Households are being told to follow new rules on rubbish from the end of March including a list of items you can’t put in your bins or risk facing a fine.
New and simpler rules for recycling are coming into force very soon. Households in England will now have at least four bins and have been informed of six categories of items that cannot be recycled, with officials warning that people could risk heavy fines for bin misuse.
From next week, bin collectors will be required to collect food and garden waste, paper and card, all other dry recyclables, and general rubbish separately. Any banned items found in recycling bins could result in a penalty of up to £400.
The Simpler Recycling scheme, outlined by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, states: “We will make recycling easier: citizens will be able to recycle the same materials across England, whether at home, work or school, and will no longer need to check what is accepted for recycling in their local area.
“A universal standard will ensure that everything that can be collected for household recycling is collected in every region.
“Simpler Recycling will also end the ‘postcode lottery’ of bin collections in England, whereby councils collect different materials for recycling, causing confusion for households.”
In January, Legal expert Gary Rycroft appeared on BBC Morning Live addressing the change. He emphasised the importance of recycling so “we don’t waste things”, before adding that the change is “a really good policy”.
Items that cannot be recycled fall into the categories of Glass, Metal, Paper and card, Food waste, and Garden waste. You can find the full list of items you must not put in the new bins below:
You do not need to collect any glass not used as packaging. This includes:
You do not need to collect:
You do not need to collect:
You do not need to collect:
You do not need to collect any plastic packaging or non-packaging items labelled as ‘compostable’ or ‘biodegradable’, including coffee pods.
Food waste caddy liners used to hold food waste can be collected.
You do not need to collect: