Veolia Environmental Services provides recycling of many materials to the majority of Brent residents in its green box scheme, as well as an organic waste collection service in separate green bins.

The service is ever-expanding and constantly evolving, with more vehicles being added to the fleet and existing vehicles being re-engineered to create greater capacity. 

Brent has a current recycling rate of 21.5%, which is around the average for London.

The following materials can be recycled in the green box:

Paper and the Yellow Pages

• Newspaper, magazines, junk mail, telephone directories including the Yellow Pages.

Please put your copies of the The Yellow Pages in plastic bags to help keep them dry. All other items can go directly into your green box.

Plastic bottles

• Please rinse and flatten all bottles, the following can be recycled
• PVC – bottles for mineral water, squash and shampoo
• PET – fizzy drinks bottles
• HDPE – Bottles for milk and washing up liquids.

Clothes, shoes and textiles

• Clothes, blankets, materials, shoes.

Please keep shoes in pairs. Please bundle your materials in a plastic bag to keep them dry.

Metal cans and tins

• We collect food tins and drinks cans.

Please wash out the tins and cans so they don't get smelly. If you can squash tins and cans we can fit more onto our recycling trucks, which means less trips back to the truck depot to empty.

Glass

• Green, brown or clear glass bottles and jars.

Please wash jars and remove caps and lids.

Aerosols and aluminium foil

• Clean tin foil, food trays and take away containers.

Please do not put foil crisp packets, or foil backed with paper or plastic into the green box.

Batteries

• Household and car batteries.

Please keep household batteries together, tied up in a bag. Car batteries - please ensure they are in the green box. Do not leave them on the pavement.

Engine Oil

Keep in sealed containers. Ensure containers are standing upright in the green box to avoid spills.
Please consider wearing rubber gloves when handling oils.

We also operate a dedicated organic/green waste collection service depending on location within the borough. 60,000 residents are provided with a green wheeled bin and can put in it the following materials, which are then turned into compost:

• Garden waste – grass, hedge and tree trimmings, twigs, bark, leaves, flowers, untreated sawdust, hay and straw
• Cardboard – flattened brown cardboard, card egg boxes, card cereal boxes
• Food waste – all food scraps, cooked and uncooked meat and bones, fruit and fruit peelings, vegetables, coffee grounds and tea bags

Please DO NOT put the following items in the organic green bin as this will mean the materials are unable to be composted and your bin will not be emptied: 

• Household rubbish
• Plastic of any kind
• Soil, stones or rubble
• Logs or planks
• Pet faeces or litter
• Hoover bags and dust
• Disposable nappies
• Waxed or plasticised cardboard, e.g. juice cartons

Residents can also take their recyclable materials to over 120 dedicated recycling points in the borough, including the Reuse and Recycling Centre in Abbey Road, Park Royal.

On 1 October 2007, in partnership with Brent Council, we introduced same day collections of refuse and recycling to all residents in the borough who receive green box & organic green bin services.  This has been done to make it even easier for residents to recycle, as refuse and recycling no longer has to be put out on separate days, and to encourage residents to recycle more.

Please click here to find out what day of the week your recycling (and organic waste if applicable) is collected.