If you can’t find information about an item here, it might be included in our A-Z guide on waste.
Please note our recycling centres are licensed to accept only non-hazardous household waste. These restrictions are strictly enforced by site staff, to ensure compliance with the site licence, to safeguard the health and safety of site users and to ensure that the centres are not abused by people disposing of commercial waste.
Take these items to recycling centres
Can be recycled with aluminium
cans but please make sure that they are empty (do not squash or pierce empty aerosol cans)
All household and car batteries can be recycled.
Bed linen, blankets and duvet covers can be recycled in the clothes and shoes container.
Some bicycles can be reused, providing they meet the required safety standards. Please speak to site staff for details. Irreparable bicycles can be recycled in the scrap metal container.
Our recycling centres have separate containers for hardbacks and paperbacks. Books are reused if possible or sent for paper and cardboard recycling.
Both steel and aluminium cans can be recycled. Steel containers may be recycled with scrap metal and aluminium cans with plastic bottles. Please ask site staff if unsure.
The following items can be recycled under the category of cardboard:
- Boxes (please flatten to save space)
- Packaging
- Tubes
- Directories
- Catalogues
- Shredded paper packed in a flattened cardboard box or envelope
- Brown paper
- Envelopes
- Cards
- Wrapping paper (excluding foil).
Please place in the non-recyclable container
Please place items such as crockery, tiles and ceramic toilets and sinks in the ceramics recycling container.
Please ensure that clothes are clean and that shoes are tied together. You can also place items such as bed linen and curtains in the clothes and shoes container. We are unable recycle wellington boots, duvets, pillows and cushions and should therefore be placed in the non-recyclable container.
Please speak to site staff for directions on where to deposit these items. You should ensure that all personal data is removed from items such as computer hard drives before depositing as this is not a secure disposal route for personal data. Essex County Council recommends seeking specialist advice or making use of commercially available software to overwrite data on hard drives before disposing of any computer equipment.
Place unwanted cooking oil in a sealed container (such as a plastic drinks bottle) and place the container in the cooking oil recycling bin provided.
We provide recycling facilities for all electrical and electronic items, in other words, anything with a plug or a battery. For more information, please visit our
page on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).
Please pour unwanted engine oil into the engine oil recycling container. Please speak to site staff should you need advice.
Recycle using the container provided. For more information, please visit our
page on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).
Our recycling centres can accept all domestic refrigerators and freezers. Ask site staff for directions on where to deposit these appliances and please ensure that all foodstuffs have been removed. If you are unable to transport your fridge/freezer to a recycling centre, please contact your local
district or borough council who will be able to arrange a collection. There may be a charge for this service.
Some furniture can be reused, providing it meets the required safety standards. Please speak to site staff for more information. If furniture can not be reused then please seek advice from site staff on which container the item should be placed.
Our centres either ask you to mix different coloured glass containers or separate them (depending on the site and where the glass goes for recycling) so please follow the instructions at the centre. Blue glass should be placed in the container for green glass. Please note that drinking glasses and pyrex cannot be recycled with glass bottles and jars.
Pyrex, glass tableware and flat glass (such as window panes) cannot be recycled with glass bottles and jars and therefore should be placed in the non-recyclable items.
We accept the following garden waste in the garden waste recycling container:
- Lawn cuttings
- Shrub prunings
- Hedge trimmings
- Weeds
- Dead plants
- Leaves
- Christmas trees
- Turf
- Branches - up to 30cm (12 inches) in diameter
The following items however cannot be recycled with garden waste and therefore should be placed in the non-recyclable container:
- Food waste
- Plastic sacks (including the biodegradable and compostable sacks issued by some councils)
- Branches over 30cm (12 inches in diameter) Japanese Knotweed is not accepted at our centres, please see what you cannot take for further information
Gypsum and plasterboard cannot be mixed with other waste. You can take plasterboard sheets, broken plasterboard and painted/wall papered plasterboard to the centres. Bins for these materials are available at all of our recycling centres, except the following smaller sites:
- Burnham on Crouch - nearest bin is at Maldon (Park Drive), or South Woodham Ferrers (Ferrers Road)
- Dovercourt - nearest bin is at Kirby le Soken (Maltings Lane)
- Lawford - nearest bin is at Kirby le Soken (Maltings Lane), or Clacton (Rush Green Road), or Colchester (Shrub End)
- Mersea Island - nearest bin is at Colchester (Shrub End)
- Mountnessing - nearest bin is at Brentwood (Coxtie Green Road), or Chelmsford (Drovers Way, North Springfield)
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This is limited to 3 wheel barrow loads per household in any 28 day period. This equates to one car boot load with the seats UP and includes soil.
We accept household scrap metal, including steel food cans and clean aluminium foil. Ask site staff if unsure where to place your metal items.
You can recycle mobile phone handsets, batteries and accessories. Please remove SIM cards before depositing them in the container for small electrical items.
Liquid paint can no longer be sent to landfill due to new waste legislation. Liquid paint or varnish can be taken to our recycling centres but should be put in the separate container provided specifically for paint. To find the location of the container, please see site staff.
Solid but non-hazardous paint or varnish can be put in the non-recyclable container. However, before doing so, you should speak to site staff for advice.
If paint has a hazard logo, and is in liquid form, it may come within the Household Hazardous Waste scheme. If this is the case, you should contact the waste and recycling helpline on 0845 608 7625.
We accept all types of paper in our paper recycling container including; newspapers, magazines, household stationery and junk mail, with the exception of brown envelopes which can be recycled in the cardboard recycling container. Please remove windows from envelopes
Any plastic bottle can be recycled in the plastic recycling container this includes: drinks bottles, milk bottles, detergent bottles and shampoo bottles. Please rinse before bringing to the centre.
Other plastic items unfortunately cannot be recycled at the centre and therefore should be placed in the non-recyclable items container. Please note many district and borough councils collect mixed plastic through their
kerbside recycling collection schemes.
These should be in the original packaging or wrapped in cardboard or paper to prevent damage. We cannot accept broken or damaged cartridges for recycling.
Limited to three wheel barrow loads per household in any 28 day period. This equates to one car boot load with the seats UP and includes hardcore.
All types of wood, including treated wood can be recycled. Most centres collect all types of wood together, however at some sites untreated wood is handled separately. Please speak to site staff for details.
Domestic TVs and monitors can be recycled at our centres. Please speak to site staff for details.
We can accept a maximum of four tyres per household. These should ideally be removed from the metal rims prior to depositing. The metal rims can be recycled with household scrap metal.
Further information
Black bags
Waste which is disposed of in the non-recyclable container in black bags may be opened and checked by site staff. This is to prevent anything which can be recycled being sent to landfill. If this is the case, then you will be asked to separate items and place them in the correct recycling container.
Sacks of mixed kerbside recycling
Sacks of mixed recycling which would normally be collected in kerbside schemes will not be accepted at MOST recycling centres for recycling unless the contents are separated. The individual recycling containers at recycling centres are for separated materials only, not mixed recycling. Please note: some centres have a special bin for mixed recycling – see site staff if unsure.
Bulky or heavy items
If you are unable to transport any large or heavy items to a recycling centre, please contact your local
district or borough council, who will be able to arrange a collection. Please bear in mind there may be a charge for this service.
Clearing a close relative’s house
If you are looking to dispose of the possessions of a deceased relative, you should be aware that you may be asked for a copy of the death certificate before you are allowed to do so, as the contents would not have come from your own home.
In normal circumstances, black bags of rubbish would be opened and checked by site staff. However, in the case of deceased persons, relatives can request that bags are not opened.