What to do with extra recycling and waste

We understand that sometimes you might have more recycling or waste than will fit in your containers or bin. Please follow the advice on this page to help us collect any extra recycling.

We are unable to collect bags of extra general waste left next to the black bin so please take care to prevent waste and recycle as much as possible. As a last resort, extra general waste can be taken to a Recycling and Household Recycling Site.

Take a look at our advice for disposing of extra garden waste.

Glass and plastic/cans/tins

You can put extra red box recycling out in reusable plastic containers such as a washing up bowl or plastic storage boxes/baskets. Please make sure glass is always kept in a separate container to plastic/cans/tins/foil. 

Recycling put out in plastic bags will not be collected by our crews due to the issues they cause. Find out how plastic bags cause problems.

You can also order extra red boxes online. Unsure which items you can recycle in the red box? Find out here.

Cardboard 

Extra cardboard which does not fit in the yellow bag should be flattened to no bigger than 2ft x 2ft and left next to the red boxes, weighed down if you can.

You can also flatten extra cardboard to 2ft x 2ft and put it out in cardboard boxes no bigger than a red box.

Please also remove any packaging such as polystyrene, plastic film/wrapping and any plastic straps. We can only collect clean cardboard (without any food left on it).

Additional yellow bags can also be ordered online.

Paper

If you regularly have more paper than will fit in your blue bag, you can order another blue bag. If you only occasionally have extra paper to recycle, you can use a sturdy plastic bag for life or try spreading the amount you put out over a few collections.

Extra recycling can also be taken to Leicestershire County Council's Recycling and Household Waste Sites.