Residents reminded of recycling rights and wrongs

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Residents are being reminded of the importance of placing the right materials in their recycling bins – after it emerged that almost a quarter of material collected in the county is contaminated. 

Over 23% of all material collected from recycling bins at kerbside in Northumberland, is in fact contamination, including black bags, nappies, dog waste, food waste, textiles and clothing and electrical items. 

Just one contaminated bin can result in an entire load of recycling (from multiple streets and hundreds of properties) being spoiled and rejected, meaning that it must be sent for incineration instead of being recycled. 

Cabinet Member for the Environment Councillor John Riddle said: “Firstly we’d like to thank the thousands of residents who are putting the right waste in the right bins – you're all doing your bit for the county and the environment. 

"Unfortunately contamination is very frustrating because tonnes of otherwise clean recycling material thoughtfully and responsibly disposed of by the majority of our residents could go to waste and this also has serious financial and environmental implications.  

“We currently only want residents to put their paper, card, carboard, plastic bottles, tin cans, drinks cans and empty aerosol cans in their recycling bins. 

“Based on our current levels of contamination, it’s forecast to cost the County Council in excess of £1m in 2026/2027 and incinerating waste, whilst a cleaner and more environmentally friendly alternative to landfill, is still harmful to our environment. 

“This is money that could be better spent on the delivery of essential council services, such as our highways, adult social care and children’s services. 

“It is also one of our priorities to protect our outstanding natural environment by ensuring as much ‘waste’ as possible is captured for re-use and recycling, as opposed to disposal.” 

By law, all householders have a legal duty of care to ensure all household waste produced at the property is disposed of safely and correctly. 

To tackle the problem, bins out for collection will be subject to inspections to ensure no non-permitted items are present. 

Any bins found to be containing contaminants will be rejected and a red tag will be applied, advising residents that the bin has been rejected due to contamination. 

The resident will then receive a letter prior to the next recycling collection, providing more detail and explaining how this can be avoided in future. 

Residents will be given two opportunities and should a third occasion arise where the bin has been contaminated, service will be temporarily suspended until the resident has engaged with a recycling officer and given reason to believe this will not happen again. 

If bin is found to contain contaminants a fourth time, the service will be removed indefinitely. 

Cllr Riddle added: “We are here to help and if your bin has been tagged or you have received a letter and are still unsure about what you can or can’t recycle. Contact us and we will be more than happy to help and support you.” 

Residents can help them by disposing of their waste responsibly and putting the right items in the right container.  

Items that cannot be put into household recycling bin such as textiles, clothes, and electrical items can be recycled at one of our Household Waste Recovery Centres.  

The Council will also be expanding the range of materials that can be collected for recycling in Northumberland and introducing new recycling services during 2026/27 to improve performance further.