Grey bin

What can I recycle in my grey bin?

Yes

• Plastics - rinsed and squashed
  • Plastic food and drinks bottles 
  • Plastic toiletry and cleaning bottles 
  • Plastic tablet and medicine bottles 
  • Pots, tubs and trays 
  • Lids and tops- Keep attached 
  • Yoghurt pots 
• Soft plastics - un bagged - including:
  • Crisp packets
  • Empty plastic bags
  • Empty black bags 
  • fruit and veg nets 
  • films, e.g. ready meal films 
  • bread bags 
  • sweet wrappers 
  • cling film
  • bubble wrap 

Please do not put toothpaste tubes in your recycling, these must go into your green-lidded bin.

• Metals - Empty and rinsed 
  • Tins and cans
  • Drinks cans 
  • Empty aerosols 
  • Foil trays (clean)
  • Pet food pouches (clean) 
  • Aluminium foil (clean)
  • Metal jar lids 
  • Screw top lids on jars and wine bottles
  • Foil takeaway containers 
  • Foil barbeque trays 
  • Foil sweet wrappers
  • Foil milk bottle tops
  • Foil freezing trays
  • Cigarette and tobacco foil
• Cartons - (e.g. Tetrapacks)
  • Fruit juice, milk, soup and sauce cartons 

When recycling your foil, always make sure you:

• wipe or shake off any crumbs
• rinse off any food or sauce - dirty foil can make your bin smell and is classed as food contamination which can result in a rejected collection 
• save smaller pieces of kitchen foil, scrunch them together into a ball with foil sweet wrappers and foil lids before recycling- this helps when it is being picked up  
• check if it has a lot of baked-on food or is very greasy, for example from a roast or barbecue, this should be put straight into your green-lidded bin - this is because it's too heavily contaminated and could disrupt the recycling process.

For soft plastics, make sure you:

• empty out crisp packets and food packaging 
• ensure soft plastics are added to the grey-lidded bin loose (unbagged) 
• check if there is a lot of contamination, for example food leftovers that are hard to clean off. If so, the soft plastics should be put straight into your green-lidded bin as including too heavily contaminated materials could disrupt the recycling process.

No

• Paper and cardboard
• Polystyrene 
• Nappies 
• Items contaminated with food 
• Oil and paint tins 
• Glass 
• Toys 
• Electrical items and e-cigarettes (including batteries)
• Textiles, clothing and shoes 
• Medicine blister packs

Please remember despite black/plastic bags being included in your grey bin, items will still need to be placed in loose.

If you would like to discuss your service, please contact Waste Services online at MyPKC, or by phoning our Customer Service Centre on 01738 476476.

FAQ's

I don't have a grey-lidded bin

If you do not have a bin, please log this as a general enquiry on MyPKC. 

Where can I find my new calendar?

Bin calendar are now provided online.

If you would like a paper copy of your bin calendar, please contact out Customer Service Centre on 01738 476476.

I'd like some more information

If you would like more information on your waste and recycling service, please email us at wasteawareness@pkc.gov.uk. 

If you require accessible formats of information, please log this as a general enquiry alternatively please contact out Customer Service Centre on 01738 476476

How am I meant to cope with 4 weekly collections?

At the moment we operate on a 2 weekly cycle with general waste collected on week 1 and recycling collected on week 2.  The service that started in 2023  saw a move to a 4 week cycle with general waste collected on week 1, paper/cardboard collected on week 2, general waste collected on week 3 and cans/plastics collected on week 4. There was no reduction to garden food waste or general waste collections. 

Where do I put my glass?

Based on the waste analysis of the green bins (general waste) in the Perth and Kinross Council area, around 5% of the contents of the green bins contain glass. Residents of Perth and Kinross already do an great job at recycling glass at local supermarkets, recycling points and centres.

The Scottish Household Recycling Charter Code of Practice places emphasis on improving the quality of the recycling material collected, with glass being collected as a separate stream and not mixed with other recyclates as this may degrade the quality of other recycling streams.

To consider collecting glass at the kerbside would require an additional fleet of vehicles as glass cannot be collected on its own using the same fleet of recycling vehicles as glass is a very abrasive material; this is not a viable option due to the significant costs and impact to the environment to provide a kerbside service. Whilst glass kerbside collection would be popular, the relatively small amounts put into non-recyclable waste bins does not justify the additional cost of running a separate fleet of vehicles. To ensure compliance with the Charter, the Council will continue to collect colour segregated glass through the network of glass recycling points and Household Recycling Centres.