Rushcliffe blue bins - What's allowed and what's not

Small electrical items, on top of the bin. Including:-

• Kettles, Toasters, Irons, Radios, Torches, Lamps - bulb removed

• Hairdryers, Straighteners, Hair clippers, Shavers, Electric toothbrushes

• Laptops and tablets, Games consoles, Calculators

• Digital clocks & watches, Remote controls

• Mobile phones, Cameras and camera chargers, 

Clean paper & card are allowed, including:-

• paper/card wrappers from around cans or yoghurt pot cardboard packaging

• cardboard tubes from loo paper and kitchen towel rolls

• window envelopes

• egg boxes (but consider reuse or composting as well)

• books & catalogues (remove covers and spine from hard back)

BUT

• No shredded paper, tissue paper, paper towels or handkerchiefs, as it clogs the machinery at the recycling facility.  No, shredded paper cannot go inside cereal boxes.   It is useful in a wormery though, see our Green Bin page.  Or turn it into briquets for a chimenea or wood-burner.

• No foil/glittery wrapping paper. Post office stocks brown paper and cardboard labels, which are recyclable.

• No crisp packets or confectionery wrappers.  Co-op now accept these items in their recycling bin.

• No take-away containers. This includes pizza boxes, which are too contaminated with food to be recycled, but theoretically they can be composted, as per shredded paper.

• Remove non-recyclable plastic lining from cereal boxes.  The lining should however be accepted at the Co-op recycling point.

Plastic bottles & containers are allowed, including their plastic lids or caps, although we have also have drop-off points for the caps which earn money for charities.  This now includes all yoghurt pots but remove any paper labels.

BUT

• Not trigger mechanisms (try to refill and reuse).

• Not plastic bags - now accepted at the local Coop and other supermarkets

• Items like plastic coat hangers are not collected as the plastic is too hard &/or too low grade. This type of plastic turns into a thick goo.

• Not Food trays, which are often low-grade plastic (and not just the black ones). 

Steel & aluminium cans, including aerosol cans, are allowed:-

• Remove plastic lids and aerosol nozzles – IF they can be removed safely.  Veolia advise us to never try to force a lid off a spray can as they are under pressure.

• Rinse cans, don’t risk cutting yourself; a small amount of residue in an aluminium or steel can is not a problem. Mouldy food left inside is.

BUT

• not Aluminium food trays or foil - do not contain enough aluminium to be recycled & are also often contaminated with food.

Batteries – but in the special bag, on top of blue or black bin

• They don't always give you a replacement bag automatically