Please do not contaminate blue, purple or brown bins by using any plastic bags. This includes bin liners and carrier bags.
Purple bin
Your purple bin is for:
- glass
- cans
- plastic
- cartons
Items must be loose, empty, clean and dry.
Purple bins should only contain the recyclable items listed below.
Glass
Metals
- food and drink tins and cans
- aerosols
- tinfoil
- chocolate and biscuit tins
- metal lids
- coffee pods
Plastics
- plastic bottles
- milk cartons
- plastic tubs, trays and pots
- fruit and vegetable punnets
- toiletry bottles
- cleaning product bottles
- lids and tops
- medicine bottles
- plastic egg boxes
- coffee pods
Cartons
- juice cartons
- soup cartons
- other cartons
- tetra packs
What not to include
- plastic bags or liners (please recycle your plastic bags, soft plastic wraps, liners, etc at participating supermarkets)
- hard plastics (such as toys, coat hangers, CD cases)
- metal pots, pans or trays
- cutlery
- crisp bags
- tablet blister packs
- bubble wrap
- cling film
- polystyrene
- electrical items
- packaging with food residue
- used tissues or kitchen roll
- food and drink pouches
- light bulbs
- Pyrex or crockery
- mirrors
- contaminated tinfoil
- paint tins
- batteries and devices containing batteries (such as e-cigarettes, mobile phones, laptops, electronic toys, electric toothbrushes, and shavers - as doing so can cause fire)
Blue bin
Your blue bin is for:
Items must be loose, clean and dry.
Blue bins should only contain the recyclable items listed below.
- cardboard
- cardboard boxes (place any large boxes beside your bin, flattened and tied or taped)
- cereal boxes
- toilet and kitchen roll tubes
- corrugated cardboard
- newspapers, magazines and catalogues
- junk mail and brochures
- paperback books
- paper, including shredded paper
- greeting cards
- wrapping paper
- envelopes
- cardboard egg boxes
What not to include
Please do not include the following non recyclable items in your blue bin.
- plastic bags or liners (please recycle your plastic bags, soft plastic wraps, liners etc at participating supermarkets)
- paper towels or tissues
- padded envelopes
- plastic wrapping or bubble wrap
- electrical items
- duvets or bedding
- clothes or shoes
- hardback books
- plastics
- cans
- glass
- kitchen foil
- cling film
- takeaway pizza boxes
- polystyrene
- packaging with food residue
- photographs
- batteries and devices containing batteries (such as e-cigarettes, mobile phones, laptops, electronic toys, electric toothbrushes, and shavers - as doing so can cause fire)
Brown bin
Your brown bin is for:
- organic waste from the garden
- food waste from the home
These can produce renewable energy and bio fertilisers or compost.
Garden waste
- grass cuttings
- weeds
- dead flowers and plants
- leaves and bark
- hedges and branches (tie in bundles of about 1 metre and place beside your bin over a few weeks)
- windfall fruit
You can also take your garden waste only (not food waste) to a HWRC.
Food waste
Food can be cooked or uncooked. It should be placed in compostable biodegradable bags.
View more on food waste.
- dairy
- fish, meat & bones
- fruit & vegetables
- bread
- rice & pasta
- tea leaves, tea bags & coffee grounds
- egg shells.
What not to include
- plastic bags (non compostable or non biodegradable)
- plastic
- rubble
- turf or soil
- wood of any kind
- food or drinks containers
- animal litter, bedding or faeces
- soil (this can only be disposed of at Bartonholm Recycling Centre)
Grey bin
Your grey bin is for household waste that can't be recycled.
- plastic and black bags
- polystyrene
- crisps and sweet wrappers
- used tissues and wipes
- cling film
- light bulbs
- pet litter, animal waste or bedding
- nappies
- personal hygiene products
- food and drink pouches
- hard plastics (such as toys, coat hangers, CD cases)
- padded envelopes
- tablet blister packs
- ceramics
- photographs
Any extra waste can also be taken to a HWRC.
For large items of household waste you can arrange a bulky waste collection.
What not to include
- plastics, cans and glass
- cartons
- paper, card and cardboard
- food waste
- garden waste
- electrical items
- textiles and shoes
- batteries and devices containing batteries (such as e-cigarettes, mobile phones, laptops, electronic toys, electric toothbrushes, and shavers - as doing so can cause fire)
Collection Cycle
Grey, blue and purple bins are collected every 3 weeks. Brown bins are collected every fortnight.
Absorbent Hygiene Collection Service
The absorbent hygiene product (AHP) collection is a service for customers with a particularly high amount of nappies, or absorbent hygiene waste products. This service may be provided on a temporary basis, depending on circumstances. We provide a limit of one free 140 litre bin.
From April 23 2024, we will collect your AHP bin every three weeks, on the same collection day and along with your normal grey general waste bin.
Hygiene collection is for:
- nappies
- associated nappy changing rubbish (for example, cotton wool, wet wipes, nappy sacks)
- incontinence pads
To apply for this service please call 01294 310000.
Disposal of fireworks
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service provides the following information:
Used fireworks should be disposed of by soaking for a least a few hours in water before placing in a plastic bag then disposing of the soaked, bagged fireworks in your outdoor general refuse bin.
If any fireworks did not work, do not return to them till after your display has finished. At the end of the display faulty fireworks should also be soaked, bagged and binned.
Other recyclable items
Metal
All metal is 100% recyclable. Please take any metal items not listed above to your Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC).
Electrical items
Take small electrical items to your HWRC.
Batteries
Batteries should not be placed in bins, as this may cause a fire risk at reprocessing facilities.
Small household batteries can be recycled at:
- most electrical retailers
- some supermarkets
- North Ayrshire libraries, public offices and HWRC
Large rechargeable batteries (eg from lawnmowers) should be placed in the small appliances container unit at our HWRC.
Car batteries should be recycled at the garage where the new battery is fitted.
Small devices containing batteries such as: e-cigarettes, mobile phones, laptops, electronic toys, electric toothbrushes, and shavers should be recycled at our HWRC.
Textiles
For textile recycling, either:
Wrong stuff, wrong bin
It costs us £3 million a year to send waste for final disposal. This impacts on the environment as well as the delivery of services.
If your bin contains the wrong stuff, we won't collect it. Instead, we'll put a red tag on your bin to tell you why your bin has not been emptied.
If your bin has been tagged:
- Remove the wrong items and the tag.
- Put your bin out for the next collection day.