Toggle menu

Black box

To help increase our recycling rate in St Helens, please separate your glass and cardboard.

Crew emptying recycling box 2
Cardboard and Glass

At St Helens Borough Council we want to recycle as much as possible. When our crews empty your items from your black box at the kerbside into the recycling wagon, you can help them out by putting your glass and cardboard in your black box separately like in the picture, this will be a great help in preventing any further contamination, where the crew tip off. The odd bottle and jar can slip through or is easily missed, particularly when they are placed inside a cereal box!!

Did you know; Just one glass bottle or jar can contaminate the whole load of cardboard so the better quality recycling we collect, the more we can produce at the end destination.

Please flatten all cardboard, and remove any tape.

Watch this video of what happens to your glass bottles. 

You can put the following items in your black box:

  • Glass bottles
  • Glass jars (please rinse and remove lids)
  • Brown cardboard
  • Cardboard food packaging

Please do not put the following items in your black box, as it will be contaminated it and it will not be emptied:

  • Broken glass
  • Pyrex
  • Plastic
  • Metal