Bin waste advice

Important information

• Please ensure that bins are placed out by 6.45am on your collection day.
• Your grey food waste bin will be collected every week on your normal collection day along with your black or green bin.
• If you are signed up for the garden waste service, your brown bin will be collected in the same week as your black bin. Please check our garden waste / brown bin page for your collection day.
• Please do not block pavements with your bins.
• Bins that contain unacceptable items will not be picked up (or returned for) and will require you to remove the unacceptable items before your next collection date.
• Any bin exceeding 50kg will not be collected.
• Bin lids must be fully closed.
• Additional black bags, boxes of waste or any extra waste will not be collected, you will need to take this to the Household Recycling Centre.
• The council may need to suspend collections during severe weather to ensure the safety of people and properties.

Black bin (general waste)

Your black general waste bin should only be used for household rubbish that cannot be reused, recycled or composted.

Please make sure that all material is bagged and that you do not overfill your bin or push the contents down as this makes it difficult to empty properly.

Items we collect in your black bin

• Nappies
• Black bags
• Polystyrene
• Tissues and kitchen roll
• Other household waste that can't be reused, recycled or composted

Items we will not collect in your black bin

• Hot ash or soil
• Electrical items
• Bricks and rubble
• Stone, gravel, concrete or sand
• Paint tins (if they contain any paint)

Any items listed above that you can't put in your black bin can be taken to the Household Recycling Centre.

Grey bin (food waste)

All cooked and uncooked solid food waste should go into your grey food waste caddy, no liquids, this will be collected every week on your usual bin collection day.

Collected food waste is sent to an anaerobic digestion facility where it's turned into fertilizer for agriculture and biogas which is used to generate renewable electricity.

Items we collect in your grey bin

• All cooked and uncooked solid food waste
• Cooking oil should be allowed to cool and then poured into a plastic bottle no bigger than 1 litre, it can then be put into the large grey food waste bin for collection.

Items we will not collect in your grey bin

• Liquids other than cooking oil

Order more food bags / caddy liners

You can order more caddy liners / food bags online.

You can also place food waste directly into your caddy. If you want to try and keep your caddy clean, there are alternatives you could use such as newspaper, plastic bags, paper bags, supermarket-bought food waste bags etc. These will be removed as part of the treatment process.

Due to a limited stock of food waste bags, they will not be delivered to residents who put a tag / liner on the bin handle at the moment. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. Please remove any tags / liners from your bin handle and order online.

We will deliver online orders as soon as possible. Please note it may be after your next bin collection day.

Green bin (recycling)

Items for recycling are to be placed clean and loose in your green bin.

Items we collect in your green bin

• Plastics - tubs, trays, pots, film, carrier bags and bottles (tops and caps can be left on but please remove any absorbent layers)
• Metal - food tins, drink cans, clean foil, aluminium trays, empty aerosols, large metal sweet tins, biscuits tins (tops and caps can be left on)
• Paper - newspapers, magazines, holiday brochures, junk mail, envelopes, telephone directories and catalogues
• Cardboard - packaging card, egg boxes, juice and squash cartons
• Glass - bottles, jars, (lids tops and caps can be left on)

You must place shredded paper within (for example) an envelope to ensure it's contained. Alternatively, place shredded paper in your black bin or home composter if you have one.

Items we will not collect in your green bin

• Polystyrene, crisp packets, baby/pet food pouches, toothpaste tubes, shredded paper, black bags, pyrex or ceramics
• Food - please use your grey food waste caddy
• Textiles - can be taken to the Household Recycling Centre
• Video tapes and CDs
• Energy saving light bulbs or household batteries, these can be taken to the Household Recycling Centre
• Electrical appliances - can be taken to the Household Recycling Centre
• Hard non-packaging plastics (eg. washing up bowls, plastic toys, etc)
• Non-household packaging metal items (eg. baking trays, saucepans, etc)
• Any other waste not listed on the above 'Items we collect' list

Any acceptable recyclable items that are too large to place in your green bin may be left beside your green bin in either clear tied bags or open cardboard boxes if it is unlikely to rain.

Brown bin (garden waste)

Please see our garden waste service page for information on requesting this collection service.

Items we collect in your brown bin

• Grass cuttings
• Hedge trimmings
• Tree and shrub prunings
• Leaves
• Weeds
• Old flowers and plants
• Windfall fruit and vegetable waste from the garden (not kitchen waste)

Items we will not collect in your brown bin

• Food or kitchen waste
• Soil or rubble
• Pet waste and bedding
• General household waste
• Flower pots and plastic bags

Clinical sharps

Clinical sharps within prescribed containers should be taken to one of the following participating pharmacies. You can get an empty sharps container from your GP or other healthcare provider. If there are exceptional circumstances that a visit can't be made to one of the following (either by the resident, family member or friend) please contact Peterborough Direct on 01733 747474 to discuss collections. 

