St Helens Borough Council gives each household a set of colour-coded containers rather than one big recycling bin. A blue bag takes paper, a green bag takes cardboard, a black box takes glass and a white bag takes plastic bottles, tubs and metal cans. Food goes in a caddy, and the brown wheelie bin is for everything that cannot be recycled. Recycling is collected weekly, while the brown bin and the optional green garden bin are emptied fortnightly.
Last checked against 11 sources (www.sthelens.gov.uk).
What goes in each bin
Brown bin · General waste
Bin · Every two weeks
Yes please
General non-recyclable household waste
Polystyrene, placed in a bin bag so it does not stick to the bin
St. Helens collects food waste every week. The council's What goes where page groups the food caddy with the weekly recycling containers. Food goes in a kitchen caddy with a liner and is then tipped into the kerbside caddy, and residents can use the council's liners or any plastic bag.
Garden waste is a paid-for service. The 2026 subscription costs £46 for the year, plus a £36.50 delivery and administration charge for each additional or replacement bin. A bin can be shared with a neighbour, with the charge falling on one household. This year's service runs from Monday 2 March to Friday 18 December 2026, which the council says is 21 collections. Subscribing later in the year does not extend the end date. Allow up to 14 days for the permit to arrive.
Check first that the bin was out before 6.30am, in the right place, not too heavy, with the lid fully closed and no extra bags beside it, and that the right items were in each container. Crews may still be working later in the day. If the miss was the council's fault, a brown or green bin is collected as soon as possible, but missed recycling is emptied a week later on the next scheduled collection. Report it through the council's online form. A missed collection can only be reported within 2 working days of the collection.
The council's rule is simple but strict: each bag or box takes one kind of material, and the council says a wrongly filled container is treated as contaminated and may not be emptied. Brown paper and cardboard belong in the green bag, not the blue one, and white paper stays in the blue bag.
Greeting cards and wrapping paper are no longer taken in the blue bag, though the council says they can still be recycled at drop-off points found with the national recycling locator. Shredded paper must be tied in a clear carrier bag inside the blue bag, not loose.
The council's pages disagree about cartons. The green bag page lists cartons, including tetra-paks, among the items it takes, while the white bag page says Tetra Pak cartons go in the brown bin or to a recycling centre. Until the council clears this up, check your own collection guidance before putting cartons in either bag.
In the black box, glass jars and medicine bottles go in rinsed, with the lids taken off and put in general waste. Pyrex goes in the brown bin or to a charity if it is still usable, and broken glass should be sealed in a box or container before it goes in the brown bin.
Plastic film, plastic bags and bubble wrap are not taken in the white bag. The council points residents to supermarket drop-off points for soft plastics. Plant pots of any kind and polystyrene go in the brown bin, with polystyrene in a bag so static does not make it cling to the bin.
Put food into the indoor caddy in a liner, then transfer it to the kerbside caddy when full. Liners are free from the Town Hall ground floor reception between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday, and from libraries. You can also tie a liner to the kerbside caddy's handle and the crew will leave a replacement roll.
Garden waste is a subscription service. For 2026 it costs £46, and collections run from 2 March to 18 December, which the council counts as 21 collections. Bins should be out before 6.30am on the day, and the garden bin does not take hay, straw, pet bedding or soil.
Three Household Waste Recycling Centres serve the borough, at Burtonhead Road in St Helens, Junction Lane in Newton-le-Willows and Tasker Terrace in Rainhill. They are run by the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority and are closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. Anyone using a van or a trailer between 2 and 3 metres needs an appointment and is limited to 12 visits a year.
Bin questions in St. Helens
Which bag does cardboard go in for St Helens recycling?
Cardboard and brown paper, such as parcel packing, go in the green bag. White paper, newspapers and magazines go in the blue bag, and the council will not empty a bag with the wrong material in it.
How often are bins collected in St Helens?
The council's What goes where page lists the recycling containers and food caddy as a weekly collection, and the brown bin and green garden bin as fortnightly collections. Use the council's collection day checker for your own dates.
How much is garden waste collection in St Helens?
The 2026 subscription is £46 a year, and the service runs from 2 March to 18 December 2026. Allow up to 14 days for your permit to arrive, and note that subscribing later does not extend the end date.
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