Households with kerbside collections are presented with 3 recycling boxes, with lids, free of charge. You can order additional or replacement waste containers if you find you have more recycling than will fit in these 3 containers.
Our crews may not always be able to collect all boxes presented, due to limited capacity.
We collect the following types of household recycling at the kerbside:
You must sort your recycling when you present it for collection:
- plastics, metals, foil and glass can be mixed together
- paper and cardboard must be kept separate from other items
Please also remember:
- wash and squash plastics, and crush cans and foil to save space
- flatten and break up cardboard so that it fits within the recycling box
- ensure your recycling is rinsed clean and free from food waste
- do not present broken glass for recycling, dispose of this safely in household waste
Co-mingling recycling
We may occasionally need to collect your recycling in a different way, for example, when there's a vehicle breakdown.
When this happens, we:
- may mix or 'co-mingle' all your recycling in the vehicle
- will need to sort recycling items after collection, but the material will still be recycled
The recycling journey
Find out what happens next; see our video about the 'York Recycling Journey'...
Recycling plastic at the kerbside
We collect a wide range of plastics in our kerbside recycling.
These plastics can be mixed with metal, foil and glass when presenting your recycling.
Yes please:
- plastic bottles, shampoo and cleaning product bottles with lids or trigger spray nozzles on
- plastic yoghurt pots, margarine tubs
- light-coloured and clear plastic food trays
Plastics we accept will be labelled:
- PET 1
- HDPE 2
- PP 5
No thanks:
- plastic bags, film, wrapping or bubble-wrap
- black plastic food trays, such as ready-meal containers
- hard plastic materials such as children’s toys, plastic furniture
- polystyrene
- medicine blister packs
We cannot take black or dark coloured plastics, regardless of what label they have on them, as these plastics cannot yet be recycled.
If you put other 'mixed plastics' in your recycling, we may not be able to collect it.
Remember to wash and squash items before placing them in the boxes.
See advice on dealing with excess plastic for kerbside collection.
Disposing of 'mixed plastics'
Recycle 'mixed plastics' by using the recycling bank locator to find your nearest plastic recycling bank.
Alternatively, place mixed plastics in your household waste bin.
Recycling metal tins and cans at the kerbside
You can recycle all metal food and drink cans; steel and aluminium.
Metal can be mixed with plastics, foil and glass when presenting your recycling.
You don't need to remove labels, but should wash them out beforehand. Please crush cans where possible, to save space.
Yes please:
- food tins
- drink cans
- sweet tins, biscuit tins and metal lids
- baby milk tins (please remove plastic lids or scoops)
- empty aerosol cans, such as hairspray, deodorant, spray paint and shaving foam
No thanks:
- baking trays, metal utensils, coat hangers, cutlery
- paint tins
See advice on dealing with excess tins and cans for kerbside collection.
Use the recycling bank locator to find your nearest metal/can recycling bank.
Take other metal items to either of our HWRCs for recycling in the scrap metal skips:
Recycling foil at the kerbside
Aluminium foil is used in lots of packaging materials.
To check whether something that looks like aluminium foil can be recycled, scrunch the pack or foil into your hand. If it stays scrunched it’s aluminium and can be recycled, if it springs back open then it’s film and cannot be recycled.
Foil can be mixed with glass, plastics and metals when presenting your recycling.
Yes please:
- clean tin foil
- foil trays and dishes
Make sure the item passes the ‘scrunch test’ and is clean from any food waste.
No thanks:
- crisp packets
- medicine blister packs
See advice on dealing with excess foil for kerbside collection.
Use the recycling bank locator to find your nearest foil recycling bank.
Recycling glass at the kerbside
Most households, apart from some rural or remote properties, can recycle glass bottles and jars at the kerbside, but you should rinse these out beforehand.
Glass can be mixed with plastics, foil and metals when presenting your recycling.
Yes please:
Any colour or size of glass bottle or jar, such as those used for:
- wine, beer, spirits, juice, perfume, vinegar
- sauces, jam, marmalade, baby food, pickles, condiments
No thanks:
- window glass
- drinking glasses and cookware
- light bulbs
- mirror glass
Dispose of these types of glass safely. For example, by wrapping in paper or cloth and placing in your general household waste bin.
Do not present broken glass for recycling, dispose of this safely in household waste.
See advice on dealing with excess glass for kerbside collection.
Use the recycling bank locator to find your nearest glass recycling bank.
Recycling paper and cardboard at the kerbside
You can recycle paper, card and cardboard at the kerbside.
Paper and cardboard must be kept separate from other recycling materials when presenting your recycling.
Yes please:
- cardboard boxes, broken down so that they fit in your recycling box
- egg boxes
- newspapers/magazines, telephone directories, catalogues/brochures (with staples removed)
- junk mail, leaflets (with staples removed), white/coloured paper, all envelopes (no need to remove plastic windows)
- greetings cards, gift wrapping paper without glitter, clean paper bags
- cereal boxes, ready meal boxes
- kitchen/toilet roll tubes, tissue boxes
- card sleeves from food packaging
No thanks:
- shredded paper (please do not use cardboard boxes or plastic bags to present shredded paper)
- loose excess cardboard which doesn't fit in your recycling box (please do not use cardboard boxes or plastic bags to present excess cardboard)
- all types of cartons (Tetra Paks, soup, chopped tomatoes, custard, fabric conditioner)
- gift wrapping paper with glitter
- waxed paper coffee/tea cups
- books
See advice on dealing with excess paper and cardboard for kerbside collection.
Use the recycling bank locator to find your nearest carton recycling bank.
Recycling which cannot be collected from the kerbside
Some items aren’t suitable for recycling at the kerbside due to the way we deal with recycling in York.
Visit our recycle and reuse A to Z for recycling suggestions for many common waste items.
See information on our household waste recycling centres, including items you can take to be recycled or disposed of:
Also see
Waste, Highways and Environmental Services
Waste and recycling collections
Enter your postcode to find out when we'll collect your household waste, kerbside recycling and garden waste.