What goes into your kerbside bins

Vapes can be recycled at one of our 3 Recycling Centres. You will need to make a booking to attend the recycling centres. When you arrive, a site operative will be available to guide you to the appropriate container. 

Do not dispose of vape products in your household bins.

Retailers who sell vape products have a legal responsibility to accept your old vapes for disposal.

Find out what each bin is for and what you can put in it. Check the bin collection dates for your area.

Remember, we will only collect waste that's been placed in a bin, box or purple sack provided by Stirling Council. Plastic bags or other waste left beside a bin won't be collected.

Residents have a duty of care to ensure their waste is presented correctly and can be serviced safely by waste collection operatives bins that are too heavy or compacted will not be uplifted and is the responsibility of the resident to resolve before the next scheduled collection.

Contamination refers to wrong items that are put in a recycling bin or when recyclable materials are disposed of incorrectly. An example of this is when glass is placed in the paper and cardboard bin or when yoghurt pots are put in the recycling bin without being rinsed out.

Waste collection staff conduct visual checks of recycling bins before emptying them. If your bin has the wrong items in it (contaminated) it will not be emptied. We’ll leave a tag on your bin to notify you that you have put the wrong items in it. Please remove them and put your bin out to be emptied on your next scheduled collection day.

If wrong items such as plastic bags are placed in a recycling bin and not identified, they can risk the safety of operatives and result in costly machine repairs. Batteries being placed in paper and cardboard bins pose a significant health and safety hazard as they can cause fires. Contamination can result in a whole load of material being unsuitable for recycling.

If contamination is particularly bad, and impacts the quality of the load, it will become physically and economically impossible to recycle. This can result in waste that could have been put to another use (recycled) being incinerated or sent to landfill.

Find out what each bin is for and what you can put in it. Check the bin collection dates for your area.

Remember, we'll only collect waste that's been placed in a bin, box or purple sack provided by Stirling Council. Plastic bags or other waste left beside a bin won't be collected.

Grey bins are for your general, non-recyclable waste. So you can use it for polystyrene, nappies, hard plastic, bubble wrap and more.

If you have any broken glass, wrap it in kitchen roll and place it in your grey bin.

Don’t put electrical items, or any other bulky items in your grey bin. You should take these to your local household waste and recycling centre, or book a special uplift.

Any material that is deposited in a ’non-recyclable waste’ skip or grey bin is sent to a licensed Energy from Waste provider in Grangemouth. Energy from Waste refers to the process of generating energy in the form of electricity or heat from the incineration or treatment of waste. Residents are encouraged to maximise all recycling opportunities when visiting a household recycling centre site.

Green bins are for paper and cardboard, but be careful what you put in.

Use it for:

• paper
• paperback books
• magazines
• cardboard
• newspapers
• phone directories

Do not use it for:

• bubble wrap
• padded envelopes
• kitchen towels/paper
• wet paper
• tissues
• hardback books
• wallpaper
• polystyrene

All green bin material goes to Saica Natur, a waste management and recycling company based in Croy, Scotland, From there the paper and cardboard is sent to a paper mill where it is recycled into various materials such as cardboard, paper and blu roll. Contamination is incinerated which produces energy that is used in Scotland.

Blue bins are for recyclable cartons and containers. This includes plastic containers, but it does not include plastic bags or plastic films.

Make sure you wash items before you put them in your bin, and squash them if you can.

Use it for:

• plastic bottles
• plastic food tubs, trays and cartons
• metal cans
• drinks bottles with lids
• plastic fruit punnets
• kitchen foil
• aerosol cans

Don’t use it for:

• cling film
• crisp packets
• plastic carrier bags
• hard plastic items, like toys or coat hangers
• polystyrene

Blue bin material is sent to a material recovery facility in Broxburn where it is sorted. Once separated the material is then baled by type and sent to a re-processor to be recycled.

Aluminium and steel cans are ground up and melted down to form metal ingots which are sold to the market where they are used to create recycled products. Plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays are broken down by plastic type and colour. From there they are shredded and melted down, and turned into pellets. The pellets are then sold on to the market place and turned into recycled plastic products.

Any contaminants are sent to a re-processor where it is dried and turned in to Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) and incinerated to produce energy from waste.

Your glass box is only for glass bottles and glass jars. Make sure you wash them and remove any lids before you put them in the box.

Do not use it for:

• light bulbs
• window panes
• broken glass
• mirrors

Blue box material is sent to Sibelco's glass recycling facility at Newhouse where it is separated into glass, metal and contamination. The glass is further sorted by colour, after which it is sent to a recovery facility where it is turned back in to glass items such as bottles and jars. Any contamination is sent to an incinerator to be used as fuel in an energy-from-waste plant.

Glass can be endlessly recycled with no loss of quality.

You can use your brown bin for food waste. You can put the waste directly in the bin, or into a biodegradable food bag and then into the bin. To use it for garden waste as well, you need a garden waste permit.

What everyone can put in a brown bin

Everyone who has a brown bin can use it for:

• dairy and eggs (including shells)
• teabags and coffee grounds
• fruit, vegetables and peelings
• meat, fish and bones
• bread, pastries and cakes
• rice, pasta and cereal

If you have a garden waste permit 

You can also use your brown bin for:

• grass cuttings
• hedge cuttings
• small twigs and branches
• weeds and clippings
• leaves
• cut flowers and houseplants

What not to put in your brown bin

Even if you do have a permit, you should never put any of these items in your brown bin. We won’t empty it if you do.

Do not use it for:

• building wood (timber)
• plant pots and garden furniture
• gardening liquids (fertiliser)
• ash
• soil, turf, and compost
• pet waste (such as animal faeces, cat litter or animal bedding)
• gravel and stones
• bricks and rubble
• liquid foods
• food trays
• plastic bags
• food wrappings

Garden and food waste is sent to a composting facility where it is picked for any contamination. It's then shredded to break down the material which is composted using a technique called in-vessel composting. It is then turned into compost and sold to the agricultural market. Stirling Council receives some of the material back to provide to the public as our Castle Compost. Contamination is sent to landfill.