What you can put in your green recycling bin
What you can put in your green bin
Your green bin is for recycling. It is important that items placed in your recycling bin should be loose (not in plastic bags), clean and dry. Recycling bins containing plastic bags will not be emptied until the bags are removed
You can find out how best to dispose of a particular item by using our recycling A to Z and reading the content below.
Green bin collections
Waste from this bin will be collected once a fortnight. To find out which day your green recycling bin will be emptied, please see our collection dates page.
We start our collections at 7:00am. So you must put your bin out at the boundary of your property before 7:00am, but after 7:00pm the previous evening. Please make sure it's visible to our crew.
After your bin has been emptied, please return it back to your property. If you leave it out on the pavement, it may become a nuisance to people in the area.
What you can put in your green bin
You can put the following into your green recycling bin:
- newspapers, magazines and telephone directories
- paper and clean cardboard
- plastic bottles (such as drinks, detergent, shampoo and plastic milk bottles - please leave the lids on)
- steel and aluminium food and drinks cans
- empty aerosols
- glass bottles and jars (leave the tops on)
- plastic food pots, tubs and trays (such as yoghurt pots, ice cream containers and margarine tubs)
- waxed cartons and Tetra Paks (such as those used for juices and soups)
- foil and foil trays
- shredded paper
- envelopes (including window type), greetings cards and junk mail
- wrapping paper
Please rinse all food residue from items before placing them loose in your green bin. This helps improve the quality, and therefore the value, of the recycling, as well helping to keep your bin fresh. Loose materials are much easier to sort.
What you can't put in your green bin
The following items can't be recycled:
- plastic/carrier bags
- polystyrene
- glass such as drinking glasses, Pyrex ware, and broken window panes
- textiles
- food waste (please put this in your food bin)
- garden waste (this can be collected via the brown bin scheme)
- batteries
- books
If you put items that can't currently be recycled into your green bin, we may not be able to empty it. It will be contaminated and will go to general waste instead.
This currently costs us hundreds of thousands of pounds per year that we could use for other services. Please help us to avoid any unnecessary costs. Please only put items listed on your recycling sticker or on our website in your green bin.
For more information about the county-wide recycling service, please visit the Recycle Norfolk website.
Bin not big enough?
We can't accept materials not contained within your green recycling bin. If you regularly have too much recycling, you may be able to order an extra bin. Please see our new and replacement bins page.
What happens to your recycling?
We send the borough's recycling to the Norse Environmental Waste Services plant in Norwich. Here it is sorted using the latest technology, and then sent to various organisations for processing.