Red lid — general waste

Anything that can't be recycled or composted: soiled packaging, broken household items, nappies, and most plastics that aren't rigid containers. Usually collected weekly, the only weekly service in most areas.

Yellow lid — recycling

Clean, dry paper and cardboard, glass bottles and jars, steel and aluminium cans, and rigid plastic containers. Contamination — food waste, soft plastics, or textiles mixed in — is the single biggest reason a full truckload ends up in landfill instead of being recycled, so keeping this bin genuinely clean matters more than what's technically allowed in it. Usually collected fortnightly.

Green lid — garden organics, or FOGO

Traditionally garden waste only: grass clippings, leaves, prunings and small branches. A growing number of councils now run this as a combined Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) service, where food scraps go in alongside garden waste rather than the red bin — check your own council's guidance on our address lookup before assuming either way, since this is one of the areas where councils genuinely differ. Usually collected fortnightly.

Purple lid — glass (some councils only)

A smaller number of councils run a dedicated glass-only bin, separating bottles and jars from the rest of recycling so broken glass doesn't contaminate paper in the yellow bin. Where it exists, it's usually collected monthly or every four weeks — much less often than the other bins.

Where councils vary from the standard

A small number of councils use a different colour for one of their bins — for example, a blue lid for recycling instead of yellow. The safest way to confirm exactly what applies to your address is our own address lookup, which reflects what your specific council actually does rather than the general standard.