What can I put in my recycling bag/bin?

It is very important that only items which can be recycled are put into your recycling bag/bin. Dealing with the wrong items is expensive and can sometimes lead to good recycling being sent for incineration.

Items that can be put in your recycling bin/bag

Newspapers and magazines

Junk mail

Envelopes

Telephone directories, brochures and catalogues

Cardboard packaging

(Ideally, sellotape should be removed). Cereal boxes, food packaging, egg boxes

Greetings cards

Drinks cans

Food tins

Please rinse clean

Plastic bottles

Including drinks, milk, shampoo, cleaning products. Please remove lids (see A-Z on how to recycle lids)

Aerosol cans

Household aerosol cans, unless they have a 'skull and cross bones' logo or a black cross on an orange background

Items that can't be put in your recycling bin/bag

Plastic packaging

Yoghurt pots, margarine tubs, plastic food trays

Plastic carrier bags and black sacks

There are no recycling facilities for these materials

Drinks and juice cartons

Cartons (soup, milk, juice, etc)

Aluminium foil

This is made from a different metal alloy to aluminium cans and needs to be recycled separately

Polystyrene

Gift wrap

This is often made from foil or lined with plastic so cannot be recycled.

Glass bottles and jars

There is now a separate glass box collection service.

Clothing

Good quality clothes can be donated to a local charity shop or placed in a textile bank.

Shoes

Pairs of shoes can be donated to a local charity shop or placed in a textile bank.

Shredded paper

Your recycling is sorted using a lot of automatic sorting equipment which is unable to recognise small or shredded pieces of paper.

Some of the items that can't be collected, but can still be recycled. You can take your clothes, shoes, books, aluminium foil and other items to one of over 75 recycling sites in the borough. There is also the Household Waste Recycling Centre on Wade Road which accepts an even greater range of recyclable material, including batteries, fluorescent lamps, wood and green garden waste.

Recycling in homes guide (PDF) [3 Mb]