What goes in my bins and boxes?

Find out more about what goes into your bins and boxes
Watch our video to find out more

Recycling your food waste

In May 2017 we introduced a policy of no food waste in your black bin. Instead, you must put all food waste in your food waste bin.

We are currently placing advisory stickers on black bins. These stickers are in conjunction with reminder letters residents should also have received. These stickers are not warnings and are only to advise residents that we don’t accept food waste in black bins and to please use your brown food waste bin instead.

Tips to help you increase your recycling:

Remove all food packaging before putting the waste in your food waste bin
Remember to rinse and recycle the packaging, if possible
Only use the food waste bags we supply - they decompose with the food waste and we supply them free of charge
If you need more food waste bags, please tie your last bag or tag to your food waste bin.

We will check black bins for food waste and if any is found in the first instance we will put a warning sticker on your bin as a reminder. These checks will start after residents receive their food waste bins or caddies.

If you continue to put food waste in your black bin after the first warning, we will place a second warning sticker on your bin and send you a letter. On the third occasion we will put a tag on your bin that will mean it won’t be collected.

You will need to remove the food waste from your black bin and put it in your food waste bin to ensure your black bin is emptied on the next scheduled collection day. We will not make any alternative arrangements to collect your black bin.

If you need more food waste bags, please tie your last bag or tag to your food waste bin. You can always collect rolls of food waste bags from any of our main household recycling centres.

If you don’t have a food waste bin or a kitchen food waste caddy, you can:

order them online, or
email foodwaste@belfastcity.gov.uk

Please note, due to the huge demand for kitchen caddies and food waste bins, delivery may take two to three weeks.

If you are waiting for a caddy and have a food waste bin, you can place food waste directly into your food waste bin or wrap it in newspaper.

Disposing of needles and other sharps

Sharps (needles, syringes and lancets) are clinical waste and must never be placed in a domestic bin of any type as they can cause injury to recycling and processing operatives.

Your doctor will provide a prescription for a sharps box and they can then be taken to a pharmacy for disposal free of charge.

Sharps boxes can also be purchased from pharmacies.

What goes in my bins and boxes?

Compost bin	Recycling bin	Purple recycling box	Black bin
Food waste	Paper (no wallpaper)	Glass bottles and jars	Tissue paper
Grass cuttings	Dry cardboard		Paper napkins
Plants and flowers	Aerosol cans		Metal and plastic lids of glass bottles and jars
Leaves, twigs and small branches	Plastic bottles		Bubble wrap
Hedge trimmings	Food and drink cans		Plastic cutlery
Shredded paper	Food and drink cartons (such as milk or juice)		Cellophane wrapping
Takeaway pizza boxes (torn up)	Clean aluminium foil and foil dishes		Envelopes with cellophane windows (not removed)
Cold ashes	Magazines / catalogues		Styrofoam
Teabags and coffee grounds	Biscuit tins		Crisp bags and containers
Egg shells	Soft back books		Plastic bags
Fruit and vegetable peelings	Toilet roll tubes		Barbecue foil bases
Bones	Cardboard food boxes (such as cereal boxes)		Broken light bulbs
Brown envelopes	Plastic pots, tubs and trays		Plastic ready meal packs (film attached)
Egg cartons (cardboard)	Envelopes with cellophane windows (removed)		Carry-out coffee containers and lids
Wet paper and cardboard	Egg cartons (cardboard or plastic)		Egg cartons (plastic)
Bottle corks	Plant pots (plastic)		Nappies and sanitary waste

If you have 2 recycling boxes and a small green bin.

Please recycle your waste as follows:

Black recycling box	Red recycling box	Green food waste bin
Paper (no wallpaper)	Cardboard	Meat, fish and cheese
Plastic bottles	Glass bottles and jars	Fruit and veg
Plastic pots, tubs, trays	Textiles*	Bread, cakes and pastries
Food and drink tins	Batteries*	Rice, beans and pasta
Aerosols	Hand tools	Teabags and coffee grounds
Clean aluminium foil*		Potato and vegetable peelings
Food and drink cartons e.g. milk or juice		Any other leftover food

*Please put in a separate bag.

If you have 3 stacked recycling boxes (wheelie box) and a small green bin.

Please recycle your waste as follows:

Blue recycling box	Red recycling box	Green recycling box	Green food waste bin
Paper (shredded paper*) (no wallpaper)	Food and drink cans	Glass bottles and jars (no broken glass)	Meat, fish and cheese
Textile*	Biscuit tins	Cardboard	Fruit and veg
Foil *	Aerosol cans		Bread, cakes and pastries
Batteries*	Food and drink cartons		Rice, beans and pasta
Hand tools	Plastic bottles		Teabags and coffee grounds
	Plastic pots, tubs and trays		Potato and vegetable peelings
			Any other leftover food

*Please put in a separate bag.

Your general waste bin is only for waste that cannot be recycled, like plastic bags, wallpaper and cling film.

Putting the wrong materials into your bins or boxes?

If you put the wrong materials into your recycling bins or boxes, we won't be able to collect them. It can contaminate our collection and all waste in the lorry may have to go to landfill.

We'll put a non-collection tag on it telling you why it wasn't collected. Please remove the offending item, dispose of it correctly and put your bin or box out on the next collection date.