The Nottingham council confirmed that the new 180-litre bins will begin arriving at households from 1 September 2025, ahead of the service’s official launch on 1 December 2025.
The change aims to make glass recycling “simpler and more convenient” for residents, while supporting national efforts to improve recycling consistency.
The UK glass recycling rate is currently just under 75%, according to British Glass.
Rushcliffe’s glass collection service
Once the service begins, residents will be able to place clean and empty glass bottles and jars of any colour into the new bins, including food jars, drink bottles, toiletry jars, perfume bottles and feed diffuser bottles.
The collected glass will be sent to a reprocessor where sorting technology will separate the material by colour before it is recycled into new bottles and jars.
Collections are expected to take place every six weeks, scheduled on the same day as the existing grey bin service, with dates set to be confirmed in a new collection calendar later this year.
The council is encouraging residents to continue using its existing network of glass bring sites until December.
However, the council confirmed these sites, including those accepting Tetra Pak cartons, will be reviewed and scaled back by January 2026 to reflect increased kerbside collection.
Councillor Rob Inglis, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Environment and Safety at RBC, said: “The new glass recycling bins have arrived at a local depot, and we’re set to start delivering them to households from September.
“This is an important service change that aims to standardise what materials are collected across all local authorities to further improve recycling rates locally and nationally.”
Glass under Simpler Recycling
The rollout comes amid the government’s Simpler Recycling initiative, which seeks to harmonise collection systems across England.
Under the reforms, all councils will be required to collect the same core set of materials for recycling, with glass included in the mandatory list.
British Glass has previously welcomed moves toward consistent kerbside collections but warned that success depends on maintaining material quality.
Particular concern has been expressed over the collection of plastic, metal, glass, paper and card in one bin.
Dave Dalton, Chief Executive of British Glass, previously commented: “Separate glass collections would increase the value of the glass collected, whilst also having a positive impact on the environment by ensuring we use less virgin materials to make new glass products.
“By doing this, we can move closer to a true circular economy of glass, ensuring that more glass packaging is not only recycled but reprocessed into new glass packaging here in the UK.”
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