Recycling Your Rubbish With Wakefield Council Renewi.
Using your bins at home.

Most homes in Wakefield have three household bins – one green and two brown. Sorting your rubbish into the correct bin is important; it ensures items can be recycled and reduces the need for raw materials thus reducing our carbon impact and it reduces the amount of rubbish we have to dispose of.
We can recycle and reuse up to 95 per cent of items (including from your green bin), but only if you have sorted your rubbish at home.
Some items, such as electrical goods, textiles, wood and paint do not belong in any bin – they need to be taken to your nearest Household Waste Recycling Centre.
Let’s sort it out!
Here are some helpful tips on sorting your rubbish into the correct bin. Please note, this is not an complete list of items, but covers the most popular items.
You can also download our helpful guide to getting the most out of your recycling collection, and using your bins correctly.
Brown recycling bin
Rinsing bottles and jars is essential so they can be recycled; please replace their lids before they go in the bin. We can recycle these too. Squashing cardboard boxes will help save space, meaning you can get more in. Please only place these items in your brown recycling bin.
A brown banner saying these items belong in your brown recycling bin, steel cans, plastic bottles, aluminium cans, mixed paper and cardboard, glass bottles and jars, aerosols and clean foil trays.
Yes please
plastics – only bottle shaped plastics and their lids should be put in your brown recycling bin. This includes pop bottles, detergent bottles, washing up liquid bottles. All other plastics belong in the green bin always empty, wash and put the lids back on
steel cans – soup, beans, dog food and so on – remember to give them a quick rinse
aluminium drinks cans
paper and card – including paperback books, newspapers, magazines and envelopes
glass bottles and jars – but not if they’re broken. Rinse and put the lids back on
aerosol cans (that are empty) – for example deodorant bottles, air fresheners and furniture polish
If your brown recycling bin gets full, you can use plastic bags to leave additional recycling at the side of the bin. Do not put plastic bags inside your bin.
No thanks
Items that shouldn’t go in your brown recycling bin include:
anything plastic that isn’t a bottle or a lid – all food packaging, carrier bags, soup or yoghurt pots, margarine tubs, fruit or vegetable punnets and food trays
window pane glass, drinking glasses and Pyrex dishes
shredded/ waxed/ greaseproof paper
card with food on it, for example, takeaway pizza boxes
juice and smoothie cartons
any metal items other than cans and tins
Green household bin
Rubbish in the green bin is also sorted and items are recycled.
A green banner saying these items belong in your green household rubbish bin, juice cartons, yoghurt pots, nappies, plastic bags and film, wood shavings and pet bedding, food waste, polystyrene and plastic food trays
We can recycle some items from your green bin too, so make sure you put these items in this bin.
Yes please
Juice cartons
Plastic food trays – for example take-out trays, trays that cooked and uncooked meats come in
Yoghurt pots and ice cream tubs
Food
Pet food
Plastic bags
Plastic packaging
Nappies
Garden recycling bin
A brown poster saying these items belong in your brown garden waste bin, flowers and plants, bark, twigs and branches, leaves, hedge trimmings and pruning's, grass cuttings and weeds
We collect garden waste from March through to November. Here is a list of what can and cannot go in that bin
Yes please
flowers and plants
bark, twigs and branches
leaves
hedge trimmings and prunings
grass cuttings
weeds
No thanks
food, fruit or vegetables
soil, turf or compost
pet waste and cat litter
bones and eggshells
vacuum contents and hair
planks of wood or large branches
rubbish or recycling
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