Recycle from home
We operate the ‘Recycle from Home’ service throughout Barnet, collecting recyclables from your home on a weekly basis. Residents have been provided with a black box and a blue box to fill with household materials and place out on the kerbside for collection.
- What materials can you recycle from home?
- What if you have extra recycling that cannot fit in your boxes?
- Blue box net
- How does the scheme work?
- What is your collection day?
- Assisted collections
- Further information
What materials can you recycle from home?
Please ensure that you put your items for recycling into the correct boxes, as shown below. The collection crew sort your black box items into compartments on one side of the recycling collection vehicle and the blue box materials are sorted into compartments on the other side. As a result, we are able to collect your recycling far more efficiently if your items are placed into the correct box.
In the black box:
- glass bottles and jars* (please rinse)
- paper*
- car and household batteries
- mobile phones
- shoes (please place these in a bag to protect them)
- textiles (please place these in a bag to protect them)
- engine oil (in the original container or in a container which is specifically for the storing of engine oil)
- yellow pages.
In the blue box:
- plastic bottles (please remove tops and squash)
- cardboard
- food tins and drink cans* (please rinse)
- aerosols (empty and not pieced or squashed)**
- foil (please rinse)
- juice and milk cartons (Tetra Paks).
* In Barnet it is compulsory to recycle these items.
** Please note that we cannot collect spray paint cans or gas canisters.
Plastic Bottles
We can collect:
- plastic milk bottles
- shampoo bottles
- drinks bottles
- detergent bottles
- plastic bottles with triggers (bottles for cleaning materials with a spray mechanism on top - although the triggers will not be recycled as they contain many different components - if the triggers are left loose in the box, they will not be collected)
- any other plastic item which is bottle shaped.
We cannot collect:
- yoghurt pots
- margarine tubs
- plastic cups
- plastic tubes
- plastic food trays
- punnets
- sandwich packets
- plastic wrapping
- cling film
- any other plastic item which is not bottle shaped.
The reason we cannot collect plastic items other than plastic bottles is because to ensure that items are recycled, we need to have a reliable market for them. There are currently very limited markets and facilities for reprocessing plastics other than plastic bottles in the UK. For this reason, we are only collecting plastic bottles. These are being sent to a reprocessor in the UK for recycling.
Cardboard
We can collect clean, flattened cardboard including:
- greeting cards
- cereal boxes
- cardboard packaging
- toilet roll centres
- thick, corrugated cardboard.
We cannot collect:
- cardboard which has been contaminated with food waste (e.g. dirty pizza boxes).
To ensure your cardboard is collected:
- flatten all cardboard boxes
- rip up large cardboard so that the pieces will fit into the blue box
- if your blue box is full, you can leave additional pieces of cardboard in manageable bundles next to the blue box. Pieces must be no bigger than your blue box.
Large, unflattened boxes will not be collected because they will make inefficient use of the space on your recycling collection vehicles.
Please ensure you put your items in the correct box. This will assist our collectors in sorting your recycling, thereby making the service more efficient.
Blue box net
The blue box has a net lid. Simple instructions are provided with the net to enable residents to attach it to the blue box to stop the recycling blowing away. It does not matter if the contents of the blue box get wet. There are holes in the base of the box so that rainwater can drain away. Wet recyclables will still be collected If you have lost the net for the blue box, contact us using the details opposite to order a replacement.
What if you have extra recycling that cannot fit in your boxes?
If you regularly have more recycling than can fit in to one blue and one box, then you can order additional boxes. These stack on top of one another to save space.
If you, as a one off, have more recycling than will fit into your boxes, you can leave additional recycling in carrier bags labelled 'recycling' next to your boxes on your collection day. We are not able to collect recycling from large sacks or bin bags because the collection crews hand sort your recycling at the kerbsite into the different materials and this is not efficient when the recycling is in large sacks.
How does the scheme work?
Leave your blue and black boxes:
- out by 7am on your allocated collection day
- on the boundary of your property, on your allocated collection day so we can see them easily from the roadside
- away from normal refuse items
- clearly label any additional bags full of recyclables.
What is your collection day?
Assisted collection
If you are physically unable to move your blue and black boxes ask us for an assisted collection and a mutually convenient collection point will be arranged with you. Please note that recycling collectors will not go through the back gates of properties to collect recycling.
If you need an assisted collection, please contact the council using the details on the left hand side of this page.
Further information
Contact the council (details opposite) if:
- you need to order a blue or black box
- your blue or black box has been missed by the collection crew
- your blue or black box has been lost, broken or stolen - we will deliver another one to you
- you need an assisted collection.
Was this information useful? Let us know
Email this pageLast modified by: Rachel Jones on 17/10/2011