Your bin services are changing
What’s changing?
From Monday 30th March 2026 you will be able to add glass bottles and jars to your mixed dry recycling bin and flats can start to use their new food waste caddies.
Bin collection days will change in some areas.
These improvements are based on what you’ve told Central Bedfordshire Council (CBC) about recycling, and they’re designed to make recycling at home simpler and easier for you.
CBC is making recycling easier for your everyday routine. These improvements to your service will make it easier than ever to recycle more from home.
From 30th March you will be able to put glass bottles and jars in your kerbside mixed dry recycling bin, along with paper, card, cans, tins, aluminium foil, plastic bottles, pots, tubs, trays and cartons. Please use your existing bin with a green or orange lid.
If you currently have a separate kerbside glass collection using a box, you’ll start to use your mixed dry recycling bin for glass. You can keep the box for your own use or take it to your nearest Household Waste Recycling Centre to recycle it.
Broken glass bottles and jars will be able to go in your mixed dry recycling bin from this date too, if it’s safe to do so. You can wrap broken glass bottles and jars in paper, or place them in a cardboard box, and put them in your dry recycling bin.
What stays out?
Drinking glasses, Pyrex, light bulbs, mirrors, ceramics and cookware should not be placed in your recycling bins.
Ideally, these should be taken to your nearest Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) for reuse or disposal. However, if they are broken, they can go in the black bin or the general rubbish at the HWRC.
Bin collection day changes
To support the new recycling service, CBC needs to make some changes to bin lorry routes. If your home is affected, they will write to you in mid-March.
You can also check the bin collection calendar on CBC’s website from early March to see if your household is affected.
New food waste collections for flats
From 30th March all residents living in flats will receive weekly food waste collections.
Food waste caddies and food waste bins for flats will be delivered from late February and throughout March in time for the new collections starting. They will contain a leaflet with instructions detailing how to use the caddy.
Find out more on food waste for flats.
Removal of bottle banks
Once the service changes are in place, bottle banks will be removed across Central Bedfordshire.
Glass recycling will continue to be available at CBC’s Household Waste Recycling Centres.