Bins and recycling

Collections are Arun District Council’s job, not ours. The Association owns the roads the bin lorry drives down, and that is the whole of our involvement.

We do not copy Arun’s collection dates onto this page. They change, bank holidays move them, and a copy sitting here would be wrong within months without anybody noticing.

The four bins

Black bin: general rubbish

One 180 litre bin, collected every two weeks. This is for what cannot go anywhere else.

Yes: animal waste and bedding, plastic bags, polystyrene, glassware such as Pyrex and mirrors, sanitary products, nappies, crisp packets.

No: anything recyclable, garden rubbish, soil, textiles, rubble, bricks, plaster or tiles, carpets, saucepans, light bulbs, electrical items.

Ash, vacuum dust, hygiene products and animal waste must be bagged.

Electrical items go beside the bin in a carrier bag, not in it.

Green bin with a blue lid: recycling

Paper and card, glass bottles and jars, food and drink cans, empty aerosols, foil and foil trays, plastic bottles, tubs and food containers, drinks cartons, coffee cups and lids, clean takeaway containers, and plant pots that are not black.

Four rules, and they matter more than the list:

• Clean. Food residue contaminates a whole load.
• Dry.
• Loose. Never bagged.
• Squashed, to save room.

No: shredded paper, tissues, polystyrene, crisp packets, plastic bags, black plant pots, batteries, cables, electrical items, Pyrex.

Grey caddy with an orange lid: food waste

Collected weekly, which is why the black bin only needs emptying fortnightly.

Yes: cooked and uncooked food, meat including bones, fish and shellfish, dairy, bread, rice, pasta, tea bags, eggshells, pet food.

No: packaging, oils, liquids, animal waste or bedding, flowers, anything that is not food. Take all plastic off first.

Do not use plastic bags. Wrap anything smelly in newspaper, or use compostable liners.

Brown bin: garden waste

A paid subscription, not part of the ordinary rounds. Run as the Green Waste Club.

Yes: leaves, grass cuttings, hedge and tree cuttings.

No: anything woody over 10mm across, kitchen waste, soil, bricks, concrete, bagged material, animal bedding, fallen fruit, vegetable peelings, tea bags or eggshells. Those last few belong in the food caddy.

The recycling point at the surgery

There is a mixed recycling point in the car park at Middleton Medical Centre on Elmer Road. It takes the same things as your green bin, and it is useful if you have more than fits in the bin, or if you have missed a collection and would rather not wait a fortnight. There are twenty-one of these across the district.

It has three names, which is presumably why people do not know it is there. Arun’s own sign calls it a Neighbourhood Recycling Centre, their website lists it as Shrubbs Drive Car Park, and everybody who uses it calls it the surgery car park.

Clothes and shoes

There is a Salvation Army donation bank outside One Stop on Elmer Road, a few hundred yards from the recycling point, and it is the answer to the bag of clothes the paragraph above leaves you holding.

Clothing, shoes, handbags, belts and hats. The Salvation Army say everything donated is sorted and reused wherever it can be.

The tip at Bognor Regis

For everything the kerbside collections will not take: rubble, soil, wood, larger electricals, and so on. It is run by West Sussex County Council, not Arun.

Arun Business Park, Shripney Road, Bognor Regis, PO22 9SX

You have to book

A slot must be booked before you arrive in a vehicle. Turning up without one means being turned away. Slots are fifteen minutes, and you can book on the day or up to a fortnight ahead.

On foot, by bicycle or on a mobility scooter you do not need to book.

Opening hours

What you cannot take in

Luton vans, horseboxes, trailers of any kind, anything over 3.5 tonnes, and anything taller than 2.2 metres.

Check your item before you load the car

West Sussex do not publish a list of what each site takes, and some items are restricted or chargeable. The A to Z is the authority, and it is worth two minutes before a wasted journey.

Larger items

Furniture, mattresses and white goods can be collected from your home by Arun for a fee, which is often easier than borrowing a van.

A missed collection

Report it to Arun. Telling us first only adds a day.

The one part that is ours

The estate roads are narrow and have no pavements, and a single car parked in the wrong place can stop a bin lorry getting through. When that happens the whole road misses its collection, not just the house that caused it.

So on collection morning, more than any other, get the car off the road. See parking.