Black bags

Some households in Plymouth need to put rubbish that cannot be recycled, out for collection in black bags. To limit the rubbish you put out in black bags, please visit our recycle for Plymouth pages.

What can I put in them?

Black bags are for all your domestic household rubbish that cannot be recycled. For more information on what you can recycle at home please visit our recycling at home and our green bins pages.

What can’t I put in them?

Please do not put hot ash, rubble or hazardous waste, such as chemicals in your back bags. Please visit our bulky waste collections page for details of our special collections service or our recycling centres page for details of our civic recycling sites where you can take along these items yourself.

Where possible, please take your glass bottles and jars to one of our recycling centres or take them to one of our recycling banks as putting them in your black bag may pose a health risk to our collection staff.

Please do not put garden waste in your black bag. You can dispose of your garden waste by taking it to one of our recycling centres.

When will they be collected?

Household rubbish collections are made once a week. If you have just moved to the area or are unsure of your day of collection please contact us.

What is the best type of black bag to use when storing my domestic refuse?

The best type of black bag to use is a bag marked as a heavy duty refuse sack. You can purchase cheaper versions but these do lead to problems during collection as they split open.

With all bags care should be taken not to overfill them. We appreciate your co-operation also in ensuring that no glass gets placed in bags as this can cause accidents to the collection staff if they get broken. So if you have bottles, or jars consider taking them to the recycling banks at your local supermarket. This also helps the recycling programme.

What if I've got something large to get rid of?

Please visit our bulky waste collections page for details of our special collections service or visit our recycling centres page for details of our civic recycling sites where you can take along old bulky items yourself.

What happens if my bags get missed?

There may be a number of reasons why your bags were not collected:

• they were not left at the boundary of your property
• they may have been contaminated
• they may be faulty, damaged or too heavy
• they were put out too late – after the crew had collected in your street
• the working day may not be finished
• there may have been no access either to the street or to the property
• it may not be the correct collection day for your property

If you believe your bag collection to have been missed through no fault of your own, please contact us and we will arrange for them to be collected on the next working day.

You can help us by:

• making sure that refuse sacks are of good quality and properly secured, avoid overfilling as this results in split bags
• ensuring that your refuse is available for collection, it should not be placed out for collection until 6pm the evening before collection and no later than 6.30am on the scheduled collection day
• ensuring that you are aware of your correct collection day, leaving your rubbish out at the wrong time could lead to a £50 fine, to check your collection day please contact us, please include your full address including house number or name
• reporting any missed refuse as soon as possible by contacting us

Please be aware that alternate collection arrangements are made during bank holidays. These changes will be advertised on this website and in local publications.

Please ensure that you do not place broken bottles/glass, building materials and hypodermics needles in with your domestic waste. Liquids such as oil or paint should not be placed in with your waste. These materials can be taken to your local recycling centres at Chelson Meadow and Western Mill.