Recycling with Forest of Dean District Council
The guidance on this page is for recycling plastic at home only. For all other materials visit Bins and recycling - Forest of Dean District Council.
Know your plastics
| Can I recycle mixed plastics | Yes. This was introduced in July 2025. | |
| Should I be washing and squashing my plastic bottles? | Yes, please wash and squash your plastic bottles as it saves space in your recycling container | |
| Can I recycle black plastic packaging | Not recyclable at kerbside, please put in your non recycling bin | |
| Can I recycle plastic film including bread bags and crisp packets | Not recyclable at kerbside, please put in your non recycling bin | You may be able to recycle them at your local supermarket. Check if your local store recycles bags. |
| Should I leave on or remove lids? | Please remove these and put them in your non recycling bin | |
| Should I leave on or remove trigger sprays (like on cleaning sprays) | Please remove these and put them in your non recycling bin | |
When?
Weekly:
Mixed plastics, plastic bottles, food/drink cans, empty aerosols and aluminium foil (box 1)
Glass, bagged textiles and shoes (box 2)
What do we want?
- plastic bottles (includes any plastic container which is bottle shaped, including: milk bottles, fizzy drink and squash bottles, shampoo and conditioner bottles, empty bleach bottles, detergent bottles. We can take lids but please remove triggers)
- Plastic pots, tubs, trays and punnets
- tins and cans
- metal biscuit and sweet tins
- metal lids
- empty aerosols
- aluminium foil or containers (must be clean)
Pots, tubs and trays are particularly light and can blow out of the recycling container if not careful. When putting out recycling containers for collection, residents should stack another one of their recycling containers on top of their box for plastics to prevent plastic from blowing away.
What don't we want?
- Crisp packets
- Pre-prepared salad bags
- Film lids from pots or trays
- Black plastic or black polystyrene trays
- Medicine packs e.g. headache pills
- Plastic film/wrappers/bags*
- Pet food pouches
- Soap bottle pumps
- Paint pots
- Plastic toys (for details about electronic and electrical items visit the website here)
- Plastic plant pots
- Bubble wrap
- Plastic bottles containing chemicals e.g. anti-freeze
- Polystyrene packaging
* Plastic bags cannot be recycled through the kerbside recycling collection services. However, some local supermarkets have recycling collection points in store: check if your local store recycles bags.
Can't recycle an item kerbside? Ask the Waste Wizard what to do with the item instead.
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