Cardboard We collect cardboard every week for recycling. Please use your blue bag (see below) for cardboard, food and drinks cartons (Tetra Paks) and brown paper. Plastic You can now recycle solid plastic items used to package food and drinks such as plastic pots, trays and tubs as well as plastic bottles.
Cardboard recycling
Cardboard is collected every week and is recycled into packaging material instead of being composted. Please cut or fold your cardboard and brown paper flat so it fits into your blue bag and can fit onto our collection vehicles. Please keep the cardboard and brown paper separate from the other paper as this is recycled separately.
Please make sure that you no longer put cardboard in your garden waste wheeled bin or paper sack as we can no longer compost this.
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Please put cardboard in your blue bag: |
Please put paper in your green box: |
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Cardboard packaging |
Newspaper and magazines |
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Cereal boxes, toothpaste boxes, ready meal sleeves etc. |
Junk mail and leaflets |
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Egg boxes, toilet roll tubes etc. |
Catalogues, directories and Yellow Pages |
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Brown paper
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White paper and envelopes and small amounts of shredded paper |
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Food and drinks cartons (Tetra Paks). Please wash and squash. |
White backed wrapping paper |
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Greetings cards |
Please remove all plastic, polystyrene and tape.
Household plastic packaging recycling
You can put plastic household packaging in your green box for recycling. By plastic packaging we mean solid items that have been used to package food or drinks such as pots, tubs, trays and bottles They must be clean.
You can mix plastic with cans in your green box.
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Recyclable plastic – yes please |
Non recyclable plastic – no thanks |
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Plastic bottles (e.g milk bottles, washing up liquid bottles) |
No black plastic (e.g. no black plastic trays or bags etc.) |
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Plastic tubs (e.g margarine and ice-cream tubs) |
No plastic film (e.g bags, clingfilm, bubblewrap) |
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Plastic pots (eg yoghurt pots) |
No ‘non-packaging’ plastic (eg. toys, washing up bowls, plant pots) |
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Plastic trays (eg meat, cake, fruit trays) |
No plastics used to contain medical, chemical, garage or garden materials |
| Clean plastic packaging only |
No polystyrene containers or packaging |
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No food to be left on packaging |
Cardboard and Plastics
Cardboard Frequently Asked Questions
1. What types of cardboard can I recycle?
You can recycle all cardboard packaging such as cardboard boxes, cereal boxes, ready meal sleeves, egg boxes and toilet roll tubes. Please put greeting cards in your green box and brown paper in your blue bag.
2. Why do cardboard and brown have to be collected separately from the rest of the paper?
If cardboard and brown paper get mixed with the rest of the paper (newspapers, magazines etc.) it may be rejected by the paper mill because it leaves brown spots that spoil the finished product.
3. Can I put food and drinks cartons (Tetra Paks) in with my recycling?
Yes, you can now put them in your blue bag. Please wash and squash and remove plastic lids if possible. You can also take them to one of the five recycling banks in Bath and North East Somerset. To find out more, please go to Recycling Banks.
4. Do I have to remove the tape and plastics that comes with my cardboard?
Yes please. Make sure that you remove ALL plastic, tape and polystyrene as these can't be recycled and will contaminate the cardboard.
5. Can I still put cardboard out for my composting collection?
No. We no longer take cardboard for composting so please use your weekly recycling collection instead.
6. What size are the blue bags?
The bags are 45cm cubed with a capacity of 91 litres.
7. How do I get a bag?
To order a bag please contact Council Connect councilconnect@bathnes.gov.uk 01225 39 40 41. Please note, we will only issue one bag per household.
8. What if I have too much cardboard for the blue bag?
You need to pack your cardboard flat so that it fits into the blue bag - it can easily hold a large amount of cardboard. Extra cardboard can be placed out for collection in untied carrier bags or tied with string. It cannot be put loose in the green box. All card must be folded or cut so that it is no bigger than 45 cm so that it can fit on the vehicle.
9. Can I put cardboard out if I don't have a blue bag?
Yes. You can still put cardboard out provided that you pack it flat and keep it separate from the paper - see question 8.
10. I have lots of cardboard because I run a business from home - why won't you take it all?
Cardboard that is generated as a result of a business activity can be collected for a charge. Council tax payers do not subsidise the recycling or disposal of business waste. Please contact Council Connect for details of our business waste recycling service or see Commercial Waste.
11. Can I put cardboard and brown paper in my green box?
No. We only collect cardboard and brown paper that is in the blue box or presented separately to avoid the risk of it becoming mixed with the rest of the paper. Cardboard and brown paper contaminate the paper because they leave brown spots in the finished product.
