Kerbside Collections

The Council collects residual 'black bag' waste, and recycling from householders on a weekly basis on St Mary's and St Martins. From March 2023 the Council will be collecting cardboard and paper separately as part of the household recycling collections.

The Council doesn't collect from the kerbside on St Agnes and Bryher but recycling sacks are provided for residents. For more information please visit our off island page or contact your local off island waste contract manager directly.

How to Present your Material for Collection

• All material needs to be placed at the kerbside (boundary of your property as close to the public highway as possible) by 8.30am on the day of your collection.
• All recycling material needs to be clean & dry and free from contaminants.
• All recycling material needs to be flattened and squashed to maximise room in your sacks.
• Please ensure the bags are full and tied at the top before putting out for collection. 

What’s Changing 

From March 2023, householders will no longer receive a single roll of blue bags for all mixed recycling.

Instead, a roll of 25 new blue recycling sacks for cardboard and paper only and a roll of 25 green sacks for the remainder of your mixed recycling will be delivered to your property twice a year, free of charge. 

What you need to do and when

You can start segregating your cardboard and paper into your new blue sacks as soon as they are delivered to you.

Any old blue mixed recycling sacks you may have left at the time the new sacks are delivered should be used for mixed recycling that does not include cardboard and paper (as if they were the new green sacks) until you run out and can switch to the new green sacks.

You cannot use the old blue sacks for cardboard and paper recycling - only the blue sacks with the new labelling will be accepted for this purpose. This is because we are aligning with the colour coding of sacks on the mainland, in line with the national Recycle Now campaign. 

All recycling must be clean, dry and free of any contaminates such as food, glitter or glue. Please squash items to allow maximum use of your sack.

What do I include in my household paper and cardboard (blue sack) All paper and cardboard must be clean, dry and free of contaminates such as food, glitter and glue.

The Council's waste & recycling team understands the difficulties that some residents are facing with banana boxes as part of their household kerbside collections.

The boxes are quite big and tricky to breakdown in order to fit inside the blue household recycling sacks we provide residents. We ask that all residents & businesses compact cardboard boxes (and all other recycling) to help us maximise efficiency in the service.

The Council's policy for recycling collections states that all cardboard needs to be contained in the recycling sacks provided. This is to ensure the cardboard is kept dry for recycling. Once cardboard becomes wet it cannot be recycled as the integrity of the material is lost. This costs the Council more money in waste disposal charges and does not increase our recycling rates.

In order for the Council's waste & recycling team to collect banana boxes at the kerbside, residents need to ensure the boxes are contained within the blue sacks provided. Residents can either:

• strip down and squash the boxes. This is preferable as this will enable you to use fewer sacks.

Or, if you are having trouble compacting the boxes:

• put the banana boxes (intact) inside the sacks and fill them with your other dry cardboard and paper recycling material.

We request that households leave out 1 blue recycling sack and 1 green recycling sack per week as it may not be possible to collect more than this. Any extra volume from householders would, at present, place extra pressure on the service and make daily operations difficult for the team, who also carry out other waste & recycling duties during the working day. If you have more than 1 blue recycling sack and 1 green recycling sack, you will need to take it to the waste & recycling site yourself. Please note that if you instruct a third-party haulier to collect your household waste and recycling, commercial fees and charges will be passed onto you by the hauliers.

There is currently a booking system in place to access the St Mary's waste & recycling site. Please call 01720 424450 (voicemail only) or email zerowaste@scilly.gov.uk to make a booking. 

What is my household allocation of mixed recycling and paper and cardboard sacks?

The Council issues rolls of 25 sacks to each household per year, two rolls of blue sacks for cardboard and paper recycling, and two rolls of green sacks for dry mixed recycling. We deliver these approximately every 6 months.

This roughly equates to an allocation of 1 dry mixed recycling and 1 paper and cardboard sack per property, per week.

If you have a surplus of sacks, please return them to the Library or Carn Gwaval.

What if I run out of Household Recycling Sacks?

If you run out of sacks before your next allocation is due please complete a Household Recycling Sack Request form and return either a hardcopy to the Library/Carn Gwaval or email  zerowaste@scilly.gov.uk. 

The Library/Carn Gwaval are no longer issuing Household Recycling Sacks, the sacks will only be available via delivery to the address supplied on the request form.

What do I include in my residual 'black bag' waste sacks?

Please put all non-recyclable items in your black bag waste i.e. food waste (unless you compost at home), soiled products, nappies, sanitary, plastic films and wrapping.

Your black bags should not contain any bulky, hazardous or electrical waste.

Where do I take other material I need to dispose of?

Plastic film, plastic bags and crisp packets – look for local recycling options, or to your local waste & recycling facility

Compostable food and garden waste – great for your home compost or to your local waste & recycling facility

Clothes, shoes, fabrics – charity shops, bring bank, or to your local waste & recycling facility

Small electricals, white goods, batteries – Council electrical collection, or to your local waste & recycling facility

Glass bottles and jars – bring sites (Telegraph, Rear of Town Hall, Rechabite Slip and Old Town - Nowhere Car Park on St Mary's), or to your local waste & recycling facility

All other material e.g., scrap metal items, large rigid plastic items, household & garden chemicals, need to be brought to your local waste & recycling site for safe disposal / further recycling. Please contact zerowaste@scilly.gov.uk or call 01720 424450 to book a slot to bring your items to the St Mary's Waste and Recycling Centre.  

Containing Your Waste Well 

It is really important that we all make every effort to contain our waste & recycling properly. Strewn waste poses a significant health issue for our wildlife, our environment and our community. It also places an unnecessary burden on the waste & recycling collection team.

Until we collect your waste and recycling, it is your responsibility to make sure it is contained properly so that pests or weather cannot strew it around.

We recommend that you put your waste into either a seagull/pest proof sack, (which can be packed away between collections so don’t take up valuable space,) a bin with a lid, or a wheelie bin (up to 240ltrs). Seagull proof sacks, bins and wheelie bins can be purchased online or enquire at your local hardware shop.

You can also buy seagull proof sacks directly from the Council.

Reporting a Missed Collection

All material needs to be placed at the boundary of your property, as close to the kerbside as possible, by 8.30a.m on the day of your collection. 

If your waste and recycling has not been collected by 4.30p.m on your collection day please email zerowaste@scilly.gov.uk or call 01720 424450 (voicemail only).