Your coloured bins are used as follows:
- Blue bin: recyclable materials
- Black bin: non-recyclable and non-compostable materials
- Green bin: food and garden waste
We include a cut-out-and-keep guide to what goes in which bin in most editions of Cambridge Matters, the magazine we deliver to all residents every three months.
Search our recycling and rubbish A to Z to find out about how to recycle, reuse or dispose of specific items.
Blue bins
Put these in your blue bin:
- Paper, including newspapers, magazines, greetings cards, and envelopes
- Cardboard
- Cartons, such as Tetra Pak
- Plastic bags, bottles, pots, and trays – apart from black plastic, which cannot currently be recycled
- Food and drink tins and cans, including sweet tins
- Empty aerosols
- Wrapping paper (no metallic plastic)
- Tinfoil and foil trays
- Glass jars and bottles
- Batteries, including laptop or phone batteries – attach them to the bin lid in a clear plastic bag
Do not put these in your blue bin:
- Food
- Liquids
- Nappies
- Clothes, textiles or shoes (take to charity shops or clothing banks)
- Expanded polystyrene or Styrofoam
- Foam and sponge
- Non-packaging plastic, including toys and bowls
- Flat glass or mirrors
- Pyrex
- Kitchen paper and tissues
- Dirty packaging
- Paint tins
Black bins
Put these in your black bin:
- General household non-recyclable and non-compostable material waste
- Disposable nappies should be put in the black bin
- Used paper tissues
Do not put these in your black bin:
- Empty or full paint tins
- Rubble
- Bricks
- Soil
- Very heavy items
- Electrical items
Green bins
Put these in your green bin:
- Garden waste, such as grass cuttings and leaves
- Untreated wood
- Straw and sawdust
- Food waste, including meat, fish dairy, and peelings
Do not put these in your green bin:
- Any plastic
- Plastic bags or sacks, including ‘biodegradable’ or compostable bags
- Cat or dog waste
- Soil, stones or turf
- Treated wood
- Rubble
We cannot collect extra garden waste.
You can use a kitchen caddy with a paper liner for your kitchen food waste, and empty it into your green bin when full.
