Collections from flats and communal buildings

If you live in a block of flats, it's likely that you will use communal waste and recycling bins.

Ubico, the company who collects your waste and recycling on behalf of the council, has recently made some changes to the collection schedule.

The majority of residents should not notice any difference, as their communal bins are located in a bin store to which the crews have direct access. However if you put your recycling bins/boxes out for collection (as your bin storage areas are locked or if you have your own box) we advise you to look at the map below for your new scheduled collection day information.

View the map showing the collection schedule for communal waste collections

In addition, you can now also recycle textiles and shoes, small electricals and household batteries. If you would like to recycle any of these items place them in individual tied plastic carrier bags and leave them next to the recycling bin/s in your storage areas. Anyone who presents their own recycling box, should put the items in separately tied plastic carrier bags and inside the box with the lid on.

Important: please note that the crews are unable to accept wet textiles.

Your bins

Please make sure you put the correct recycling in each bin. Each bin will be colour coded and marked with which material should go in.

Paper and cardboard (240 litre blue lidded bin)	Newspapers, letters, general paper and junk mail Magazines, thin catalogues and brochures Shredded paper All cardboard boxes Cereal boxes Egg boxes Food packaging Greeting cards (Please flatten all cardboard)
Cans and plastics (240 litre yellow lidded bin)	Food and drinks cans (please wash and squash) Empty aerosol cans (do not squash) Metal chocolate and biscuit tins Clean foil and foil food trays Plastic pots, tubs and trays Milk, squash, fizzy pop and water bottles Shampoo and conditioner bottles
Glass (240 litre red lidded bin)	Glass bottles and jars (please wash)
Food (180 litre green lidded bin)	Food - cooked and uncooked Raw and cooked fruit and vegetables Meat and fish, including bones and skin Cheese and other dairy products Eggs and egg shells Tea bags/leaves and coffee grounds

Why the changes?

Cheltenham Borough Council sells each of the recycling materials we collect to re-processers and the income from this goes towards paying for the collection services. A recent clamp-down on the quality of recycling material sent to the Far East has had a knock-on effect on markets closer to home, as companies are finding they can no longer send lower quality material abroad. UK and European markets have been flooded with poorer quality materials and so the material we sell is being very closely scrutinised by the re-processor to ensure quality. Any loads with even the smallest amount of contamination risk being downgraded, negatively affecting their value. It is therefore extremely important that we achieve the best price for our recycling material. Following an extensive investigation, Ubico has identified that the majority of contamination is coming from communal recycling bins and they have taken action to make collections from these properties separately from non-communal properties, and this has resulted in collection day changes for some properties as shown on the zone map.

If you would like further information about the changes, please contact us on 01242 262626 or email [email protected].