Christmas recycling guide

What can be recycled in North Devon and where should items be placed?

Glass bottles and jars. Pop the lids back on once you've rinsed them (even if they are metal!)

Small waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) such as kettles, toasters and mobile phones. Loose cables (mobile phone and computer cables) can also be recycled. All items should be no larger than a standard-sized carrier bag
Mixed plastics including yoghurt pots, margarine tubs, plastic bottles and food trays, apart from black plastic which is not recyclable at the moment - squashed and lids replaced where possible
Food tins and drink cans
Aluminum foil
Aerosol cans

All cooked food
All raw food
Bones and carcasses
Leftovers from plates
Tea bags and coffee grounds
Fruit and vegetables, including peelings
Egg shells
Please note we cannot accept anything other than food in your food caddy. Food waste in North Devon is processed by an Anaerobic Digestor and not composted so please don't put other compostable items in your caddy

If you have a large quantity of cardboard, please call the team on 01271 327711 to arrange a free bulky cardboard collection.

Real Christmas trees - chopped up into no larger than 5cm pieces. Larger trees can be taken to recycling centres. Alternatively, residents can recycle their tree the easy, green and charitable way through Children’s Hospice South West’s collection scheme.
Bark
Hedge clippings
Grass cuttings
Weeds
Cut flowers
Plants (no soil)
Windfalls
Untreated sawdust
Wood shavings
Clean straw

The following items cannot be recycled and should be disposed of in your black wheelie or local recycling centre:

Large/rigid items such as washing baskets, water carriers, beer kegs, buckets, storage boxes in your recycling box, as these will damage our recycling machinery
Black plastic. Though the plastic may have a recycling symbol, it is not currently possible to effectively sort black plastic from other materials at a recycling facility
Shiny/glittery wrapping paper and cards. Unfortunately, they cannot be recycled in your kerbside collections or at your local recycling centre due to them often being dyed, laminated and/or containing non-paper additives. Please pop in your black bin.
Vacuum cleaner contents
Cardboard milk or juice cartons (or, you can take these to one of DCC's recycling centres)
Disposable nappies
Plastic envelopes
Polystyrene
Crisp tubes like Pringles. These containers are made up of composite material, foil-lined cardboard. It also has a plastic lid, a foil seal, and a metal base. All these different materials combined together means we cannot recycle them.
Plastic food wrappers - such as sweet wrappers, clingfilm and crisp packets
Batteries and vapes. We do NOT collect batteries and vapes in your recycling collections due to the risk of fires taking place in our lorries and recycling hall. If you missed the message, please get on board now. You can recycle these items at your local recycling centre or supermarket instead.

on what goes where, please visit our website.
on where a specific item should be placed, please visit our helpful A to Z webpage.

continue recycling over the Christmas period... unfortunately, there's an average of 30 per cent increase in waste over the festive season!
Line your food caddy with newspaper, kitchen roll or a bag. This helps contain the food waste and is more hygienic for you and our recycling crews
Wash your bottles, tins and glass containers before recycling
Wash and squash your plastics bottles and pop the lid back on after