Your red recycling box is for plastic and metal cans.
We collect all of your recycling boxes every week. You can use our online tool to look up your collection day.
You can order a new recycling box if:
- yours is broken and you need a replacement
- you want to recycle more materials than you can fit in one box
If we haven't collected your red recycling box, you can report a missed collection.
You can put in:
- plastic bottles (for example, drink bottles, plastic milk bottles, bleach bottles, washing and fabric conditioner bottles)
- plastic tubs, pots and trays (for example, margarine tubs, yoghurt pots)
- drink cans
- food tins (place tin lids inside the tin)
- aluminium foil (for example, for baking, covering food)
- aluminium foil trays (for example, takeaway trays)
- aerosol cans (make sure they are empty)
You need to:
- wash and squash all of your items
- include lids on your plastics
You can't put in:
- plastic carrier bags (for example, supermarket bags, fruit bags) Read more about recycling plastic bags, packaging and wrapping
- plastic wrapping and packaging (for example, crisp packets, cereal bags, plastic bread bags, plastic nappy packaging and any other plastic wrapping)
- hard plastics (for example, coat hangers, toys, flower pots, paint pots)
- polystyrene
- black plastic trays
- batteries (these can be recycled at most supermarkets)
You can take items that don't go in your recycling boxes to our Reuse and Recycling Centre or put them in your black wheelie bin.
Recycling plastic carrier bags, packaging and wrapping
We can't recycle plastic carrier bags, packaging and wrapping at our facility. This is because they can become tangled in our machinery and cause breakdowns or even fires.
If these materials are in your red box, this would qualify as contamination and could mean we don't collect it.
Top tips for recycling plastic bags and wrapping:
- keep bags and wrapping as clean as possible
- store it all together and take it on your next supermarket trip
- add a reminder on your shopping list to take items with you when you next shop
What happens to your plastic and metal cans
Read more: What happens to your recycling
