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You can now recycle your small broken electrical items, like coffee machines, kettles, mobile phones, tablets, and anything smaller than a 4-slice toaster. The nearest pink bin is at the Buckshorn Lane car park, Eye. Larger items will still need to be taken to a Suffolk Recycling Centre.
Better Recycling 2026 in now live!
Your next few weeks bin collection schedule is as follows for ease:

Bin collection dates from June 2026: BMSDC have issued the annual collection calendars from June 2026
An update from Mark Emms, Director of Operations, Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils, im regard to the new bin service starting 1st June 2026.
New Bins and Caddies
The main roll out of these is now complete. It has been a huge undertaking – so, realistically, we know there will be a few households which have been missed and we’ll be mopping these up as soon as possible. Our best estimate is this will be completed by around the end of next week. With the main rollout finished, we have additional capacity to address the ‘snagging’, and resources will remain in place until we are happy the job is done.
Through Kee Environmental, SERCO and our own staff we will have delivered getting on for 380,000 items (bins, caddies and liners) in Babergh and Mid Suffolk to around 94,000 homes, which given the supply chain issues we have faced will be a massive logistical achievement.
If residents contact you to say they have not had their new bin(s), please can you help us by giving out the following information;
- If this have not been reported to the district council email recycling@baberghmidsuffolk.gov.uk advising that you have not received your new bins/caddies, include the full address – if they have no internet access, they can call the council on 0300 1234 000 (option 4) (note we are experiencing extremely high call volumes at the moment)
- Continue to use your existing bins until the new bins arrive e.g.
Mid Suffolk residents: if you have not yet received the new blue-lidded bin, put glass, plastics, metal, and cartons, along with paper and card, into your green-lidded bin.
Food Waste (both): Until you receive your new food waste bin, continue to put food waste into the black refuse bin.
- Put out bins for collection as per the new schedule Babergh / Mid Suffolk
- Change over to new system once bins arrive (or as soon as you practically can thereafter)
- The mixed materials in your blue recycling bin, and green-lidded paper and card bin, will still be recycled
Collections
The collection days and crews for the existing rounds are not changing, so we expect missed collections for recycling, paper and card, residual and garden waste to remain very low. Some misdirecting of recycling (containers and fibres) is anticipated by BIFFA (who operate the recycling facility at Gt. Blakenham), along with an initial clear out of glass bottles. This can be accommodated during the changeover and will still be recycled.
The food collection service is new, along with the separation of recycling now into 2 bins and residual (black bin) moving to 3 weekly. The new food service is crewed in the main by new SERCO staff. Please be patient, they will take some time to learn their rounds, especially those properties that are tucked away and require assisted collections. However, the weekly frequency will mean they soon get on top of this.
Crews have in cab devices and are supported from the SERCO office, but we are expecting some missed bins until they have fully learnt their rounds. Any missed bins should be reported at end of day as usual; we have additional capacity for the changeover period, but with the speed of the reporting process, collection is still likely to be within our 5 days policy (for food this will be next collection as it is weekly).
If residents contact you next week to say they have not had their food waste bin emptied, please can you help us by giving out the following information;
- Report the missed food waste collection by ideally emailing the details and address to recycling@baberghmidsuffolk.gov.uk – or by calling 0300 1234 000 (option 4)
- We will aim to return and empty the food waste bin as soon as possible
- Where this is not possible, the crew will be made aware, so they should then not miss the food waste bin again the following week
Typically waste collection changes are usually assessed after the first 2 complete cycles of collection (6 weeks in our case) and we expect it to take this time frame to settle down to a new normal.
SERCO have a full roster of staff for next week as it stands and will have caught up on all collections from the last Monday bank holiday by this Saturday 6 June.
Bin not emptied as scheduled?
Sometimes, collections can be delayed for reasons outside of our control.
If your bin has not been emptied as scheduled, please check for service delays or report a missed collection.
Please find some useful links from Mid Suffolk to get you started:
- Tool to check your collection day www.midsuffolk.gov.uk/w/check-your-collection-day – most residents should know their own collection day, however, anyone who doesn’t have internet access can contact our waste team to check. www.midsuffolk.gov.uk/contact-us
- Information about reducing waste www.suffolkrecycling.org.uk/reduce-reuse
- Information about food waste www.suffolkrecycling.org.uk/reduce-reuse/food-waste
- Information about what to put in your bins www.midsuffolk.gov.uk/what-to-put-in-your-bins
- Recycling Centres in Suffolk www.suffolkrecycling.org.uk/recycling-centres
- Recycling specific items A-Z www.suffolkrecycling.org.uk/what-to-do-with-a-z
Suffolk recycling produce very useful newsletters full of new and interesting information that can be accessed via the following link:
Suffolk Recycles Winter newsletter
- Hazardous waste? Head to a household recycling centre or check our hazardous waste collection service.
Still no space in the bin? In Mid Suffolk residents can purchase additional sacks, or why not check our bulky collection service
