Bristol gets new recycling containers
Just a little bit more... for Bristol
From Southmead to Southville, Redland to Redfield, wherever you are in our city, Bristol Waste Company and Bristol City Council are calling on all Bristolians to recycle “just a little bit more” for the good of our city, our neighbourhoods, and our planet.
Let’s get those squashed plastic bottles and rinsed yoghurt pots out of our black general waste bins and into our recycling containers.
Bristolians are already great at recycling. The city has held the crown for highest recycling rates amongst core cities in England for 11 years… and counting!
But we can all do just a little bit more.
By recycling more, one extra banana skin, one flattened cardboard box, one rinsed sauce jar, we will:
- Reduce the amount of waste that gets sent for incineration unnecessarily (incinerating waste is bad for the planet and costs millions of pounds of taxpayers money each year)
- Free up space in our black general waste bins
- Help protect our planet!
- Save the city money
Fact file:
- Over half of what’s in the average black general waste bin in Bristol could have been easily recycled. 26% of this is recyclable food waste, which should go in the brown food waste recycling bin for weekly collection.
- The waste from our black wheelie bins in Bristol gets incinerated to generate energy – reducing this waste means we can cut carbon emissions and save the city expensive disposal fees.
- By recycling just a little bit more, we can get better value-for-money for council taxpayers. Bristol makes more money from selling recycling and loses money from disposing of general waste.
As part of Bristol Waste Company and Bristol City Council’s dedication to helping make recycling easier than ever, Bristol residents on kerbside recycling collection will be getting brand new and improved recycling containers.
What’s changing?
The improvements to kerbside recycling containers will include a new red bag for plastic and cans, a new blue bags for card and paper and for those in need of them, bigger brown food waste bins.
The improved containers will:
- Increase the recycling capacity for households. Helping Bristol recycle more. The new red bag can hold 60% more recycling than the old green box.
- Reduce litter and improve neighbourhood cleanliness. The sealable lids will help keep recycling in the bags, even in windy conditions.
- Last longer and be easier to store between collections. The new red bags are more durable than the brittle green boxes, and as they’re squashable and easier to store between collections, they will reduce pavement clutter
- It’s also the law and it works: As part of the government’s Simpler Recycling legislation, local authorities in England are using a similar red bag and have reported a reduction in street litter and more efficient collections
When are the changes coming?
The new recycling containers will be landing across Bristol from September this year. Delivery to the 175,000 or so eligible households will be in phased batches over 10 weeks, between September and November 2026.
You don’t need to do anything extra!
Just put your existing recycling containers out on your normal bin day and our teams will make the swap when they’re in your area.
What happens to the old recycling containers we’re taking away?
They’re going to be recycled!
- Green boxes and brown bins will be recycled into new recycling boxes (or similar)
- Blue bags will be reused where possible or recycled
