South Hams Recycling Information

In this section, residents living in South Hams can find information on recycling and refuse collection in their area.

Find out about household bulky waste collections here.

If you have missed your refuse/recycling collection, please contact South Hams District Council on 01803 861234 or you can report a missed collection online here.

For more recycling and waste information in South Hams, please click here.

What can I recycle?

Reusable White Sack

Household Plastic Packaging:

Detergent and soap bottles (no pumps)
Cleaning product bottles
Skin care product bottles
Pop and water bottles
Milk bottles
Pots (e.g. yoghurt, soup)
Tubs (e.g. margarine, ice cream)
Trays and punnets (meat trays, takeaway trays, fruit and veg trays)
Plant pots (not black ones)

Household metal packaging:

Drink cans
Food tins
Biscuit or chocolate tins
Aerosols (empty)
Aluminium Foil
Foil Trays (takeaway trays)
Aluminium tubes ( e.g. tomato purée)
Metal lids from jars and bottles

Empty all packaging and rinse clean.

Replace bottle lids and tops, and flatten bottles where possible.

You can leave labels on all packaging, but place film lids, absorbent pads etc. in your grey bin.

Remember, no plastic films or black plastic.

Box 1

Paper
Mixed Paper
Magazine, brochures and catalogues
White paper (e.g. computer paper, letters etc.)
Envelopes (no plastic)
Junk mail
Glass bottles and jars
Bottles of any colour (e.g. wine, beer, sauce, oil etc.)
Jars of any colour (e.g. jam, sauce, baby food etc.)
Non-food bottles and jars (e.g. perfume, aftershave, face creams)

Items must be sorted by material type within the box.

Paper must be free of dirt, food or paint. Dirty or greasy paper (such as chip shop wrappers) should go in your grey bin.

Metal lids and caps should go in the reusable sack.

Box 2

Cardboard
Cardboard boxes (e.g. cereal boxes, dishwasher tablet boxes)
Corrugated cardboard
Online delivery boxes and cardboard envelopes
Greetings cards (no glitter)
Egg boxes
Brown paper
Food and drink Cartons
Batteries and Printer Cartridges:
All household batteries including ‘button’ batteries from watches, hearing aids etc.
Battery packs from household tools such as strimmers.
Battery packs from laptops or phones.
All household printer cartridges.

Items must be sorted by material type within the box.

Cardboard must be free of dirt, food or paint. Dirty or greasy cardboard (such as takeaway pizza boxes) should go in your grey bin.

Pieces of cardboard can be placed alongside Box 2 if your box is full, as long as they are under 75cm long.

Batteries should be placed in a small clear tied bag, such as a sandwich bag or empty bread bag. Cover the contacts on lithium and button batteries with sticky tape to reduce fire risk.

Food caddy

Cooked and uncooked food

You can line your caddy with any bag, such as cereal bags, bread bags, salad bags and so on. Alternatively you can line your caddy with newspaper or leave the food loose.

Brown bin

Optional, chargeable garden waste collection.

Grass cuttings
Hedge cuttings
Cut flowers and plants
Weeds, leaves and twigs
Branches up to 10 cm (4 inches) in diameter

For more information on the garden waste service, please click here.