As of June 2026, you can now recycle cartons, foil items, and plastic bags and wrapping at home. These items can be placed in your recycling bins alongside paper, card, cans, tins, glass, and plastic bottles, tubs, trays, pots, and tubes.
The cartons we can now collect are:
- Drinks cartons e.g. juice, milk, plant-based drinks cartons
- Food cartons e.g. soup, broth, chopped tomatoes and passata cartons
- Laundry detergent cartons
The foil items we can now collect are:
- Clean, loose aluminium foil (scrunched in a tennis ball sized ball)
- Foil oven trays e.g. ready meal trays, baking trays/dishes
- Pie, tart, and quiche tins
- Foil containers e.g. takeaway boxes
- Empty foil tubes e.g. tomato puree tubes
The plastic bags and wrapping we can now collect are:
- Supermarket carrier bags
- Fresh fruit, vegetable, and salad bags
- Fruit and vegetable net bags
- Bread and bagel bags
- Cereal, pasta, and rice bags
- Frozen food bags
- Multipack wrapping e.g. kitchen roll, toilet paper, drinks cans
- Film lids e.g. from fruit punnets, yoghurts, deli items, meat trays, ready meals
- Confectionery wrappers e.g. sweets, chocolates, cakes, biscuits
- Crisp packets
- Sandwich and freezer bags
- Cling film
- Bubble wrap
- Plastic wrapping e.g. magazines, clothing, mailing bags
We cannot recycle:
- Pouches e.g. microwaveable pouches, baby food pouches, pet food pouches, cleaning product pouches
- Sachets
- Any compostable or biodegradable items
- Blister packs
All recycling items should be empty, clean, dry, and placed loose in the recycling bin. You don’t need to collect plastic bags and wrapping in a bag. Film attached to trays, tubs, or pots needs to be removed before recycling.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Nottingham City Council is updating which items can be recycled in line with a national policy called Simpler Recycling, which aims to standardise recycling across England. Previously, local authorities and recycling companies have determined which items are recycled in their area. With the new changes, all local authorities must collect certain glass, metal, foil, plastic, paper, carton, and cardboard items from homes by 31 March 2026, and plastic bags and wrapping by 31 March 2027.
We accept all types of plastic bags and wrapping listed above.
Yes - as with all recycling items, they should be empty, clean, and dry to avoid contaminating other recycling.
No - all items should be loose in your recycling bin, rather than in bags, including the new items. You might collect your recycling in a bag indoors, but please empty it into your outdoor recycling bin. It’s especially important to never place any recycling in black or opaque bags, as our collection crews cannot see what is inside and may assume it is not recyclable.
Yes - flattening helps save space in your recycling bin.
No - foil should be clean. Lightly rinsed or wiped is fine, but heavily soiled foil should go in your residual (general waste) bin.
Yes – scrunch small pieces of foil together to make a ball roughly the size of a tennis ball. This makes the foil easier for sorting equipment to identify and recover. Foil trays can be placed in the recycling separately.
No – Empty and rinse the carton, replace the lid, and place it in your recycling bin.
By law, plastic bags and wrapping will need to be collected by every local authority by 31 March 2027, and packaging companies will update their labels as we approach this date. Nottingham City Council can collect and recycle the listed items now due to our disposal contract. If it’s on the list of items you can recycle in Nottingham, then please recycle it, even if the packaging says otherwise.
No – blister backs are made from bonded plastic and foil and are not accepted in household collections. Some pharmacies and retailers provide recycling collection points.
Now that plastic bags and wrapping collections are available, please recycle your plastic bags and wrapping in your recycling bin from your next collection.
Compostable and biodegradable plastics must not go in your recycling bin as they are made from different materials and can weaken the structure of conventional plastic. Any compostable plastics should go in your residual (general waste) bin.
Nottingham is currently collecting food waste in Berridge in order to learn how best to implement food waste collections for the rest of the city by 2030. You can find out more about the food waste collections and how we’re preparing for on our webpage Food Waste Collections
To comply with new national legislation, businesses must recycle glass, metal, foil, plastic, paper, carton, and cardboard items, and separate food waste, as follows:
Businesses with 10 or more full-time employees – from 31 March 2025
Businesses with fewer than 10 full-time employees – from 31 March 2027
Nottingham City Council now offers all of these services to Commercial Waste Customers.
If you have a commercial recycling bin provided by the council, you can recycle the same items as households, including the new items.
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