Brown bins

Most households in Plymouth now have a brown bin for rubbish that cannot be recycled. For more information about recycling please visit our recycle for Plymouth pages.

What can I put in my brown bin?

Your brown bin is 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 my brown bin?

Please do not put hot ash, rubble or hazardous waste, such as chemicals in your brown bin. 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.

If you are in a garden waste collection area, please do not put garden waste in your brown bin, you are entitled to a free garden waste collection service. Visit our garden waste pages for details or contact us on 01752 668000 to find out if you are eligible.

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 brown bin may pose a health risk to our collection staff.

What happens if I've got something large to dispose 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.

When will my rubbish 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 happens if my bin collection is missed?

There may be a number of reasons why your bin was not collected:

• it was not left at the boundary of your property
• it may contain the wrong items, eg rubble
• it may be faulty, damaged or too heavy
• it was 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 bin collection to have been missed through no fault of your own, please contact us and we will arrange for it to be emptied on the next working day.

You can help us by:

• making sure that refuse sacks are good quality and are tied up properly, avoid overfilling as bags will split if overfilled
• making sure that your rubbish has been put ready for collection in a place that is easy to get to, it should not be put out for collection any earlier than 6pm the evening before collection and any later than 6.30am on the scheduled collection day
• making sure 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
• putting your recycling out on the right day after a bank/public holiday, as we will collect your recycling on a different day, these changes will be advertised on this website and in local publications
• making sure that you don't put broken bottles/glass, building materials and hypodermics needles in with your domestic rubbish
• making sure that you don't put liquids such as oil or paint in with your recycling or rubbish, these materials can be taken to your local recycling centres at Chelson Meadow and Weston Mill

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