Recycle Right Campaign

In November 2024, the Recycle Right Campaign was launched, introducing a new system of
tagging recycling containers to inform residents when incorrect items have been placed inside.
This initial phase covered1,100 properties within the Tarvin area.

The insights gained from this enabled Cheshire West Recycling (CWR) and the Council to refine processes and enhance training for frontline operatives, in helping to spot contamination (incorrect items in a container) in recycling and where properties don't recycle. Additionally, the campaign has helped secure vital resources for engagement and education activities, thanks to Extended Producer Responsibility funding provided by packaging manufacturers. This paves the way for the campaign's expansion across the Borough to help increase recycling rates, reduce contamination and remove materials that can be recycled from the residual (domestic black) bin.

Between August 2025 and January 2026, recycling advisors will work across the authority, visiting a wider range of property types to support households who have been identified as struggling with putting the recycling and waste in the correct containers. These advisors will receive training from a company specialising in waste behaviour change, ensuring they are well-equipped to assist residents. The quality of recycling drops significantly when incorrect or contaminated items, such as food, are placed in recycling containers. This contamination not only reduces the income generated from recycling, which helps offset service costs and therefore council Tax, but also results in good recycling being lost.

Last year, 1,460 tonnes of waste collected in red and blue-lidded bins could not be recycled due to contamination and had to be used for energy from waste.

Using tags or stickers on bins is a common practice among local authorities and is essential for improving recycling quality and meeting the requirements of the new extended producer responsibility funding.

What is happening
From Monday 7 July, the process of attaching amber and red information tags to contaminated recycling bins will extend to cover 8,425 homes across the Borough.
It is the intention to roll out the Recycle Right Campaign to all homes by the end of this calendar year. Recycling containers that appear to have around 10% or more incorrect items in them will still be emptied, but will have an amber tag attached to them and logged by the recycling collection crews, so we know which homes need more support. If containers have hazardous items or excessive amounts of the wrong items in them, they will be issued with a red tag, and the container will not be emptied. The tag details typical items that we cannot accept. CWR are unable to collect bins with hazardous waste or excessive contamination in them now, so providing the reason for rejecting the bin is a service improvement. Residents will now know why their bin has not been emptied, and can take action to make sure it is collected on their next scheduled day, without the need to contact the Council.

A leaflet (see attached PDF) is being delivered to all homes this month. It includes a useful summary about what can be recycled and which container to use. It reminds residents not to put valuable resources in their black bin and alerts residents to the fact that the crews will report incidents of incorrect presentation, which may lead to a visit by a waste team member if they keep getting it wrong.

To help you with information about what items can and cannot be placed in your recycling bins, click on this link:
What goes in my bin/box/bag?| Cheshire West and Chester Council

'Recycle Right':

Please ensure that you put your house number or name on your containers to help crews return the correct container and correctly identity homes that need support.

You can find out what can be recycled using this tool:
st  wshich also contains some interesting recycling facts about
- Sticky Tape
- Pots and pans
- Cutlery
- Take away containers