About your new bins

The information on this page is for Cornwall’s new weekly food waste and fortnightly recycling and rubbish collections. We are rolling this new service out across Cornwall area by area from 2023 to 2025.  
 
If you’ve not had a ‘Get Ready for Your New Waste Collections’ leaflet in the post and new bins delivered to your home, you’re still on the current weekly rubbish and fortnightly recycling collections. 

 

About your new food waste caddies and rubbish bin or sack

Before we change collections in your area to the new service, we’ll give you:

• a silver kitchen caddy to make separating your food waste from your rubbish easy
• a green outdoor caddy for storing your food waste and putting it out for collection
• a wheelie bin or reusable protective sack for putting your rubbish out for collection

You can keep using the usual coloured recycling bags and box.

Container dimensions

Wheelie bin - 180 litres

• Height 1063 mm
• Width 477 mm
• Depth 715 mm

Reusable protective sack - 180 litres

• Height 1000 mm
• Width 450 mm
• Depth 450 mm

Green outdoor collection caddy - 23 litres

• Height 410 mm
• Width 300 mm
• Depth 400 mm

Silver indoor kitchen caddy - 7 litres

• Height 265 mm
• Width 184 mm
• Depth 235 mm

You’ll find your Get Set for New Waste Collection Service Instruction Leaflet in your green food waste collection caddy.

Once your new collections start we’ll only collect rubbish from the wheelie bin or sack we’ve given you to use with the new service.

This is because we’re introducing a new limit of up to 180 litres of rubbish fortnightly – about 3 to 4 black bags.

• We'll only collect the rubbish that fits in your bin or sack with the lid closed. 
• We won’t take extra rubbish left out for collection next to your bin or sack.
• We will give out extra rubbish bins or sacks but only to households that on application meet specific criteria.

How to use your caddies to separate your food waste from your rubbish

Separating your food waste for weekly collection is easier than you might think. 

Your new silver caddy can sit on your kitchen countertop, or under your sink if you prefer. You can scrape veg peelings, cooked leftovers, egg shells, teabags, bones and more into it every time you prepare food or finish a meal. 

We’ll deliver detailed instructions on food waste when we deliver your new bins to you but you can find more now on our food waste recycling page below. 

You can empty your caddy into your green outdoor food waste collection caddy as often as you like. Pull the handle forwards and down to latch the lid securely closed so smells can’t escape and vermin can’t get in. 

Find out more about food recycling 

How we allocate you a wheelie bin or sack

We've assessed the outside of all properties on our waste collection rounds and have allocated most a 180 litre wheelie bin for rubbish.

A small number of properties that:

• are unable to store a bin
• have too many steps, or
• are serviced by one of our specialist collection vehicles

have been allocated a 180 litre reusable protective sack instead.

We won't be able to tell you in advance whether we're giving your property a bin or sack.

Once your bin or sack has been delivered if you think we've assessed your property incorrectly you can apply to us to review your property assessment.

Please note: You'll only be able to see this information in My Area, and query your allocation, when we’re ready to introduce the services in your area. 

The new fortnightly 180 litre limit on rubbish

We'll be collecting your food waste from you weekly. The average household in Cornwall will find that recycling their food waste and not binning it, frees up 33% more space in their black bag.

If you're recycling all your cardboard, glass, plastics, cans, paper and textiles too, you should have no trouble with the 180 litre fortnightly limit, which is roughly 3 to 4 black bags.

• Order recycling bags and boxes
• Find out how to get started with recycling
• Find out how to recycle more

Apply to us to review your fortnightly rubbish limit

We will collect more rubbish from households under certain exceptional circumstances.  You must apply to us to review your fortnightly 180 litre rubbish limit.

Please note: you will only be able to apply to us to review your fortnightly 180 litre limit once you've taken delivery of your new bins.

Apply for an extra rubbish bin or sack

When to expect delivery of your caddies and bin or sack

You can enter your address on the My Area section of our website to check if you are in the current rollout area.

If you are in the current rollout area, you should see a message that says your waste collections are changing and that your bins will be delivered in the next three months.

Don’t worry about being home to take delivery of your bins. We’ll leave them outside.

View the My Area page

Our delivery contractor Jett will have crews out delivering bins from 7am to 7pm, 7 days a week, over a two to three month period.  The crews will carry letters confirming they're out working on Cornwall Council's behalf.

You will be able to check if you're in the current rollout area and see you bin delivery window by entering your address in the My Area section of our website from October.

If you think your bin or sack won't work for your property

If once your bin or sack arrives you think it won't work for your property, you'll be able to apply to us to review our assessment of your property.  We will then consider exchanging it under certain circumstances. 

For example, we've given you a wheelie bin when:

• there isn't enough outdoor space to store it
• there are too many steps to your collection point
• the property's serviced by one of our specialist vehicles

Apply to us to exchange your bin or sack

What to do if there's a problem with your bin delivery

When your bins are delivered, please check that you've received a silver kitchen food waste caddy, a green food waste collection caddy and a rubbish bin or sack, and make sure no wheels are missing, handles broken or lids damaged

People who live in properties with shared bins will get a silver kitchen caddy only. 

If there are bins missing or damaged, you can ask us to replace it.

Tell us about a problem with your bin delivery

What happens to your current bin, if you have one

We know lots of people have their own bin they use currently to put their rubbish out in and won’t want to see it go to waste.

You might want to keep yours and repurpose it - as garden storage perhaps, or a water butt – or donate it to a community group.

If not, we can collect your old bin once your new service has started and recycle it for you, if you’d like us to. You can find details in your New Collections Calendar, which we'll send you in the post just before your new service starts.