Press articles about recycling
There have been quite a lot of press articles about recycling over the last few days.
One subject has been the new materials that councils must collect from 1 April. See below for full details of the new things you can put in your green recycling bin!
There have also been articles about councils fining residents for recycling the wrong thing. Please let us be clear: Epsom & Ewell, Borough Council does NOT fine residents for recycling the wrong thing, and we have NO intention of starting to do so.
If you need help understanding what goes in which bin, full details are on this website.
New materials that you can put in your recycling bin!
From 1 April, residents in Epsom & Ewell will be able to recycle additional materials as part of the Simpler Recycling rules.
What additional items can I now put in my green recycling bin?
- cartons such as juice and plant milk cartons
- empty aerosol cans (Epsom & Ewell already recycled aerosol cans)
- foil - should be clean and scrunched into a ball no smaller than the size of a tennis ball
- foil trays - should be clean
- non-black plastic plant pots should be clean and free of soil
- squeezy metal tubes such as tomato puree tubes - should be empty
- squeezy plastic tubes such as toothpaste tubes - should be empty
You can see the full list of what can go in your green recycling bin here.
Interruptions to some garden waste collections last week
We regret that, due to ongoing staff shortages, we have had the following interruptions to garden waste collections last week:
- Wednesday 25 March: No Garden Waste collections on one of our routes. Map of affected road. Next scheduled collection Wednesday 8 April.
We regret that we are unable to return to collect garden waste on the affected roads until your next scheduled collection (see above). We will then also collect any excess garden waste that affected residents may have accumulated in the meantime, if it is bagged and left next your brown bin (please do not use bags that are larger than your brown bin).
Delays to deliveries of new food waste caddies
We regret that it has become very difficult to obtain supplies of the caddies that we use to collect food waste for recycling:
Government has required all councils who do not currently collect food waste separately to do so by 1 April (you may be surprised to know that, while Epsom & Ewell has recycled food waste since 2009, there are still many councils that do not). This has led to a very heavy recent demand for food waste caddies, meaning that delivery times have jumped from a few weeks to several months.
As a result, we have currently run out of food waste caddies, and we are working with other suppliers to try to get supplies in as quickly as possible.
Please bear with us while we work through this situation. At present, we cannot put a timescale on when we will next have supplies, but we are working hard to get them as soon as possible and will update you here.
Please accept our apologies, and our thanks for your patience.
My Council Services
You can report issues relating to refuse and recycling collections, such as missed collections, on our residents' portal, My Council Services.
We recommend registering for an account, which allows us to update you on the progress of your requests. Click here: My Council Services (please ensure you are using either Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox).
Quick guide to recycling
