Recycling Rubbish - Location: East Cambridgeshire
Kerbside Collections
Containers
Black Sack - rubbish that cannot be recycled or composted
Black Box - recycling
Brown Sack - garden, food and cardboard waste for composting
How do I get a new black box?
Please call Cleanaway: 01353 863864
East Cambridgeshire District Council: 01353 616093
Black and brown sacks are delivered to your home. Additional brown sacks can be bought from local shops for 50p each.
When are my collections and how often?
East Cambridgeshire operates a weekly black sack collection and a fortnightly collection of brown sacks and black boxes. However there is a trial of alternate weekly collections of refuse and brown sacks in the village of Witchford.
Find out about your black box collections.
Find out about your brown sack collections.
Live in witchford?
Find out about collections in Witchford.
What can I recycle?
Black Box
Yes please
- Glass jars and bottles - no lids please and preferably rinsed
- All newspapers
- Magazines and catalogues
- Junk Mail and leaflets including envelopes - please remove any plastic windows and covering
- Yellow pages
- White paper such as letters
- Food and drink cans - rinsed and in a bag
- Empty aerosol cans - put in bag with cans
No thanks
- Plastic windows and covering on magazines and junk mail
- Shredded paper - please compost
- Pyrex dishes (they are made not to melt and therefore cannot be recycled!)
- Earthenware, crockery or ceramics - if not broken take to charity shop
- Light bulbs or tubes - take these to your nearest HWRC
Brown Sack
Yes please
- All cooked and uncooked food waste -wrap in newspaper (Including stale bread, vegetable peelings, meat, fish, bones, cheese and dairy produce, tea bags and coffee)
- Grass and hedge cuttings
- Flowers and weeds
- Bark and untreated wood
- Envelopes - no plastic windows
- All types of cardboard including cardboard food packaging (no tetrapaks)
- Straw and sawdust from rabbits and guinea pigs
No thanks
- liquids such as gravy and sauces
- Plastic bags or sacks- wrap food waste in paper
- Plant pots and seed trays
- Oil
- Nappies of any kind
- Cat or dog litter
- Coal ash
- Waxy drink cartons or Tetrapaks (take to recycling banks)
- Rubble, stones and bricks (take to HWRC)
- Soil
- Glass, cans or textiles
- Painted or treated wood (take to HWRC)
- Furniture (take to HWRC, charity or community group)
Black Sack
This should be used for everything that cannot be recycled.
- Dog and cat waste
- Plastic packaging (except bottles)
- Sanitary items, such as nappies
- Empty paint cans
Recycling banks and Household Waste Recycling Centres
Find a list of banks or HWRCs (tips!) in your area and what you can recycle at each site.
The District Council provides over 40 recycling bank sites that collect:
- plastic bottles
- paper
- glass containers
- cans
- aerosols
- foil
- textiles
- books
- Tetrapaks (at major super markets)
Tips for recycling plastic bottles
Please do not include:
- Bottle tops
- Yoghurt pots
- Margarine tubs
- Plastic egg boxes
- Plastic or polystyrene food trays and punnets
- Plastic bags - reuse when you shop and then recycle at your local supermarkets
- Plastic film
- Toys (if not broken take to charity shop)
- Brooms, buckets, bins, washing lines or other household domestic items
- Polystyrene packaging or bubble wrap
These items of made form a different type of plastic and there isn't the technology or markets available to recycle them.
General Tips for using recycling banks:
- Please put recycling into the right containers
- Do not leave rubbish at the site
- If you see dumped rubbish or people flytipping please call 01353 665 555
Cambridgeshire County Council provides Household Waste Recycling Centres(HWRC's) where you can also recycle other household goods.





