Recycling containers and purple bin recycling at home
How do I recycle and when is it collected?
Check your collection day
How do I recycle and when is it collected?
I live in a | Your service | Your recycling is collected |
Block of flats
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Most blocks have large purple communal bins
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Weekly
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House or a flat in converted house
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Purple wheeled bins or clear sacks
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Weekly
Leave at the edge of your property before 7am
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Flat above a shop
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Clear sacks
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Leave at the kerbside before 7am
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Flat above a shop on these streets:
- Bethnal Green Road and Redchurch Street
- Bow Road
- Cambridge Heath Road
- Commercial Road
- Commercial Street and Whitechapel High Street
- East India Dock Road
- Grove Road (Mile End Road to Haverfield Rd)
- Hackney Road
- Leman and Hooper Street
- Midlothian Rd and Burdett Road
- Mile End Road
- Osborne Street, Brick Lane and Hanbury Street
- Roman Road (Parnell Rd to St. Stephens Rd)
- Roman Road (St. Stephens Rd to Cambridge Heath Rd)
- Whitechapel Road
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Clear sacks |
Daily collection
Leave at the kerbside before 7am
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Recycling containers – where do I get them?
Never put recycling in black sacks.
I live in a block of flats
You don’t need sacks to recycle. Empty your recycling into the communal bins loose or use any clear sack. If you don’t have a communal bin at your block, please email fpr@towehamlets.gov.uk
I live in a house or house converted into flats with space for a purple wheelie bin
You don’t need sacks to recycle. Empty your recycling into the bin loose or use any clear sack. Order a new or replacement wheelie bin.
I live in a house or house converted into flats without space for a purple wheelie bin
Clear sacks are delivered twice yearly. Check your address is on the delivery schedule.
I live in a flat above a shop
Clear sacks are delivered twice every year. Check your address is on the delivery schedule.
What can I recycle?
You can recycle the following materials mixed together in your purple bin or clear sack.
What can I recycle?
Material | Yes, please recycle me |
Paper and card
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- Birthday and Christmas cards
- Cardboard boxes (flattened)
- Cardboard food packaging (e.g., cereal and clean pizza boxes)
- Envelopes (including ones with windows)
- Newspapers and magazines
- Paper - all sizes and colours
- Shredded paper (please place in a paper bag or an old envelope)
- Wrapping paper (no foil)
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Cartons
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- Juice, soup, sauce and milk cartons
- Empty and rinse containers
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Glass bottles and jars
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- All glass drinks bottles and all glass food jars, including beer and wine bottles, sauce jars, dressing (salad) bottles and jam jars Empty and rinse containers
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Tins and cans
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- Drink cans
- Food tins
- Empty aerosol cans
- Foil trays
- Sweet tins
- Metal bottle tops
- Jar lids Empty and rinse containers
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Plastic bottles, pots and trays
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- Bottles and caps, including drinks, shampoo and washing up bottles
- Food trays
- Fruit and vegetable punnets
- Margarine tubs, ice-cream tubs, and yoghurt pots Empty and rinse containers
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Other items
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- Clean aluminium foil (screw it up in a ball)
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These must not be placed in the purple bins and clear sacks
Material | No thanks, these must not be placed in the purple bins and clear sacks |
Paper and card
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- Any paper/card containing foil or metal
- Plastic-coated cardboard, polystyrene
- Soiled pizza boxes (and other food soiled boxes)
- Tissues
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Glass
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- Drinking glasses
- Mirrors• Sheet (window) glass
- Light bulbs and florescent tubes
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Plastic
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- Crisp packets
- Food film
- Plastic bags - please reuse them or return them to a supermarket
- Plastic food pouches
- Bubble wrap
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Other items
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- Any metal items other than food and drink cans
- Hard plastics e.g., toys, Tupperware
- Wood
- Garden waste
- Clothes, bedding, pillows, duvets
- Shoes
- Sanitary waste
- Dirty aluminium foil
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Check the Recycling A-Z for a detailed list of items that can be recycled and how.