Brown bin or black box

Recycle your glass, cartons, plastics and cans in your brown bin (or black box)

    

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your brown bin (or black box) will be collected every fortnight on the same day as your green bin. See Collections and calendar for details.

Please rinse out all food/drink containers first and try to squash bottles to make more room in your bin. You can put lids from bottles and glass jars in, but please put them in separately. If you put plastic carrier bags in the bin please make sure they go in separately (empty) and are not full of items.

You can put the following in your brown bin/black box:

 

YES PLEASE

Glass bottles and jars	Cartons/Tetra Paks	Plastic cups
	E.g. fruit juice, custard, chopped tomato or ice jubbly cartons
Plastic bottles	Plastic trays, tubs and pots	Plastic/metal biscuit and sweet boxes
E.g. shampoo, bleach, fizzy drinks, water, lotion or milk bottles	E.g. butter tubs, ice cream containers, yoghurt pots or fruit punnets
EMPTY plastic bags	Plastic plant pots	Food tins, drink cans, aerosols and foil containers
E.g. carrier bags, frozen veg/chip bags, magazine wrappings, shrink wrap that you would get around a six-pack of drink cans.		E.g. baked bean/salmon/tuna tins, cat food/fizzy drinks cans, deodorants, air fresheners or pie foil containers

 

If in doubt leave it out! Please do not put the following in your brown bin or black box: 

 

NO THANKS

Glassware	Mirrors or windows	Light bulbs	Food waste
E.g. drinking glasses, cookware, Pyrex
Crisp packets or clingfilm	Black sacks	Polystyrene	Toothpaste tubes
Plastic toys or furniture	Plastic coat hangers	Oil or paint containers	Disposable nappies

 

Frequently asked questions

• Can I have more than one brown bin?
• Can I put items in plastic bags first, and then put the bags in my brown bin?
• I have seen your staff putting the content of boxes into someone else's bin - why is this?

• I live in a flat, can I recycle?

• I use a black box, will you collect any extra recycling that doesn't fit in it? 
• What happens to everything I put in my brown bin?

 

Can I have more than one brown bin?

No. Any extra recycling can be taken to a Household Waste Recycling Centre or one of our Local recycling sites.

Can I put items in plastic bags first, and then put the bags in my brown bin?
No. The crews need to check that bins aren’t contaminated with the wrong items - they can't check if there are bags full of items inside the bins. This is important because if there is a lot of contamination when the vehicle gets to the recycling site, the whole load could be rejected.

I have seen your staff putting the content of boxes into someone else's bin - why is this?
Some residents may use a black box instead of a brown bin. Sometimes, our staff will empty the contents of the box into the nearest brown bin in the street which will then be emptied as normal. This saves time and the bin can then be emptied safely on the recycling trucks, rather than by hand by our staff. All the materials continue to get recycled. 

I live in a flat, can I recycle?
Please see recycling in flats.

I use a black box, will you collect any extra recycling that doesn't fit in it?
No, but you can request a second black box if one isn’t enough.

What happens to everything I put in my brown bin?
Please read What happens to my recycling?