Recycling is one way that we can all do our bit for the environment. In Thanet most households already have a weekly food waste recycling collection as well as having paper and card plus glass, tins and plastic collected every two weeks as well. These properties have their general waste (black bin) collected fortnightly.
There are however quite a few households that live in flats with communal bins, have seagull proof bags, or live in narrow streets where our largest waste vehicles won’t fit. Until now, most of these homes have had a weekly waste collection and various different recycling services. This is about to change!
To make things easier and meet new national requirements, we are introducing ‘Simpler Recycling’ across Thanet from w/c 13 April 2026.
First things first, you can check if these changes will affect you on our website. Just type your postcode into the look-up tool.
So, what does this actually mean for everyone?
Most households in Thanet will not be affected.
If you already have weekly food recycling, a fortnightly general waste and fortnightly recycling (red and blue container) collection – the good news is there are no changes for you. But it’s been shown that over 40% of what goes into general waste is food! So if you do already have a food waste collection, you might have had a sticker on your general waste bin reminding you to recycle your food separately. Essentially, we want your food waste out of your black bins, and into the food recycling caddies!
One third of Thanet properties will see changes
If your postcode is confirmed as one of the households changing (use the look-up on our website to check), you will now receive a weekly food waste collection. Whether it’s potato peelings or those leftovers nobody quite finished, you’ll now be able to recycle your food scraps every single week. Alongside your weekly food collection your general waste will be collected one week, and all other (non-food) recycling collected the following week. This means that you will receive a general waste collection every two weeks. Which is the same service as most households in Thanet already have, and in fact, most of the country too!
We’re also making it really simple to recycle everything else. Because we know that space is a premium, your paper, glass, tins, cartons and plastic, can all go together in a ‘mixed recycling’ collection.
To be completely clear though, this is just for the 27,000 properties affected. All other households should continue to separate their recycling into their blue and red containers as they already do.
To get you set up, we’ll be delivering a free ‘starter kit’ to households, including a handy silver caddy for your kitchen and biodegradable liners. If you have individual bin collections you’ll get a larger, lockable brown caddy for outside. We’ll also give you a roll of clear plastic sacks to put your recycling in.
Food waste gets collected every week, which means it doesn’t linger in the house and get smelly. Every week on collection day, you put out your food waste. Depending on the week, you will also put out your mixed recycling or your general waste. Mixed recycling should be put out in the clear plastic sacks we will provide. Think of the black bin or bag as the last option and try to recycle as much of your rubbish as you can.
For people living in flats that have communal bins, we have tailored plans in place. You’ll receive a kitchen caddy and liners to make it easy to carry your food waste to new dedicated communal bins. You’ll also be able to put all your loose, mixed recycling into the communal recycling bin.
The best part? Your collection day itself won’t change, so there’s no need to rewrite the kitchen calendar. We know change can be a bit of a faff, but by collecting more food waste, we can increase the amount we recycle.
Want to be sure what goes where? It’s all on the website.
If you’re unsure whether you’re affected, you can check by entering your postcode on thanet.gov.uk/simpler-recycling
Let’s get recycling!
