Green Box Tips

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• Green Box Tips

Tips for using your green box:

• Please sort your recyclable materials and keep them separated
  
• Put each type of material i.e. glass bottles and jars, newspapers and magazines, cans, and tins in separate carrier bags or separate green boxes
  
• Put glass and jars in the bottom, newspapers in the middle, cans and textiles on top
  
• If you do use extra boxes please separate the recyclable materials into each box
  
• Please do not mix up recyclable materials in each box
  
• Only put appropriate materials into your green box
• Only put plastic bottles into the green bin as other plastics such as margarine tubs, yoghurt pots and carrier bags cannot be recycled.  If the wrong plastics are put out for recycling they will not get collected
  
• If your recycling does not fit into your box, place extra material in a plastic carrier bag (not a black refuse sack) beside your box
  
• Please put your green box at the edge of your property, clearly visible near the pavement, on your collection day by 7.00am.
  

What can you recycle in your green box?

Paper	If you want to recycle cardboard take it to your nearest Recycling Point or the Villiers Road Recycling Centre Please Note: At present the Council is unable to accept shredded paper for recycling as available disposal routes preclude us from doing this.  We use a high quality paper disposal route in which shredded paper is considered a contaminate and could subject an entire load to landfill.  Our Green Waste disposal contractors experience problems relating to containment of the shredded paper and litter risks on their sites.
Glass bottles and jars	Please rinse (labels can be left on) and remove tops from all glass bottles and jars. No broken glass or other types of glass, e.g. Pyrex, window panes, etc.
Food and drink cans	Please rinse (labels can be left on) and squash cans and tins before putting them in the green box.
Clothes and shoes	The Council encourages you to donate your unwanted clothing to your local charity shops, otherwise, they can be put in your green box for collection. Please keep clean and dry by separating and placing in a bag.
Plastic bottles	We currently collect plastic bottles only, e.g. milk bottles, shampoo bottles, soft drink bottles etc. Please remove lids and rinse and squash bottles before putting them in the green box.

And what you cannot recycle in your green box

Please do not put the following materials in your Green Box:

• Cardboard (can be taken to local Recycling Points)
  
• Food packaging, plastic containers, and trays
  
• Telephone directories (can be taken to Villiers Road Recycling Centre)
  
• Yoghurt pots and margarine tubs
  
• Plastic packaging / microwave trays
  
• Garden and garage chemicals and oil bottles
  
• Bottle tops.

The Green Box household recycling scheme aims to:

• Reach the Council’s recycling targets and avoid financial penalties
  
• Minimise council tax increases
  
• Protect the environment.

Thank you for helping