Skip to main content

Student and Landlord Waste and Recycling Hub

This page brings together all the key information students and landlords (licence holders) need about waste and recycling in Nottingham. Here you’ll find guidance, useful links, and answers to common questions—helping you access services easily, avoid health risks or fines, and play your part in keeping our city clean and welcoming.

All information on this page applies only to properties in the Nottingham City Council area, and properties that have household sized bins. You can find links to other local council areas and private accommodation at the bottom of the page.

Bin Colours

If you’ve recently moved to Nottingham you might have noticed our household waste and recycling bins are different to what you’ve known before – here we use green bins for Residual Waste, and brown bins with grey lids for Recycling. We also offer Garden Waste as an optional paid-for service – this is brown with a brown lid.

Collection Days and Times

The green residual waste bins and brown and grey recycling bins are collected on an alternate weekly collection. Our calendar tool allows you to check your next collection, download a printable calendar, or import it into iCal or Google Calendar. We also have an email service that sends a reminder the night before bin day.

Bins should be placed out for collection at the edge of your property no earlier than the evening before collection day and taken in by the end of collection day. Bins should not be left on pavements at any other time, and enforcement action is taken where this becomes an issue.

What Goes in Which Bin

In a nutshell, we can recycle paper, cardboard, cartons, plastic bottles, plastic pots, tubs, and trays, plastic bags and wrapping, glass bottles and jars, and metal cans, tins, and foil, in the brown and grey recycling bin.

All of these materials are packaging only – so we can’t take things like pots and pans, drinking glasses, coat hangers or hard plastic. We’ve created a comprehensive search tool covering thousands of items with information on how to dispose of or recycle them, including third-party schemes run by charities and shops. We also have a fun game to test your local recycling knowledge of common items – a quick way to find out what you’re already getting right and what you’re not!

Items That Shouldn’t Go in Any Bin

Electrical items shouldn’t be put in any household bin as these can be dangerous especially if they contain lithium which is common in rechargeable items. There have been several serious vehicle fires in Nottingham in 2025 caused by lithium batteries incorrectly placed in bins.

Hazardous waste should never be placed in household bins – this includes gas canisters, chemicals, fluorescent lightbulbs, paint, plasterboard, asbestos, clinical waste, and blades/sharp items.

Clothes and Shoes

We don’t collect clothes, shoes, or other textiles from households – please take these to a charity shop or textile bank. Nottingham has a plethora of charity shops, many of which are clothing specific. Textile banks can also accept worn-out clothes – place these in a bag labelled “rags”.

British Heart Foundation have placed donation banks around the city where you can donate a wide range of items suitable for their charity shops, any time of the year.

 Food Waste

Nottingham City Council does not currently have a food waste service except for a small trial area in Berridge. Please place all food waste in your residual waste bin unless your property is part of the trial. Plans to introduce a city-wide food waste service are underway, but due to existing contracts and national government agreements, this won’t be during the 2025/26 academic year.

Items too large for the bin

For items that are too large for the bin, or can’t be placed in them (see above), tenants can book a bulky waste collection, or take them to the recycling centre. Items owned by the landlord are legally described as commercial waste, and so must be disposed of by a trade waste service rather than a domestic household service. Of course, if the items can be donated for reuse or upcycling, this is always a better option than disposal.

When you move in

Your landlord (license holder) must issue you with a moving-in information pack which details how to make complaints, report maintenance issues, and make general enquiries regarding your property. If you identify an issue it's the tenants responsibility to advise the landlord (license holder) as soon as possible, so that they can take action.

If your landlord has not responded to your concern, please contact our Licensing Team. 

If you have missing, damaged or dirty bins

It is the landlord’s (licence holder’s) responsibility to ensure the correct bins are in place and are suitable for use. If you've moved in and can't locate your bins, please speak to your landlord. All properties should have both recycling and residual waste bins with sufficient capacity for the number of tenants. The council has a no side waste policy, meaning that all waste and recycling must fit inside of the bins with the lids closed, and no extra bagged or boxed waste or recycling will be collected.

The number of bins recommended by the council will assume that all recyclable items are being placed in the recycling bin. If you think you don’t have enough bins, or have concerns about them being fit for purpose, please contact your landlord.

If your bin is overflowing or contaminated when you move in

Landlords (license holders) should ensure that bins are ready for new tenants before they move in, with provision for their immediate use.  Tenants should inform their landlord as soon as possible if they are unable to use their bins. Landlords should make arrangements for the bins to be emptied by a suitable waste management service provider. The council does not currently offer this service. If your landlord has not addressed issues you have raised, please contact our Licensing Team. 

Bins in Flats or Private Accommodation

The property management agency is responsible for communal bins at flats and private accommodation. Larger bins are often used, and are a different colour to household bins, however, the same items can be collected for recycling, and all properties should provide recycling facilities for their tenants. 

Waste and Recycling in other parts of Nottinghamshire

Recycling on Campus

Bin colours, styles, and what can be placed inside them are different at home to on campus and in university buildings.

Take our website survey

Please take a few moments to complete our survey and help us improve your experience.

Website Survey