Recycling tips

Advice and guidance on how to make the most of your waste and recycling services.

In East Herts, mixed recycling, cardboard and paper, and non-recyclable waste is collected every three weeks, and food waste is collected every week.

This service supports East Herts’ sustainability goals, makes it easier for residents to recycle, and ensures that we meet new government requirements to collect and recycle food waste and cardboard and paper separately. 

And by already collecting plastic bags and wrappings for recycling with plastic bottles, tubs and trays, metal and glass, we are meeting the requirements of the additional legislation being introduced in 2027. 

How to ‘recycle right’

  • Use our online A-Z guide, or check the ‘Recycling Information’ section of the Your East Herts app for details on what items go in each bin.
     
  • Lids and labels can be left on bottles and jars, but any left-over liquid or food can make other recyclables dirty - please empty your containers before recycling.
     
  • Give any food packaging a quick rinse out before placing in your mixed recycling bin – they don’t need to be spotless!
     
  • All plastic bags should be empty and loose when added to your mixed recycling bin to avoid being mistaken for contamination.
     
  • All mixed recycling should be loose in your black-lidded bin - recycling that is bagged up will not be collected as it cannot be sorted into the different materials at the next stage. 
     
  • Scrunch any foil into a ball roughly the size of a tennis ball as smaller bits may get lost down the sides of the recycling machinery.
     
  • Squash plastic bottles down and stack plastic pots and trays together to create more space in your bin.
     
  • Flatten down boxes and smooth down paper to create more space in your cardboard and paper bin, and make sure to remove plastic inserts or polystyrene before recycling.
     
  • If in doubt, leave it out – this helps ensure we are only sending the right materials to be recycled.

Not everything can be recycled from home, however your local Household Waste and Recycling Centre will have capacity to recycle (or rehome) a much wider range of items. 

Check the webpage for your local recycling centre before travelling. 

If you have large items that need collecting, such as furniture, appliances or mattresses, take a look at the Bulky Waste page.

Find your nearest recycling centre

The problems with putting items that can’t be recycled into your recycling bins are:

  • They can spoil the recyclable items: just think what a dirty nappy could do to clean recyclables!
  • It increases the likelihood of our recycling facilities rejecting whole lorry loads and them being sent for disposal – which has a negative effect on both the environment and the council tax payers’ wallet!
  • It might not get recycled: electrical items can easily be recycled when dropped off at a Household Waste and Recycling Centre, but cannot be processed for recycling when left in a kerbside bin.
  • It means it can’t be reused: some items that can’t be recycled from home (e.g. clothes, hard plastics such as toys etc.) could easily be donated to a local charity shop and kept in use for much longer.
  • It can be dangerous: placing batteries or small electrical items like vapes in with your recycling can lead to explosions and fires in the collection trucks and at the waste transfer station – it’s really important that these are recycled at dedicated collection points.

Ultimately it ends up costing more of the council tax due to longer sorting times and processing costs.

What happens next?

Find out what happens to your recycling after it is collected.

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