What you can bring to our Household Waste & Recycling Centres

Accepted materials

Our 3 centres accept a wide variety of household and domestic waste. We do not accept asbestos or items containing asbestos.  We also do not accept clinical waste. No trade waste is permitted under any circumstances. We are only able to accept small amounts of building waste, rubble, soil and plasterboard at Byker and Walbottle sites only. Please make sure any batteries are removed from items, as they need to be disposed of separately.  We cannot accept car batteries at Brunswick.

The sites are only for the use of Newcastle residents.

The bulk of the waste is sent for recycling. Non-recyclable waste (e.g. mixed waste in a black bag) is accepted for disposal at landfill. You can help us recycle more by sorting your waste correctly. You can also check items on our A-Z of Recycling.

Please note that sometimes containers become full.  When this happens the site may need closing for a short time to enable containers to be moved or compacted. Sometimes we might not be able to accept certain items  as we need to wait for recycling contractors to come and collect the full containers. 

Please ask a site attendant if you require any assistance. Information about special items can be found further down this page.

*Batteries 

Please remove any batteries from items you are bringing. Make sure they are disposed of  correctly on the site. This means making sure batteries are removed from things like old mobile phones, remote controls, children's toys, bathroom scales and torches. Single use vape devices also contain batteries so these need to be disposed of on site.

Sharps

There are two options for disposal of sharps (needles from syringes and whole syringes) 

• Dispose of them with the primary or secondary health care service that first issued them. Your local GP can help with this. 

• If that is not possible, pharmacies that provide needle exchange services will accept sharps for any condition, include diabetes.

Needles must never be disposed of in general waste or black bags. They need to be put inside yellow sharps boxes. These are not accepted at any of our sites.

Chemicals (e.g. turpentine, weed killer)

Please ensure any chemicals are in the original container, labelled and sealed. Please hand over any of these items to one of our attendants. They will secure the items so please do not just leave them by the skips or on the ground.

Old tyres

Old tyres are accepted at all sites but there is a limit of 4 per vehicle. Please let a site attendant know if you have tyres to dispose of. We do not accept any other vehicle parts.

Fireworks, Firearms and Ammunition

We cannot accept any kind of firework or ammunition at any of our sites.  Please check with the Fire Service for disposal advice.  Guidance on safe disposal of fireworks may be available from the retailer or manufacturer of the firework.

Animal waste

Please note we do not accept animal waste of any kind at any of our three centres.

Liquid paints and varnish

Empty and clean metal varnish or paint tins can be recycled at the sites in the scrap metal container. But any tins and pots still containing liquid paint or varnish cannot be accepted. You need to mix it with sawdust, soil or sand and let it dry out.  It then should be given to the site attendants to dispose of.