Collections
South Oxfordshire District Council operate four collection types:
Green Bin (Material to be recycled)
Brown Bin (Garden Waste)
Food Caddy (Waste food material)
Black Bin (Everything that is left)
South Oxfordshire District Council will collect the following:
Green Bin
All paper and cardboard, including:
- books – only if not suitable for taking to a charity shop
catalogues - phone directories (including the Yellow Pages)
- cereal boxes
- corrugated cardboard
- envelopes (including envelopes with windows)
- greeting cards
- junk mail
- magazines
- newspapers
- shredded paper (loose)
- tissue boxes
- toilet roll tubes
- writing paper
- Mixed glass bottles and jars – any colour (and bottle tops, but please separate them)
All plastic bags, bottles, pots, tubs and trays (except film):
- plastic or carrier bags (except black bags)
- detergent bottles
- drinks bottles (and tops)
- food and drink cartons (Tetra Paks)
- food trays
- general plastic packaging
- ice cream tubs
- margarine tubs
- plastic milk cartons and bottles
- shampoo bottles
- yoghurt pots
Remember: When possible, please remove the tops and squash the bottle to make more space in your bin.
Metal
- aerosols
- clean foil
- food tins
- steel and aluminium food and drink cans (please wash and squash them first)
- metal lids (bottle and jar lids)
All these can go in your bin together and should be loose (no bagged materials). It’s best if all materials are clean – this helps to keep your bin clean and reduces contamination of the recycling . If you fill your green bin you can put extra recycling out for collection next to your bin in either clear or see through sacks, carrier bags or cardboard boxes.
Batteries
Batteries can be recycled on your recycling collection day. Just pop them in a clear plastic bag (such as a sandwich bag or food bag) on top of your green recycling bin.
We can collect household batteries, such as 6v batteries, 9v batteries (transistor batteries), D, C AA, AAA and button batteries (watch batteries) as well as mobile phone batteries, laptop batteries and lithium batteries with tape across the terminals.
We cannot collect batteries with trailing wires, car batteries, or other industrial batteries but you may be able to take these to a Household Waste Recycling Centre. For further information on battery recycling and disposal facilities, please see the Oxfordshire A-Z section on batteries.
Brown bin
South Oxfordshire District Council will collect the following:
- Grass
- Leaves
- Weeds
- Flowers and plants
- Hedge clippings
- Branches (not more than 10cm thick)
- Prunings and twigs
- Windfall fruit
- Hay / Straw (soiled animal bedding from non-meat eating animals only eg rabbits)
- Vegetable waste from the garden only eg potato tops (not kitchen waste)
The following cannot be put in the brown bin:
- Food or kitchen waste (put this in your food waste bin)
- Cat or dog faeces
- Vacuum dust or fire cinders
- Soil, stones or rubble
- Wood that has been treated or painted
- Cardboard, Tetra packs (milk or juice cartons), or wrapping paper (these can go in your green recycling bin)
- Plastic flower pots, trays or bags
- Weeds that need reporting to the Environment Agency, like Japanese knotweed and ragwort.
Food Caddy
South Oxfordshire District Council will collect the following:
Food waste items
All your raw and cooked food waste such as leftovers and spoilt food, and including:
- meat and fish – raw and cooked including bones
- all dairy products such as cheese and eggs
- raw and cooked vegetables and fruit
- bread, cakes and pastries
- rice, pasta and beans
- uneaten food from your plates and dishes
- tea bags and coffee grounds
- cooking oil, lard and fats (do not put cooking oil in plastic containers)
- old flowers
What cannot go in your food recycling bin?
- packaging
- plastic bags
- glass
These can all go in your recycling bin.
Lining your food recycling caddy
Food waste for recycling can be put into your caddy loose, wrapped in a couple of sheets of newspaper, or in caddy liners with the code EN 13432. Caddy liners are composted along with the food at our in-vessel composting plant but are removed at our anaerobic digestion plants and used to make refuse derived fuel.
Black Bin
Your black bin is for non-recyclable items, which will be sent to landfill. There shouldn’t be much left after you have recycled your food waste and all the items that go in your green bin. Things that can go in your black bin include:
- cling film
- polystyrene
- crisp packets
- sanitary products
- nappies
- cat litter
- VHS tapes/cassettes (however, up to 100 tapes at a time can be sent to EMS provided that you pay for the postage)
Please do not put the following in your black dustbin
- bricks
- rubble
- soil
- large items i.e. furniture
- electrical items
- garden waste
- batteries
- hot ash (can go in the black bin once cooled)
These can all be taken to the county council waste recycling centres.
Paint
If you can’t use up spare paint or give it away, the best way to dispose of it is to add sawdust, sand or soil to the tin and leave the lid off until the paint becomes solid and dry. You can then put it in your black bin.
For more information on refuse collection please visit the following South Oxford District Council website links:
When
Collection day is every Thursday alternating green (with brown) and black bins. Food caddys are collected every week. On bank holiday weeks the collection day is subject to change. For information on which bin when please see the calendar section of this website or