How to sort your household waste

Blue Bin and Bag

The following materials can be recycled in your blue bin or bag:

  • paper
  • cardboard (including food and drinks cartons)
  • steel and aluminium tins
  • plastic bottles and food containers.

Please do not place the following items in your blue bin or bag:

  • plastic bags
  • polystyrene
  • plastic film
  • textiles
  • shoes
  • glass
  • residual household waste
  • food waste
  • garden waste
  • polythene bags or cellophane wrappers
  • glass bottles and jars.

Please present your blue bin by 7am on your regular recycling collection day.

Brown Bin

The following materials can be recycled in your brown bin:

  • grass cuttings
  • weeds
  • shrub cuttings
  • hedge trimmings
  • flowers and plants
  • leaves & twigs.

Householders wishing to recycle garden waste in an Inverclyde Council brown bin need to buy a seasonal garden waste permit. 

Please do not place the following items in your brown bin:

  • cellophane type wrappers, cling film, plastic bags
  • vegetable peelings, tea bags, food scraps (due to risk of compost becoming infected with e.g. salmonella, picked up from kitchen surfaces).

Please DO NOT place the following items in your brown bin (these items should be taken to the Recycling Centre at Pottery Street):

  • garden tools
  • garden equipment
  • garden furniture
  • rubble (please note that a car boot load of rubble can be deposited free of charge, any amount greater than this will incur a charge). 
  • soil     

 

The charge for collecting garden waste from the kerbside in 2024 is £42.00 per bin. A permit is required for each brown bin presented containing garden waste.

Permits last for all brown bin collections during the garden waste collection season.

The £42.00 charge applies regardless of at what point in the year the permit is purchased.

Please present your brown bin by 7am on your regular recycling collection day during the garden waste collection season.

Bins presented containing garden waste without a valid permit will not be emptied.

Soil cannot be recycled in brown bins.     

Brown bins containing soil will not be uplifted.  

You can recycle your garden waste at our Recycling Centres throughout the year.  

Green Container

Your GREEN CONTAINER can be used to recycle all types of food waste including spoiled packaged food. 

Food waste is collected fortnightly along with black bins. 

Please present your green container by 7am on your regular black bin collection day.

Black Bin

Your BLACK bin should be used for all the residual household waste which is not suitable for recycling.

Please present your black bin by 7am on your regular collection day.

Note: Do not pack bins too tightly - material can become stuck and your bin may not be emptied.