Living in a flat doesn't mean you can't recycle! We provide most flats with blue recycling bins for paper, card & books, plastic containers, food and drink cans and empty aerosol cans.

What you can recycle in your blue bin

Your communal blue bin is for recycling clean, dry items such as paper, cans, cardboard and rigid plastic food and drink containers. Please put all of your recyclable materials loose into the blue bin provided. 

To assist you with taking your recycling to your communal bin area we may be able to supply you with a reusable, recycling bag. To register your interest please email us.

These items can go in your blue bin:

• Paper (not shredded)
• Newspapers, magazines and brochures
• Books (hard and paperback)
• Telephone directories
• Yellow pages
• Junk mail
• Envelopes
• Catalogues
• Wrapping paper
• Greetings cards
• Cardboard
• Cereal boxes
• Washing powder boxes
• Food and drink cans/tins
• Aluminium foil
• Aerosol cans (no paint, fertilizer, weed killers or similar hazardous contents)
• Plastic bottles, yoghurt pots, shampoo bottles, cleaning bottles (empty, wash, squash and put the lid back on). NO carrier bags please.

If you are unsure whether a plastic item can be recycled in your blue bin do the 'scrunch test' - scrunch up the item in your hand and if it can be completely squashed, for example like cling film or plastic wrappers, it should NOT go in the blue bin. If it will not scrunch and is solid, like plastic bottles or yoghurt pots, it CAN go in.

What goes in your black communal bin

Around 30,000 tonnes of waste is collected every year from the black bins in Ipswich. That’s an average of 500 kgs (half a tonne) of waste from each home in Ipswich. Some of that waste could have been recycled.

To help minimise the amount of waste you put in your black bin, please check what can go in your blue bin and make sure that you recycle as much as you can.

Your black bin is for any waste that cannot be recycled, such as:

• Cooked food
• Meat, fish and bones
• Shredded paper
• Egg shells
• Egg boxes
• Polystyrene
• Plastic film such as cellophane and plastic bags (larger supermarkets may accept for recycling, check locally)
• Tetra- Pak type liquid food and drink cartons (these can also be recycled at your Household Waste Recycling Centre)
• Nappies and sanitary items
• Porcelain and ceramics
• Crisp packets and sweet wrappers

The Suffolk A-Z of Recycling helps you find out all the ways you can recycle.

Please DO NOT put the following items in your bin. They must be taken to a Household Waste Recycling Centre.

• Tiles and general DIY waste
• Electrical items (recycle small items at local WEEE banks) 
• Bricks
• Soil
• Stones
• Rubble.

Glass Recycling for flats

The best way to dispose of your unwanted glass bottles and jars is to take them to the special glass banks around town, as unfortunately glass cannot go in your blue bins. This is for two main reasons:

• Glass shards may get caught up in any paper in your bin, causing damage to the equipment at the paper recycling mill;
• Part of the sorting process for recyclable materials is done by hand at the Material Recovery Facility at Great Blakenham which could be dangerous.

A list of where you can recycle glass is available on our Glass recycling locations page.

We may also be able to provide glass recycling bins for your communal bin area. Please contact us for more details.

What should you do if you notice a problem with the recycling bins at your flat?  

If you're concerned about the condition of your communal bin area or have any questions please contact us using the details on the left of this page. We can assist in a number of ways by making sure that damaged bins are repaired or replaced as well as monitoring any incidents of overflowing bins.