Recycling paper

Your recycled paper could become a newspaper in just 2 weeks!

Which container?

Paper is collected in the blue bag on the kerbside collection service. If you have more paper than will fit in the bag, please order additional blue bags.

If you share communal bins, paper is collected in the blue lidded paper bin.

Most newspapers and magazines are made from recycled paper. Think of the millions of newspapers sold every week - they all rely on residents recycling as much as possible. Recycling one tonne of paper also saves 17 trees!

What paper can I recycle?

Yes please…

• Newspaper and magazines
• Junk mail
• Envelopes (including plastic windows)
• Directories and catalogues
• Yellow pages
• Wrapping paper (please note plastic/foil wrapping paper cannot be recycled, please pop this in your black bin)
• Shredded paper (please place in a carrier bag within the blue bag to prevent it escaping)

No thanks…

• Cardboard (please put this in your yellow bag)
• Plastic film - how to recycle plastic film
• Brown paper and brown envelopes (please put them in the yellow bag with your cardboard)

Brown paper

From December 2020 we can no longer accept brown paper or brown envelopes in the blue bag. This is because brown paper affects the quality of recycled paper at the mill we send it to.

There has recently been an increase in the use of brown paper for packaging as companies move away from using bubble wrap and polystyrene. This change is good because brown paper is more sustainable and environmentally friendly. However, this means there is now too much brown paper in our paper collection. Please put brown paper in the yellow bag with your cardboard – not the blue bag. We appreciate this is confusing but the cardboard recycling companies can process it because they are not trying to produce a pure white product.

You can order extra yellow bags at no additional cost online.

Shredded paper

We will accept shredded paper - but it can make a mess of your neighbourhood if it blows out of the bag, therefore please put it in a carrier bag and place it inside your blue bag for collection.

The best advice is to only shred what is necessary. For example, try only tearing out the sensitive information - such as address and account details on any paperwork you wish to recycle.

Junk mail

If recycling your junk mail, please remember to remove all plastics wrapping. Want to stop junk mail? Find out how.

Where does it go?

Find out what happens to your paper and what it is recycled into.