bin or box collection service.

What you can recycle in your kerbside or local communal mixed recycling bin

tins and cans - empty and rinsed

aerosols - all kinds, empty

cardboard - clean and flattened or torn in pieces to fit in your bin

paper - including magazines and envelopes with windows. Do not include shredded paper

plastic bottles - all kinds, rinsed and squashed with lids, pumps and triggers on

plastic pots, tubs and trays - rinsed and squashed. Do not include plant pots.

What you can recycle in your kerbside glass box or local communal glass recycling bin

Glass bottles and jars – all kinds, rinsed, with any metal lids on - go in your black glass recycling box or a local communal glass bin (plastic lids go in your general waste bin) 

Items that we can't collect

Do not use your bin or boxes for:

electrical items - instead, you can take these to:

clothes - instead, you can take these to a textile bank

non-household waste (that cannot go in a wheelie bin) - instead, you can:

garden waste - instead, you can get a garden waste collection

batteries - you can recycle these at battery recycling points listed on Recycle Now's website

Where to put your black recycling bin and boxes

To make sure our crews can collect:

  • put your bin or boxes on or by the pavement at the front of your property - crews won't climb walls, open gates or access steps, so make sure there's nothing in the way
  • leave your bin or boxes out the night before your collection or by 6am on the day of your collection

If you have space to do so, you need to store your bins and boxes off the pavement on non-collection days. If you leave them out you may receive a warning, which could lead to a Fixed Penalty Notice.

Find out more about how to store your bins and boxes.

More information

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