A needle exchange program is also available.

• Boots - Serpentine Green, Hampton Hargate, Peterborough, PE7 8BE
• Boots - Queensgate Centre, Peterborough, PE1 1NW
• Glinton Pharmacy - 4 Rectory Ln, Glinton, Peterborough PE6 7LR
• Granville Pharmacy - 35 Granville Street, Peterborough, PE1 2QQ
• Halls the Chemist - 57 Napier Place, Orton Wistow, Peterborough, PE2 6XN
• Halls the Chemist - 14a Church Street, Thorney, PE6 0QB
• Halls the Chemist - The Old Chapel, Church Hill, Castor, PE5 7AU
• Halls the Chemist - 92 Peterborough Road, Farcet, PE7 3BN
• Lloyds Pharmacy - 3 Bushfield, Orton Centre, Orton Goldhay, Peterborough, PE2 5RQ
• Mi Pharmacy - 12A Skaters Way, Werrington, Peterborough, PE4 6NB
• Millfield Pharmacy - 387 Lincoln Road, Peterborough, PE1 2PF
• Newborough Pharmacy - 42-46 School Road, Newborough, Peterborough, PE6 7RG
• Odedra Rc - Rectory Gardens, Old Fletton, Peterborough, PE2 8AY
• Thomas Walker Pharmacy - Thomas Walker Medical Centre, 87 Princes Street, Peterborough, PE1 2QP
• Well - 2-6 Hampton Court, Westwood, Peterborough, PE3 7JA
• West Town Chemist - 63-65 Mayor's Walk, West Town, Peterborough, PE3 6EX

Medical waste

We can collect and dispose of medical offensive waste for free only if you are an NHS patient treating yourself at home.

This includes :

• Waste items that are contaminated with non-infectious body fluids e.g. faeces, urine, blood when you have an infectious disease
• Dialysis waste

When requesting a collection, you must tell us about the waste you would like us to collect, and how frequently you would like it collected. Collections are always on a Wednesday and are made weekly, fortnightly, and monthly or on request as required.

If you are self-treating at home, items such as sanitary towels, nappies and incontinence pads (known collectively as sanpro waste) which are not considered to be hazardous when they originate from a healthy population can be safely placed in your black household waste bin.

If you do not have enough room to put all your sanpro waste in your black bin, please complete the application for Additional Bins form below.

For any advice with regards to collections, please contact our Customer Service Team on 01733 747474 or email ask@peterborough.gov.uk.

Additional bins

If you have a large family with five or more people permanently living at your address you can apply for a large family 360L black refuse bin to replace the standard 240L bin. You can also apply for a second 240L green recycling bin.

You may also be eligible to apply if someone in your household has a medical condition which generates excess waste. For example, colostomy or kidney dialysis at home.

To apply please complete the application for additional bins form.

New and replacement bins

If you need to order new or replacement bins, please call us on 01733 747474 to arrange payment and delivery. The phone line is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

We now charge a fee to provide new or replacement bins. This is to cover administration and delivery costs. The fee does not cover the sale of the bins to you. The bins remain our property.

The costs are as follows:

• Black, green or brown 240 litre bin = £29.50 per bin (£14.75 if in receipt of Council Tax Relief)
• Small food caddy = £10.00 (£5.00 if in receipt of Council Tax Relief)
• Large food caddy = £10.00 (£5.00 if in receipt of Council Tax Relief)
• Small and large food caddy delivered together = £12.50 (£6.25 if in receipt of Council Tax Relief)

View the decision to charge for bins on the Democracy Peterborough website.

What to do with waste if your are self-isolating or have Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Anyone who is self-isolating, either as a precaution or because they are confirmed to have coronavirus, should follow this advice to get rid of their household waste to ensure the virus is not spread via personal waste.

• Individuals should place all personal waste such as used tissues and disposable cleaning cloths, securely in a plastic bag or bin liner.
• This plastic bag should then be placed in another plastic bag and securely tied.
• These bags must be stored separately to other waste for at least 72 hours before being placed in the general rubbish collection.

After 72 hours outside the body the virus is no longer viable and the double bagged waste can be put in the general rubbish collection as normal. Only waste that is heavily contaminated, such as tissues that have been coughed in and disposable cleaning cloths need to be treated in this way. Regular household recycling and waste should be treated as normal.

Individuals who are self-isolating should not visit Fengate Household Recycling Centre (HRC) to dispose of waste.