Watford Borough Council

A-C

Aluminium foil
Aluminium foil can be taken to a Hertfordshire County Council run Household Waste Recycling Centre, please follow the Waste Aware link for further information.  There are also two residential drop off points in Watford where any foil collected is donated to raise money for the RSPB - please contact Environmental Services for details.

Animal bedding
Bedding from small animals that do not eat meat such as hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits, etc. can be placed in your green wheelie bin for composting. Please contact the Customer Service Centre if you do not have a green wheelie or would like to request an additional bin.

Aerosols
Please recycle aerosols using our kerbside collection scheme. Please contact the Customer Service Centre if you do not have boxes or would like to request extra.

Batteries (general purpose)
Batteries can be taken to a Hertfordshire County Council run Household Waste Recycling Centre, please use the Waste Aware link for further information. Alternatively, some local supermarkets offer customers a freepost battery recycling service; check instore for details.

Bio-degradable bags
We are unable to accept what the supermarkets sell as 'degradable', biodegradable or compostable bin liners in our green wheelie bins. This is because, West London Composting, where we take the green waste for composting, currently will not take these bags from Watford Borough Council. The material goes through the system in 12-14 weeks, whilst these bin liners take much longer to decompose. Please do not put these bags in your green bin because we will be unable to empty it.

Birthday cards
Plain birthday cards ONLY can be put in your green wheelie bin for compostable waste. Birthday cards with glitter, badges, ribbon etc. cannot be recycled through our scheme and will need to either be be put in your black wheelie bin or you can remove the front of the card placing this in the black bin and put the plain half of the card in your green bin!

Books
Books can be recycled at most local charity shops or taken to various book banks across Hertfordshire. For further details please follow the Waste Aware link.

Broken glass
Broken glass cannot be recycled. Please do not put items such as a broken glass or window panes into your kerbside green box. Please wrap any small items in newspaper and place in your black wheelie bin. Any large broken items can be taken to a Hertfordshire County Council run Household Waste Recycling Centre, please follow the Waste Aware link.

Bulky items
Depending on the condition bulky items such as beds, sofas and wardrobes, can be re-used through charity furniture schemes or by listing the items on a re-use website. Please contact the following for further information:

9 Lives Furniture - 01923 718666
Oxfam - 01923 246209
FreeCycle - please use the link below.
For bulky items that are not re-usable we run a special collections service. Please follow the link below for more information.

Most furniture can also be taken to a Hertfordshire County Council run Household Waste Recycling Centre, please follow the Waste Aware link for further information.

Cans (aerosol, aluminium and steel)
Please recycle cans using our kerbside collection scheme. Please contact the Customer Service Centre if you do not have boxes or would like to request extra.

Car batteries
Car batteries can be recycled at a Hertfordshire County Council run Household Waste Recycling Centre. For further details please follow the link to the Waste Aware website.

Cardboard
Please recyle cardboard using our green waste kerbside collection scheme. Please remove any sellotape and flatten boxes before placing it in the bin. Please contact the Customer Service Centre if you do not have a green wheelie bin or would like to request an additional bin.

Carrier bags (plastic)
We strongly encourage the use of re-useable bags where possible. These are available from most shops for a small charge.

Loose plastic carrier bags can be recycled in your green kerbside box for mixed cans and plastic. Please contact Customer Service Centre if you need additional boxes.

CD's
CD's can be re-used at most local charity shops or at a Hertfordshire County Council run Household Waste Recycling Centre. For further details please visit the Waste Aware website.

Christmas cards
Plain Christmas cards ONLY can be put in your green wheelie bin for compostable waste. Cards with glitter, badges, ribbon etc. cannot be recycled through our scheme and will need to either be be put in your black wheelie bin or you can remove the front of the card placing this in the black bin and put the plain half of the card in your green bin!

Usually, the Woodland Trust also run card recycling schemes just after Christmas through various outlets across the town; please keep an eye out in January for further details of these schemes.

Cling film
Please place in your black bin for domestic waste.

Clothing
Most charity shops accept clean clothing in good condition. Alternatively please take any unwanted textiles to a textile bank located in the town.

Computers
Computers in good condition can be re-used through various re-use schemes.  Computers that are not suitable for re-use can be taken to a household waste site for disposal. For further details please contact Waste Aware using the link below.  Please do not put computers into your black wheelie bin for disposal.

Confidential paper waste
Please shred all confidential waste and place in your green wheelie bin for composting. Please contact the Customer Service Centre if you do not have a green wheelie bin or would like to request an additional bin.