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Blue bin waste

What to put in a blue bin, putting your bin out, text reminders, uncollected waste, tags, new or extra bins and unwanted second bins.

Weekly brown bin collections are coming

Some residents will see changes to green and blue bin days when the rollout reaches their area.

Check if your dates are changing

Read about the weekly brown bin collection

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What can I put in my blue bin?

Items should be placed in the blue bin loose, so please don't use black bags, plastic bags or liners in the bin. The only exception is shredded paper which can still be placed in a clear carrier bag.

Please note: some packaging may say it is recyclable however, this may not be possible in our recycling scheme so please check the information from ourselves and 'If in doubt, leave it out'.

Find out what goes in your bins

The below video shows what should go in blue bins and why it is important to get it right. Find out more about what happens to our blue bin waste.

When and where should I put my blue bin out?

Find out more information about when and where to put your blue bin out on the bin collection dates page.

Can you remind me to put my blue bin out?

The free East Riding App

East Riding council has introduced a new bin collection app. It’s free to download. Click the link below to download to your type of device:

Android App from Google Play (external website)

Apple App from the Apple App Store (external website)

Why wasn’t my blue bin collected?

The most common reasons for a blue bin not being collected are:

  • you didn’t put it out before 7am on your scheduled collection day
  • it wasn’t accessible to our crew
  • the lid wasn’t fully closed
  • there was a reason why we couldn’t accept your waste and a tag will have been attached to your bin explaining why
  • parked vehicles may have stopped our bin lorry reaching your property
  • it’s before 4.30pm on the day of collection - the bin crew may still come and collect your waste.

If none of the above reasons apply, find out if we can come back and collect it for you.

Can you come back for my uncollected blue bin waste?

What can I do with extra recycling waste?

If your blue bin is full and you can’t wait for the next collection, you can:

Please note: for the health and safety of yourself and others you must not bring wheelie bins to a household waste and recycling site.

Why is there a tag on my blue bin?

We’ll leave a tag on your bin if we haven’t been able to empty it because there was something in there we don’t collect.

The tag lists items that shouldn’t be in your blue bin. Remove any such items and place your bin out on your next collection date.

Find out what you can do with extra recycling waste if you can’t wait this long.

For all future blue bin collections, if bags are used in the blue bin, your bin will be tagged and not emptied. You will need to remove the bags before your bin can be collected on your next scheduled collection day.

The quality of our blue bin material is more important than ever, and bagged items cannot be separated and recycled at the sorting facility, as well as potentially damaging equipment.

For more information about the tagging process and why we can't empty bins which contain incorrect items, please watch the blue bin process video.

Can I request a blue bin?

How do I return an unwanted extra blue bin?

Request collection of an unwanted blue bin

What happens to the waste I recycle in my blue bin?

All the waste you put in your blue bin is taken to a materials recycling facility. A range of processes, such as magnets, wind tunnels and lasers are used to separate the waste ready for recycling. Our video, produced in partnership with Biffa Waste Services, shows this process in more detail, as well as showing why it is important to only put the right things into your blue bin:

How can I reduce, reuse or recycle my waste?

Find out more about how to reduce, reuse and recycle waste and how it can help save money.

Can I recycle soft plastics?

Soft plastics are the flimsy, lightweight plastics such as bread bags, cling film, plastic film lids, multipack wrappers, crisp packets and pet food pouches.

Large supermarket chains have introduced soft plastic recycling containers near entrances to their stores; to find out your nearest site and what types of plastics are accepted, please visit recyclenow. Please do not place them in your blue bin as they require a separate process to the other plastic pots, bottles, tubs and trays in order to be recycled.

Compostable and biodegradable plastic bags and packaging are not designed to be recycled so would cause issues with quality in the recycled materials. These types are not accepted in these containers, or in the blue bin. They are also not accepted in the brown bin as they do not break down in the In Vessel Composting process used on East Riding brown bin material. Any biodegradable or compostable item should be either composted at home or placed in the green bin.

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