Using your bins correctly

Red-top rubbish bin

All general rubbish, food and organic household waste goes into your red-top rubbish bin. The contents of your red-top bin are collected weekly.

Below are items which should not go into your red-top bin:

NO glass bottles (these can be placed in your recycling bin)
NO hot ashes
NO construction or building materials
NO household hazardous waste
NO motor oil
NO car batteries
NO heavy items.

If you have a compost bin, click here for a full list of items that can be put in this bin.

Yellow-top recycling bin

The contents of your yellow-top recycling bin are collected fortnightly, then sorted and bailed at the material recovery facility (MRF) and sold to industry for re-processing.

Items should be loose (do not put recyclable items in plastic bags), and if possible rinsed or scraped out clean.

Items you can put in your recycling bin:

Plastic - bottles and lids (separately), margarine and ice-cream containers (up to 5 litres in capacity) and flower pots (clean). Look for the recycling symbol.
Steel - food/drink cans and aerosol cans.
Cardboard - cereal boxes, pizza boxes (empty), boxes and egg cartons.
Glass - bottles and jars.
Aluminium - cans, clean foil and foil trays.
Paper - magazines, newspapers, office paper, envelopes and glossy paper.

Items you should not put in your recycling bin:

NO plastic bags
NO food or garden waste
NO electrical goods
NO clothing, textiles or bedding
NO nappies
NO ceramics or pyrex
NO overfilling
NO oil or paint.

Lime green-top greenwaste bin

The contents of your lime green-top greenwaste bin are collected on alternative weeks to your yellow-top recycling bin.

No sand, soil or plastic bags should be placed in this bin.

Place the following into your lime gtreen-top greenwaste bin:

Grass, leaves and weeds (but no soil)
Small branches
Prunings and small plants

Contents of your greenwaste bin are processed into a soil conditioner.

For a more detailed list of what can go in each bin, see our A-Z of Waste.