Kerbside Recycling

kerbside recycling

We provide a kerbside recycling service for

  • paper and light card (white bags collected fortnightly)

  • glass and cans (blue boxes collected fortnightly)

  • plastic food and drinks containers (green bags collected monthly)

Place your box and bags on the kerbside for 7.30am on your designated collection day. Recycling collections are usually on the same day as your grey refuse bin. Find out when your collection date is:

You can recycle household goods yourself at the following sites:

Joining the kerbside scheme

Any property in East Renfrewshire can apply for this service, location permitting. If you live in a communal property, we may  provide wheelie bins for your recycling.

Please note scheduled deliveries of boxes, sacks and bags to participate in the kerbside recycling scheme take place every 4-6 weeks

To receive your white bag, blue box or green bag, or to enquire about communal property recycling, contact either of our Customer First service points listed below.

Council Buildings
211 Main Street
Barrhead
G78 1SY

Council Headquarters
Eastwood Park
Rouken Glen road
Giffnock
G46 6UG

Opening Hours

Monday to Friday, 8.00am to 6.00pm
Telephone: 0141 577 3001
Email:

What items can be accepted?

Blue box: glass and cans

Acceptable:

  • Steel cans (e.g. tin of beans)

  • Aluminium cans (e.g. cola can)

  • Glass bottles

  • Glass jars

Not acceptable:

  • Plastic bottles

  • Pyrex

  • Plate glass

Where possible, please rinse and squash your cans and remove any lids from bottles and jars before placing them in the blue box.

White bag: paper and light card

Acceptable:

  • Newspapers and magazines

  • Computer paper

  • Junk mail

  • Telephone directories and Yellow Pages

  • Clean card (e.g. cereal boxes, greetings cards, ready meal sleeves etc.)

Not acceptable:

  • Cardboard

  • Plastic bags

  • Envelopes

  • Soiled card

Green bag: plastic food and drinks containers

Acceptable:

  • Clear and coloured drinks bottles

  • Milk cartons

  • Cooking oil bottles

  • Toiletry bottles

  • Washing-up liquid bottles

  • Household cleaning product bottles

  • Food trays such as ready meals

  • Margarine tubs

  • Yoghurt pots

Not acceptable:

  • Plastic bags, bin liners, shopping bags or films such as cling film

  • Foam and polystyrene food trays

  • Plastic vending cups

What happens to the recycling?

Paper, light card, glass and cans are taken to our Thornliebank depot, where they are bulked up for transport to the reprocessors.

The glass and cans are mechanically sorted and separated, and the steel and aluminium cans are baled for reuse in other steel and aluminium products. The glass is crushed down and cleaned, and is mainly used in the construction industry as an aggregate. The paper is taken to a paper mill where it is pulped and reformed into newspapers, paperboard and other paper products.

Plastics are sent directly to our contractor’s depot in Linwood where they are bulked, baled and shipped to UK and overseas markets. Recycled plastics can be used to make fabrics, furniture and other durable plastic products.

How much is being recycled?

Between 1st April 2007 and 31st March 2008 we recycled 2769 tonnes of paper and 1416 tonnes of glass and cans from the kerbside recycling scheme.  This amounts to 7.5% of the total waste collected during that period.