About your bins

We collect household food waste weekly and recycling and rubbish fortnightly on alternate weeks.

About your food waste caddies, recycling and rubbish containers

We provide households in Cornwall with:

• 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
• coloured recycling bags and black box for recycling

If you need any replacement or additional outdoor food caddies, recycling bags or boxes, you can order them using the link below.

Order recycling containers 

How to present your rubbish for collection

Rubbish is collected fortnightly. 

• Put your rubbish out by 7am on your collection day
• Place it at your usual collection point – usually the boundary of your property 
• Only use the wheelie bin or protective sack we’ve provided with the lid closed
• Do not leave extra bags of rubbish on top of or next to your bin– they won’t be collected
• All rubbish must be bagged before going into your bin or sack

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

If you have a silver caddy from when the food waste service began, you can use it to collect food scraps like vegetable peelings, cooked leftovers, eggshells, teabags, bones, and more while you cook or clean up after meals. If you no longer have your silver caddy, you can use any suitable container to collect food waste indoors.

When it’s full, simply empty it into your green outdoor caddy. We collect food waste every week, so it’s easy to stay on top of it. To keep things tidy and odour-free, pull the handle forward and down to securely latch the lid. This keeps smells in and pests out.

Find out more about food recycling 

How we allocated your wheelie bin or sack

We assessed the outside of every home on our waste collection rounds and allocated most a 180 litre wheelie bin for rubbish.

We allocated a 180 litre reusable protective sack to 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

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

If you think your bin or sack doesn’t work for your property, you can apply to us to review our assessment of your outside space.  We’ll then consider exchanging it under certain circumstances. 

Apply to us to exchange your bin or sack

Fortnightly 180 litre limit on rubbish

Both the wheelie bins and protective sacks have a capacity of 180 litres and fit roughly 3 to 4 black bags.

Most  households who use our food waste and recycling collections find they have enough space in their bin or sack to dispose of all their rubbish each fortnight. If you have extra waste from time to time, you can take it to one of our Household Waste and Recycling Centres to dispose of it.

Apply to us to review your fortnightly rubbish limit

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

Apply for an extra rubbish bin or sack

Missing or damaged wheelie bin or sack

If your wheelie bin or sack is missing or damaged, you can request a replacement. Please note that we will collect the damaged one when we deliver the new one.