Recycling in Southend

We provide a range of recycling services.

These include:

Collection days can sometimes change around bank holidays. Check our revised collection day page for any planned changes.

Preventing waste in the first place is also very important. It not only saves money which can be spent on other vital services, but also helps us to collectively reach our target of becoming carbon neutral by 2030.

As a result, we have listed a variety of tips and tricks to try and help you reduce, re-use and recycle.

Reduce wasted food

  • make sure your fridge is below 5°C - this will help to increase the lifespan of food and drinks that need to be kept cool
  • make the most of your freezer - freeze things that do not have typically long use by dates. Examples include bread and cheese.
  • Buying in bulk, batch cooking and freezing for later on in the week helps to ensure that your food and money go further

For even more tips, check out Love Food, Hate Waste.

Re-use, donate, sell or swap

Before you recycle something think about whether you can re-use it in some way. If not, you can always:

  • take to the Re use shop at Stock Road HWRC
  • donate to charity
  • give it away to a friend
  • advertise your item on recycling websites to see if anyone else has a use for it, or
  • try auction sites, such as eBay, to sell the item

Other tips for reducing your waste

  • recycle as much of your waste as possible. Our directory is a great place to find out if something is recyclable or not.
  • make use of two Household Waste and Recycling Centres. They can take a wider range of unwanted household, garden and even electrical waste.
  • where possible, compost your food and garden waste - compost bins can be homemade or purchased
  • buy rechargeable batteries, or appliances which use mains electricity
  • donate old magazines to waiting rooms in doctor's surgeries, dentists, vets, etc
  • use reusable nappies instead of disposable ones
  • buy loose food rather than pre-packaged
  • reuse carrier bags or buy reusable shopping bags
  • buy items such as washing powders, liquids and salt in refillable containers
  • buy cotton cloths for the kitchen clean-up instead of disposable kitchen roll
  • use a milk delivery service if there's one in your area, the glass bottle kind
  • cut down on the amount of junk mail you receive. For more information, please visit Recycle Now
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