Introduction
For most people in Somerset we will collect your recycling and food waste every week. This might be different for properties with communal collections.
You can check your collection days online here. Please include a space when entering your postcode.
Recycling helps protect our environment and our Recycling Tracker shows exactly what happens to every tonne of recycling we collect. Sorting your recycling into the correct containers helps us recycle more material in the UK .
What we collect
Full details on what items are collected on our recycling collections
Bright Blue Bag
- Plastic bottles – please rinse, squash, put caps and tops back on. Discard pumps and trigger sprays.
- Plastic pots, tubs and trays – any colour.
- Tins and cans, steel or aluminium – please rinse, squash (if safe to do so) and place loose lids inside squashed cans. No need to remove labels.
- Aluminium foil – rinsed and scrunched.
- Aerosols – must be empty and do not pierce.
Box 1 (usually black)
- Paper – newspapers, magazines, leaflets, directories, white envelopes (no need to remove windows), and white paper.
- Cardboard – brown or grey, corrugated, greetings cards, brown envelopes. Small pieces can go inside larger boxes, cut or tear up large pieces.
- Large boxes – pieces should be torn up or taken to a recycling site.
Box 2 (usually green)
- Glass bottles and jars – rinsed and unbroken, no table or cook ware, put metal and plastic tops and lids back on.
- Cartons, such as Tetra Paks – please rinse, squash and put any caps back on.
Note: If you produce little recycling, you can put it all in one box.
Food waste bin
All food waste, cooked or raw.
Plastic bags (not black sacks)
- Small household batteries – put in a tied plastic bag.
- Small household electricals items – no bigger than a carrier bag (such as kettles or toasters, no TVs or monitors). Put in an untied plastic bag.
- Textiles – only clothes of good enough quality to be worn again (that you would otherwise take to a charity shop). Put in a tied bag (to keep dry) and put on top of a recycling box.
Textiles like bedding, curtains, blankets and throws are not collected at the kerbside (good quality clothes, shoes and textiles can be taken to recycling sites).
Sorry, we can’t take these in your recycling
- Compostable or biodegradable packaging – these cannot be recycled with our food or garden waste collections
- Broken glass or light bulbs (broken or unbroken). Unbroken low-energy light bulbs can be taken to any recycle site.
- Glass that is not a bottle or jar, such as mirrors, drinking glasses, Pyrex, vases.
- Old or unused wall paper
- Shiny, thermal paper, as used for many till receipts
- Plastic films and wrappers, for example crisp packets, pet food pouches, film lids, bread bags (Many supermarkets now collect soft plastics)
- Syringes, knives and other sharp objects
- Metal kitchenware, such as saucepans, baking trays, cutlery
- 5 litre large beer kegs
- Old metal tools
- Nappies and pet excrement
- Large quantities of cardboard or very large boxes – please take to a recycling centre
- Single-use “paper” cups – find a local collection point via the National Cup Recycling Scheme
- Textiles other than wearable clothes or shoes – please take to charity shop or textile bank.
- Blister packs, such as used for pills
Recycling guidance
Only use carrier bags for wearable clothes and shoes, shredded paper, small electricals items or batteries.
Never use black sacks for recycling as they may be mistaken for rubbish.
We do not supply lids for recycling boxes. To assist with storage between collections, stretch covers are available to buy. See stretch covers for boxes.
Security and identity theft
While much of the concern about identity theft has moved to the risks of online cybercrime, in the past the police have warned about suspicious individuals spotted looking through recycling boxes at night.
As the police and government advise, householders should take steps to avoid fraud or identity theft. Credit cards and similar items must be fully cut up, while documents that could be misused should be destroyed, preferable by shredder.
These can include bank statements, credit card receipts, utility and tax bills, pay slips, old driving licences or passports, as well as CVs and items with signatures or National Insurance numbers.
Even seemingly innocuous material – such as received mail with your name and address – can be misused when combined with other forms of ID.
Shredded paper can be left out in a tied carrier bag,
If large amounts of papers need destruction, residents may wish to use our business directory and other sources to find companies offering confidential waste services.
More on ID risk can be found at the National Fraud and Cybercrime Reporting Centre