Have you received your new festive guide to bin collections and recycling yet?

We’re busy distributing the new recycling leaflet across the borough. If you haven’t had it yet, be sure to look out for it come through your letterbox very soon.  

It has all sorts of tips and tricks, including how to reduce food waste, when the household waste recycling centres will be open over the festive period, and information on how to dispose of your Christmas tree. Alternatively, you can see all these things on our recycling website. Did you know that it has a translate option for almost all languages?

Recycling

We’d really like to increase our recycling rates in the borough, meaning that your rubbish can be used again and again and again.

In the UK, recycling saves about 10-15 million tonnes of carbon emissions a year, the equivalent of taking 3.5 million cars off the road.

Recycling also reduces the need for extracting (mining, quarrying and logging) and refining and processing raw materials, all of which create substantial air and water pollution. This helps to save energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping to tackle climate change.

For example, if you recycle plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays, they go through the following process:

• They are sorted by polymer type.
• They are then shredded, washed and melted.
• They’re made into plastic pellets.
• This means they can be made into new plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays. Or, they can even be made into children’s toys or clothing! It takes just 25 recycled plastic bottles to make a new hoodie or sweater.

If you’re not sure what to recycle, you can head to our dedicated recycling website.  

Food waste collections

The average amount of food waste found in your burgundy bin accounts for 44% of it, but we’re on a mission to reduce that because from 2026, food waste collections will be coming to not only the whole borough, but the whole country.

This means that you will need to put your food waste in a small indoor caddy before transferring it to a larger outdoor caddy when it’s full. Recycled plastic liners will be provided for you to put your food waste into.

You can recycle far more food waste than you think, including fruit, vegetables, tea bags, eggshells and coffee granules!

Some of you will be getting involved in food waste collections much sooner as we’ll be holding a trial in April of next year.

The areas selected for the trial include parts of the following wards:

• Billinge and Beardwood
• Roe Lee
• Shear Brow and Corporation Park
• Livesey with Pleasington
• Mill Hill and Moorgate
• Wensley Fold
• Blackburn South and Lower Darwen
• Darwen West
• Darwen East

You will be contacted in the new year if your household has been chosen and don’t worry, you’ll get lots more information about what to do then.

Brown bin subscriptions

If you sign up for your brown waste bin before Friday 31 January, you will receive a £5 discount, meaning it will cost you £40 for the whole year, rather than £45.

Plus, we have some great news, we’re freezing the price of your brown bin for the next two years!

Councillor Jim Smith, Executive Member for Environment and Communities said:

I’m so pleased to announce that we will be freezing the cost of your brown bin subscription for a minimum of two years.

In recent years, due to financial pressures we have been increasing the cost, however after much discussion it’s been agreed that the cost will not exceed £45 for the foreseeable, meaning that those of you who present your garden waste will be able to do so without change.

Cash prize to be won!

And remember, if you visit our recycling website (recyclebwd.org) and sign up to receive waste and recycling notifications before Friday 20 December, you could be in with a chance of winning a huge £500 cash prize. The winner will be announced in January, meaning you could start the New Year with a bang!

Thank you for helping us recycle. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us on cleansing@blackburn.gov.uk.