Household recycling

We collect recycling from all households in the New Forest every week. Your recycling is collected in clear plastic sacks, or from your communal recycling bin if you live in flats.

To recycle glass bottles and jars, use your black box or your communal bin if you live in flats.

What we collect

Our recycling contractor can only recycle materials on the list below. Do not put anything else in your clear plastic sack.

There are only six types of material that you can put in your clear recycling sack, which are listed below with examples.

• Plastic bottles including milk, drinks, toiletries and cleaning product bottles (including lids when attached to the bottle)
• Tins including food, pet food, biscuits, sweets, tea and coffee tins
• Cans including fizzy drinks, beers and lager cans
• Aerosols including deodorants, furniture polish, shaving foam, hairspray and air freshener
• Paper including newspapers, magazines, directories, catalogues, junk mail, envelopes and stationery
• Cardboard including cereal, tea, egg boxes, toilet rolls and cardboard packaging.

If you have items that are not on the above list, put them in your black rubbish sack to be collected as household rubbish.

You can recycle glass bottles and jars through your black box or communal bin or take it to a community recycling bank.

At some community recycling bank locations, there are charity-run recycling banks for clothing/textiles, shoes, books and CDs.

Medical syringes should never be placed in the clear recycling sack, even if you believe they are securely wrapped or contained. The council provides a free healthcare waste collection service for this type of waste.

When we collect

Recycling sacks are collected every week, on the same day as your black rubbish sacks.

You can check your clear sack recycling collection day using our online postcode lookup below.

Find your collection day

Put out your sacks at the edge of your property by 6am on your collection day.

We advise that sacks are not put out earlier than 6pm the day before your collection date. However, there may be some circumstances where residents need to put their sacks out for collection a couple of hours earlier. For example, to avoid going out in the dark during the winter months.

How we collect

Your recycling is collected in clear plastic sacks, or from your communal recycling bin if you live in flats.

We deliver 36 clear plastic sacks to each property every six months. You can purchase extra sacks at your local information office.

For operational reasons, the exact dates for sack delivery may vary. You can check when to expect your sack delivery.

New residents can request a delivery of sacks by calling Customer Services on 023 8028 5000.

Missed collection

If your clear sacks were not collected, you can contact us to report a missed collection.

Bank Holidays

Clear sack collections will still take place over the Easter and summer bank holidays.

Some changes are made to clear sack collection days at Christmas and New Year. These will be published on the find my collection day page at the beginning of December. Details will also be printed on your black sacks, and published in the local press and on social media.

If you need support

Residents who are unable to put their sacks out at the edge of their property due to a disability, illness or injury can contact us to request an assisted collection.

For updates on assisted collections and other waste collections, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and NextDoor.

You can also subscribe to receive our update emails.