Recycling in Bristol

Recycling at Home in Bristol

There are many different ways to recycle and compost in Bristol. Use the links below to find out more.
Black Box recycling Kitchen waste Garden waste Plastic bottles	Recycling in flats Garden composting Recycling at school



Black Box Recycling
Everybody who lives in a house in Bristol can have a black box for recycling. Instead of putting rubbish in the bin, to be dumped in a landfill site, you can put many materials in your black box.
Look at how much can be recycled! paper clean aluminium (drinks) cans clean steel (food) cans clean aluminium foil clean glass bottles and jars empty aerosol cans Yellow Pages phone books glasses that's not
	old clothes old shoes (in pairs) car batteries domestic batteries engine oil

Put your black box outside your house by 7am on the right day each week and a lorry like this will take the materials away for recycling.

Recycling lorry

Kitchen Waste

Bristol City Council have introduced a new kind of recycling for leftover food. Every house has been given a small brown kitchen waste caddy and a larger brown bucket.

Put any type of leftover food in your kitchen caddy.
It doesn't matter if it's raw or cooked! For example:

Child scraping leftover food into brown kitchen caddy.

meat pasta

bread fish

vegetables rice

fruit cheese

cat and dog food pizza

Don't put the food in a plastic bag. If you want to wrap it up use some old newspaper.

Empty the food waste into the large brown bucket. Make sure you use the handle of the large bucket to lock it.

Child empties food waste from kitchen caddy into large brown bucket.

If you have a large garden you can buy a green wheelie bin from the council for garden waste. You can also put cardboard in your green bin. (There is a small yearly charge for collecting these materials.)

Child putting garden waste and cardboard into green wheelie bin.

Put your brown bucket and green bin (if you've got one) next to your black box each week. The council will collect the food and garden waste and take them to a special factory to be recycled into compost.

Child with black box, brown bucket and green bin outside house.

You can also put cardboard out for recycling. It will be collected with the food and garden waste and made into compost. If you haven't got a green bin, put it next to your black box or brown bucket. You need to flatten the boxes first.

Child putting cardboard out for recycling next to black box.

Recycling in Flats
If you live in a flat it's often difficult to use a black box. But don't worry! Many blocks of flats now have mini recycling centres, known as MRCs. You can use your MRC to recycle paper, glass and cans. Click here to see Bristol's MRC leagues and find out how well you and your neighbours are recycling!



Plastic bottles
At the moment you can't put plastic bottles in your black box or MRC, but you can take them to plastic recycling banks at supermarkets and around the city. Click here for a map showing where the plastic banks are.



Garden Composting
Compost bins are the best way to recycle garden waste and uncooked fruit and vegetables. In fact a composting is a great way of helping nature's recycling - otherwise known as rotting! Put your compost bin in your garden and put in:
uncooked fruit and vegetables tea bags shredded paper cardboard (without lots of ink on it) egg shells leaves and dead plants from the garden
After several months you will find fantastic compost at the bottom of your compost bin, perfect for using in the garden to help plants grow.



For more information about recycling in Bristol ring Bristol City Council's Recycling Helpline on 0117 922 3838 or see their website www.bristol-city.gov.uk/recycling.

To find out about recycling at school in Bristol use the links below:

Nursery and Primary Schools

Secondary Schools and Colleges

	Click to go to primary home
	Click to go to secondary home