Household recycling

If you live in a property with a front boundary you will be able to use the wheelie bin recycling service. Based on space available, some households are unsuitable for wheelie bins: these properties will use green boxes instead of blue wheelie bins for recycling.

If your bin has been lost, stolen or damaged, please contact customer services on 020 8825 6000 to order a replacement blue wheelie bin.

Standard recycling bins are 240L in size. Larger bins are available for properties meeting certain criteria.

Please note that bin deliveries can take up to 10 working days to be delivered.

For green box recycling properties, you can order additional green boxes online.

Your recycling will be collected on alternate weeks on your collection day. Check your collection schedule to find out when your recycling is collected. Please place your recycling at the edge of your property by 7am on collection day.

Extra recycling will be collected but please try to fit it in the bin first. If you are unable to fit your extra recycling in to your bin please present it in clear sacks so that the crew can see what is in the sacks. Any extra recycling presented in a black refuse sack will not be collected.

What can I recycle?

Please place the following items loose in your blue wheelie bin. This will help with the sorting process once bins have been collected.

Please rinse and flatten items if possible. 

  • plastic bottles, pots and tubs
  • paper (newspapers, magazines, envelopes, catalogues and junk mail all placed loose in your blue wheelie bin)
  • shredded paper (please put all shredded paper in an envelope; we suggest only shredding personal elements of letters)
  • cardboard
  • food and drink cartons (Tetrapak style, for example juice, soup, milk cartons)
  • food and drink cans
  • glass bottles and jars (no broken glass, drinking glasses, pyrex or window glass)
  • aerosol cans (please remove caps and lids; no gas canisters or spray paints)
  • aluminium foil and trays (please clean)
  • yellow pages/telephone directories 
  • pizza boxes - unless grease covered in which case they would not be recyclable

The following items can be recycled by placing separately on top of or next to your blue wheelie bin: 

  • textiles (please put in a clear or white plastic bag so that the crews can easily identify as recycling and tie shoes together in pairs)
  • engine oil (please stand upright in a sealed container; no cooking oil - this can be taken to a reuse and recycling centre)
  • domestic and vehicle batteries (keep household batteries in a tied up bag; please do not place car batteries on the pavement) 

You can recycle other materials at the reuse and recycling centres at Greenford or Abbey Road.

The symbols on the bottom of many plastic products identify the different types of plastic and their chemical composition - and if they can be recycled. 

The following items cannot be recycled: 

  • carrier bags, black sacks and cling film - carrier bags are now usually recycled through many supermarkets (particularly the larger ones). Find your nearest locations to recycle your plastic bags
  • crisp packets and sweet wrappers
  • crockery, pyrex and glassware (vases and drinking glasses)
  • polystyrene packaging - the only polystyrene exception is a type used for certain yoghurt pots, these will be indicated with a 6 PS symbol somewhere on the packaging
  • nappies 
  • grease covered pizza boxes 
  • coffee cups - but can be returned for recycling at some high street coffee shops (or take a reusable cup)