12. Can I use my blue bag for putting other recyclable items in?
No. You must only use your blue bag for cardboard and brown paper. If you need more space you can put your recycling out in carrier bags or request an extra container from Council Connect councilconnect@bathnes.gov.uk 01225 39 40 41.
13. Is there a smaller sized blue bag available?
No. For the introduction of this new service we are only offering one size of blue bag. We will monitor how it all works, how much is going in the blue bags and whether a different size is also needed for people who only have small quantities of cardboard. Remember you only need to put out the blue bag with cardboard when there's enough in it - not every week.
14. Won't the bag blow away?
The bag has a weighted base to reduce the chance of it blowing away and the recycling collectors will make sure that they leave it inside your green box after collection.
15. How is the cardboard recycled?
The cardboard is made back into cardboard packaging.
16. Why can the cardboard no longer be composted?
The composting sites were finding increasingly that cardboard was not being composted successfully and quality of the compost was not as good as it could be. The composting facilities were increasingly having to sort the cardboard out of the green waste to get rid of any contaminants. This was becoming a costly way of processing the cardboard waste and the end results were not as good as expected.
17. I live in flats and have a Mini Recycling Centre (MRC). Can I recycle cardboard here?
Unfortunately the blue bag collection is not suitable for flats where you have your own MRCs but we are currently installing wheelie bins for cardboard recycling at most mini recycling centres. Cardboard can also be taken to one of our three Recycling Centres for recycling.
Plastic Frequently Asked Questions
1. What types of plastic can I recycle?
You can recycle all types of solid household plastic food and drink packaging such as:
- tubs (eg ice-cream and margarine tubs)
- pots (eg yoghurt pots)
- trays (eg meat and fruit trays)
- bottles (eg. milk bottles, washing up bottles)
Please go to Additional Plastic Frequently Asked Questions to find out about the types of plastic that we cannot recycle.
2. Why does the plastic need to be clean?
Dirty plastic can be unhygienic, unpleasant and unsafe to handle. It can also contaminate the other materials, which means we might not be able to recycle them.
3. Can I recycle the plastic lids from bottles?
Yes. Please wash and squash plastic bottles to save space on our vehicles.You can put the lids back on bottles if they are squashed flat.
4. Can I mix plastic bottles and plastic food packaging together?
Yes. Please make sure they are clean. You can also mix them with the cans but please keep them separate from the rest of your recycling.
5. Why can I mix cans and plastic together when I have to separate everything else?
Cans and plastic can be mixed together because the cans are then separated from the plastic using magnets. All the other materials need to be separated beforehand so they can be put into separate containers on our vehicles.
6. What if I don't have any more space in my green box?
If you need an additional container please contact Council Connect councilconnect@bathnes.gov.uk 01225 39 40 41. You can also put your recycling out in any suitable container such as plastic carrier bags or a plastic box.
7. Should I squash my plastic before I put it out?
Yes please. If you can squash your plastic it helps to saves room and means we can fit more on the vehicle. The easiest way to do this is to stamp on it.
8. How is the plastic recycled?
The plastic is recycled into a variety of products from drainage pipes, park benches and waste bins to fleece jackets and food grade packaging.
9. Why can't you take plastic film?
These are difficult for the sorting machines to separate and we do not have an established market that makes it cost effective to collect this material.
10. Why can't you take black plastic?
There is no established market for black plastic. This cannot be recycled currently.
11. Why can't you take other plastic items such as toys?
Other types of plastic are difficult to collect and to sort and they also may contain non-plastic items.
12. Can I recycle plant pots?
No. We cannot collect plant pots but some local garden centres will collect these for reuse or recycling.Here are details of a few, but we would advise you to ring and check first to ensure that this information is still current.
Whitegate Nurseries, Stockwood Hill, Keynsham, Bristol, Avon BS31 2AN, Tel: 0117 986 2653 - take trays but not pots
Keynsham Garden Centre Hicks Gate, Keynsham, Bristol, Avon BS31 2AD Tel: 0117 977 8945 - takes pots
Whitehall Garden Centre Norton Lane, Whitchurch, Bristol, Avon BS14 0BT Tel: 01275 832296 - takes pots
Homebase: Bath, Pines Way, Bath Avon BA2 3ET, Tel 08456 407036 - takes pots for other customers to use
13. Can I recycle household plastic packaging at the Recycling Centres?
Yes. You can now put household plastic packaging in the mixed cans and plastic banks.
14. I live in flats and have a Mini Recycling Centres (MRC). Can I recycle household plastic packaging there?
Yes, you can now mix household plastic packaging in with your plastic bottles and cans.