Recycling and food waste

We provide a weekly recycling collection to all residential households in Torridge. Your recycling should be placed kerbside by 6am on the morning of your scheduled collection day to ensure it is collected.

Find the collection dates for my address

All recycling must be presented in the containers that we provide and should be sorted as per our recycling guides:

Each household is allowed to place 2 of each box and bag for collection each week

Quick Recycling Guide 2026/27 (PDF, 1 MB)

Boxes and bags for recycling can be collected from our Head Office @ Riverbank House, Bideford EX39 2QG. Deliveries for boxes and bags can take up to 14 working days.

There have recently been reports on local news networks and social media regarding new national rules for recycling collections, including the introduction of new bins and updated guidance for households. We would like to reassure residents that TDC already operates in line with these national requirements.

As a result, there are no plans to introduce new bins or change the structure of our recycling and waste collections in the foreseeable future. Residents should continue to use their existing bins and follow the current guidance provided by TDC.

We will continue to monitor national guidance and keep residents informed should any changes be required in the future.

Green Box

Your green box is for recycling plastic items such as yoghurt pots, drinks bottles and milk cartons as well as metal food tins. We do not accept any black plastic, plant pots, pet food pouches, saucepans/frying pans or any soft plastic wrapping.

Small electrical items are also accepted but they should be presented inside a carrier bag within the green box. We cannot accept microwaves as part of the recycling scheme, these are classed as bulky items.

Please note we no longer collect batteries, but you can find your nearest battery recycling point by clicking here: Recycle Your Electricals - WEEE Recycling - Material Focus.

Please remember to wash and squash your recycling.

Black Box

Your black box is for recycling glass jars and bottles. We cannot accept Pyrex containers, glass vases or drinking glasses.

Brown Bag

Your brown bag is for recycling cardboard. We ask that any large boxes are broken down and placed inside the bag. They should not be left in a pile on the kerb or stacked inside another box. Please remove any tape from the boxes before placing them out for collection. Each household can place out a maximum of 2 brown bags per week. Any excess cardboard should be taken to your local recycling centre or put out the following week.

We also now collect cartons (Tetra Paks). This includes items such as juice cartons, long life milk containers, soup cartons and other liquid food packaging.

Please place cartons in the brown recycling bag, with caps left on, as they can be recycled together.

Green Bag

Your green bag is for recycling paper and magazines. We do accept shredded paper but we ask that it is placed in a tied bag within your green bag to prevent it from flying away when it is emptied. Please remove any plastic wrapping from magazines.

We also accept 1-3 items of good quality clothing per week which should be placed in your green bag.

Food Caddies

We provide a small caddy which is for use in your kitchen for daily food waste. This should be emptied into the large caddy which is placed out to be emptied on your collection day. We ask that residents line their caddy with newspaper, biodegradable bags, carrier bags or bin liners to prevent food sticking to the caddy. Please tie the bags so that they come out easier when emptying.

Torridge District Council is unable to accept compostable coffee pods in our food caddies or garden waste recycling bins. These items do not break down fully during the treatment process our food waste is sent to and the composting site our garden waste is treated at is not able to accept food derived waste. These items can be composted at home and Torridge is working in partnership with www.getcomposting.com who can supply a range of low cost home composters.

Final destination of recycling

Torridge has taken the decision to focus on collecting single material items such as bottles and food trays that are made of easier to recover polymers and have a higher value. Everything we collect at the kerbside has to find a reprocessing market and we are able to send most of our collected material to UK based reprocessing sites. The document below shows where the different items that we collect are taken to.

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