A new weekly food waste collection service is being launched to help residents safely dispose of expired and unusable food items.
We're also expanding our recycling options to include glass and cartons (such as Tetra Pak), which can now be placed in your recycling bin.
To support better waste separation, households have received an extra wheelie bin or container. This is to sort paper and card separately from plastics, metals, cartons (including Tetra Pak), and glass bottles or jars.
This new bin will complement the weekly food waste collection, making recycling easier and more efficient for everyone.
Our new Recycling and Waste Service, starting in June 2026, will make it easier for all households in Ipswich to recycle more.
Take a look at how it will work, what additional things you’ll be able to recycle from home for the first time, using new bins and food caddies Watch this video about the new services
Households will be provided with four collection services as standard:
Ipswich Borough Council, in partnership with other Suffolk councils, operates a five-bin system (if you subscribe to the garden waste service):
Collections will begin from 1 June 2026.
To find out your bin collection day, use our tool below by entering your street name. This tool will show whether it is a blue bin or green lidded week or a black bin week. Food waste is collected every week. Please note that the button opens in a new window.
The food waste bin will be emptied weekly on the same day as your refuse/recycling collection day. The food waste will be collected by separate, dedicated trucks.
Most households will have received one extra recycling bin. This means that you have one blue bin for glass, plastics, metal and cartons. Plus, one new green lidded bin for paper and card.
Households will also have received two food waste containers. One is a lockable 23 litre food waste bin to leave outside for collection. The other is a smaller 5 litre caddy for use in the kitchen.
Some households will be exempt from the above bins such as existing sack-service customers and communal locations.
If you received a duplicate set of bins or are missing any, please report it here -
Report duplicate or missing bins from your delivery
No.
Garden waste (brown bin) collections will remain a separate, optional charged for service, with collections continuing fortnightly.
We’re holding drop-in events in Ipswich over this Summer. Come and talk to our team about Better Recycling!
Find out more on the Suffolk Recycles' Better Recycling webpage ⧉
Full information available in audio description
Watch our handy video that explains the food caddies in more detail here
The Government is requiring local councils to implement its Better Recycling strategy, which aims to enhance recycling rates and encourage a more consistent national approach to recycling across England. To support the Government’s strategy, as well as the materials we already collect, we’ll also start collecting the following from households directly:
Two of the most frequent questions we get asked are “why don’t you collect food” or “why don’t you collect glass or cartons”? These changes will ensure all households will be able to recycle or compost more of their household waste.
The changes will also help the environment by increasing Ipswich recycling rate, reducing the amount of waste that goes into our rubbish bins and decreasing the carbon impacts of the Ipswich waste and recycling collection service.
This is all vital in our efforts to combat the climate emergency and promote a circular economy that ensures precious resources can be repeatedly recycled and reused. It will also help Ipswich & the rest of Suffolk play our part in achieving the Government’s aim to recycling or compost 65% of our waste by 2035.
Yes. For food - homes in Ipswich have new containers for the weekly collection of food. You should have two caddies: a 5 litre one for collecting food waste in your kitchen (small enough to sit on your worktop) and a larger and lockable 23 litre one to store the food outdoors between your weekly collection and put on the pavement to be collected
For recycling – you now have an additional green lidded recycling bin as well as your current blue bin. The green bin will be for paper and cardboard and the blue bin for glass, metal tins and cans, cartons and plastic bottles, tubs and trays.
As we currently do, we will work with residents to look at alternative solutions, such as using smaller bins, or providing sacks instead.
For clarity, the food waste bin will be 23 litres in size, much smaller than a regular bin.
We are currently reviewing bin provision for all flats/communal areas, as well as working with landlords and management companies - ensuring that sufficient bins are in place ready for when the new collection services start.
We currently collect food waste as part of your fortnightly black rubbish bin collections.
The new service will provide a separate weekly food waste collection, which will mean it sitting in your bin half the time that it currently does.
The food waste caddy also has a lockable lid to ensure the food waste smells and its content are contained.
In many ways, the recycling process will remain the same. The main difference will be that the Materials Recycling Facility (MRF), which will be redesigned to separate the glass, cans, cartons and plastics (the materials that will go in the blue recycling bin).
The paper and cardboard (the materials from your green bin) will no longer require separation at the MRF and will instead be bulked up and sent directly to a paper merchant for reprocessing.
Any food waste collected from Suffolk homes will be sent to an Anaerobic Digestion (AD) facility, where it will create a bio-fertiliser for spreading on farmland, as well as bio-methane which will be used to power vehicles, produce electricity and provide gas to homes and business.
The new Government policy requires all councils to collect paper and card separate from other recyclable items.
When paper and card are collected along with items like glass and plastics, they can get damaged or contaminated. Therefore, reducing its recycling quality and value.
Keeping paper and card separate means they can be recycled more effectively and are worth more when sold for recycling.
Yes. By collecting it from your home, we hope to make it easier for residents to recycle even more glass!
No. The garden waste (brown) bins are used for the collection and disposal of garden waste only.
That’s great to hear. However, it is worth noting that home composting isn’t suitable for all food waste. For example, items like bones, meat, mouldy bread, and pasta are best handled through the food waste collection service.
We also understand that not everyone has the space or ability to compost at home.
Find out more about home composting on the Suffolk Recycles website ⧉, including information on heavily subsidised composting items.
You can now recycle the following plastic films in your blue-lidded recycling bin:
Some plastic films such as crisp packets and biscuits wrappers are still not abled to be recycled due to being a mix of plastic and metal materials which can't easily be recycled. Please see the Recycle Now website for more information on where to recycle these products.
Changes are taking place to ensure the Councils can meet new Government legislation (known as Simpler Recycling).
The policy requires all councils to collect a core list of recyclable waste, including providing weekly food waste collections.
This will make sure the same items are collected for recycling no matter where in the country you live. Therefore, help more people recycle and boost national recycling rates.
View the Simpler Recycling Policy on the Government's website ⧉
All councils in England will collect the same materials for recycling, which will improve consistency and reduce confusion. It will also make it easier for residents to recycle more things from home.
The Government wants to separate fibre recyclables (e.g. paper and cardboard) from other recyclables (plastics, cans, glass, etc). Not only will this ensure we collect a better quality of material, but when compared to the other legally viable collection options considered, this system is also more cost effective. As such, this is best financial outcome for Ipswich taxpayers.
The Government is providing some extra funding to help councils set up new recycling and food waste collection services.
They are also introducing new rules that will make the producers of the packaging financially responsible for the materials they put on shop shelves.
This means that in future, producers will help pay for waste and recycling collections, reducing the cost to the taxpayer.
No. Under national recycling rules, households in England must separate waste correctly (for example, plastic, metal, glass, paper and cardboard and food waste and general waste). Returning a bin does not remove this legal requirement.
No. If a bin does not work for you, you can contact the council to discuss alternatives. However, you must still have a council - approved way to separate and present your waste for collection.
You can ask, but councils do not have to remove bins simply because they are not wanted. If a bin is removed, the council will normally require you to use another approved container, such as a smaller bin or recycling sacks.
If you are elderly, disabled, or unable to move bins, you may be eligible for:
You should contact customer services on 01473 432000 to discuss your needs.
Your green lidded bin is for your paper and card. If you do not have a green lidded bin, or do not use the green-lidded bin we've provided, there will be no way for you to recycle your paper and card from the kerbside. If you put the paper and card in your blue bin this will mean your blue bin will be contaminated and our crews will be unable to collect.
