The Greater Cambridge Shared Waste Service is a strategic partnership between Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council

Your guide to recycling and waste services

Love your clothes,

don’t bin them

2019

You can’t recycle clothes in your blue bin – find out how you can inside.

Your recycling and waste collections

We collect recycling one week…

...and we collect rubbish the next week

A blue bin or clear sacks for all your recycling

Green bins are collected once a month from December to the end of February, and fortnightly from March to November.

Please check the bin collections page on our website to find out your bin day and your collection schedule, including any adjustments for bank holidays.

You can use a kitchen caddy to collect food waste, then empty it into your green bin. Collect one free from selected council receptions – see website for details.

Paper caddy liners are also sold at these locations in packs of 50.

A green bin or brown paper sacks for your food and garden waste

A black bin or white sacks for your non-recyclable rubbish

Bin not emptied?Please report missed bins on our website after 3:30pm on collection day and by 3:30pm the day after your bin day.

Assisted collectionsIf you are unable to move your bins to the kerbside for collection and there is no-one who can do this for you, please ask us about assisted collections.

Are youSTOPCheck before you bin it! recycling right?

Place your containers at the kerbside by 6am on your collection day (or after 6pm the evening before), and completely close all bin lids.

Take your containers back in from the street as soon as possible after collection, so they do not block the pavement.

Recycle right – empty food or liquid from containers and rinse.

Please do:

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Overload bins – very heavy bins will not be emptied.

Put non-recyclable items in your blue or green bins – if in doubt, leave it out.

Put bio-plastic bags in your green bin

Please do not:

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7It costs Greater Cambridge taxpayers on average £10,000 EVERY MONTH to remove and dispose of incorrect items, like food, nappies and black bags, put into the blue bins.

One sixth of incorrect items are textiles or clothing which CAN NOT be recycled in the blue bin.

If all the textiles which were put into blue bins were taken to clothing banks or charity shops instead, they would be worth over £6,000 PER MONTH.

Please don’t put clothing, textiles or shoes in any of your wheelie bins. Pass them on to someone who can use them, donate them to charity or drop off at a clothing bank. As long as they are clean and dry, even worn out clothes can be recycled at clothing banks.

Not sure if it can be recycled?Check the ‘What goes in your bins’ page on our website, which has a search function.

What goes in your blue bins?Yes No

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Batteries - put in a plastic bag and tie the bag

to the handle of the blue bin.

Cardboard Paper & magazines Tins, cans & foil

Cartons Aerosol cans Glass bottles & jars

Plastic bottles Plastic pots, tubs, trays & bags

RecycleCleanEmptyDon’t bag it

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Not sure if it can be recycled?Check the ‘What goes in your bins’ page on our website, which has a search function.

The following can be recycled elsewhere – check our website.

Black bin bags or rubbish

Nappies, tissues, wipes & sanitary waste

Polystyrene

Glasses, flat glass or glass dishes

Mirrors, Pyrex, plates/crockery

Foil-lined plastic pouches e.g. from pet food

Clothing and textiles

Food, liquid or garden waste

Wood, plasterboard & DIY waste

Furniture or electricals

Scrap metal e.g. pans

Hard plastics e.g. bucket

Crisp packets

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What goes in your green bin?

What goes in your black bin?

Yes

Yes

No

No

Rubble/bricks

Soil

Very heavy items

Electrical items

Batteries

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Compost

ReducePlease try to reduce other rubbish that can not be recycled or composted

General rubbish including: nappies, polystyrene, crisp packets, pet food pouches / drinks pouches

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Cooked/uncooked food waste (including meat,

fish and dairy)

Garden waste

Untreated wood and sawdust

You can take these items to tips near Thriplow or Milton.

Plastic & plastic bags (including

biodegradable/ corn starch)

Non-compostable items

Nappies

Soil or stones

Painted or treated wood

Cat or dog waste

Plant pots and seedling trays

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What else can I

Recycling Points There are recycling banks around the Greater Cambridge area for shoes, clothing and textiles (clean and dry, but can be worn out); batteries; light bulbs; books, tapes and discs; and small electrical appliances. See our websites or www.recyclenow.com for details and locations.

Household Recycling Centres The large Recycling Centres near Milton and Thriplow are managed by Cambridgeshire County Council. You can recycle a range of items including large appliances, wood, scrap metal and car batteries, as well as dispose of bulky items. For more information and opening times visit www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Collection of bulky items We can collect many bulky items for a charge. Contact us or visit our websites for details. If you are having a new item delivered, check if the retailer will dispose of your old one.

Specialist recycling schemes You may have heard in the national media about plans for recycling crisp packets and other items which can’t be recycled in your kerbside bins. You can find out more about these schemes including locations of collection points at www.terracycle.co.uk

recycle?Is it broken? Try to repair it. There are regular local Repair Cafes where volunteers will try to mend your things for free – check out www.circularcambridge.org/repaircafe/ to find your next one. If you want to have a go yourself there is lots of advice on mending clothes at www.loveyourclothes.org.uk , and a global community of people helping each other to repair all manner of things at www.ifixit.com.

If you don’t want it any more, someone else can use it. Pass it on or sell it for free through websites like Freegle, Gumtree or Facebook marketplace, or donate to charities like Cambridge Re-Use, British Heart Foundation or Emmaus who may be able to collect them from you.

recycling or garden waste?

Too much

Cambridge Citywww.cambridge.gov.ukwaste@cambridge.gov.uk 01223 458282

South Cambswww.scambs.gov.ukwaste@scambs.gov.uk 03450 450 063

If you need an extra blue bin, please order one through our website free of charge.

If you only occasionally fill up your blue bin and need extra recycling collected, you can put it out next to your blue bin as follows:

• Break down cardboard to a size which would fit in the bin (with the lid closed) if there was space. Tie or tape together in a bundle. We can not collect wet cardboard, so please don’t leave it out in the rain.

• Put other recycling (except glass) in a transparent sack. A maximum of one clear sack will be collected. Black or other colour sacks will not be collected.

Garden waste

Recycling

If you need an extra green bin, you can subscribe to our garden waste collection service, which costs £35 per additional bin per full year. You can have up to three additional green bins. If you already have an additional green bin please visit our website to pay and receive your permit.

Your bin collection calendar

Please check your bin day and collection schedule on our website. Contact us if you are unable to do this.

Please note the following changes to normal collection days:

Other bank holidaysCollections following bank holidays (Friday 10 April, Monday 13 April, Friday 8 May, etc.) will be one or more days later than normal. Please check the council magazine or website for details.

Christmas 2019 and New Year 2020 collections

Usual day Revised day

Mon 23 Dec No change

Tue 24 Dec No change

Wed 25 Dec Fri 27 Dec

Thu 26 Dec Sat 28 Dec

Fri 27 Dec Mon 30 Dec

Mon 30 Dec Tue 31 Dec

Tue 31 Dec Thu 2 Jan

Wed 1 Jan Fri 3 Jan

Thu 2 Jan Sat 4 Jan

Fri 3 Jan Mon 6 Jan

Usual day Revised day

Mon 6 Jan Tue 7 Jan

Tue 7 Jan Wed 8 Jan

Wed 8 Jan Thu 9 Jan

Thu 9 Jan Fri 10 Jan

Fri 10 Jan Sat 11 Jan

Mon 13 Jan Back to normal

Green bins are collected monthly instead of fortnightly from December to March.

The last of your fortnightly collections will take place on your scheduled bin day between 9 and 20 December. Your next collection will be on your usual bin day one month later (between 7 and 17 January). Fortnightly collections resume from 2 March 2020.