Leeds initiates ‘Green for Go’ for glass recycling — for the first time, residents can deposit glass into their green household recycling bins.
This initiative is part of the city’s ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability and aims to enhance recycling rates. Residents can now recycle any color of glass bottles and jars, ranging from wine and beer bottles to jam, sauce, and coffee jars — directly from their homes. Caps, lids, and labels need not be removed before collection. These items can be placed in the green household bins, which already accept paper, cardboard, plastic, and metal.
The enhancement of this service is the result of collaboration between the council’s waste team and contractor HW Martin, who have invested in new technology in Leeds to efficiently sort glass. Once processed, the glass will be transported to a local recycling facility in Yorkshire, where it will be remelted and transformed into new bottles, ready for reuse within a month.
Glass bottles and jars can be recycled indefinitely without degrading in quality. However, items such as oven-proof dishes, light bulbs, and drinking glasses should not be mixed with recyclable glass because they melt at different temperatures and must be disposed of in the black bin.
Currently, Leeds collects over 350,000 green bins, but more than half of all glass bottles and jars end up in the black general waste bins. This results in about 11,400 tonnes of glass that should be recycled in the green bins instead. By redirecting this glass to recycling, Leeds could save approximately 2,600 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, the equivalent of removing 975 cars from the road.
While the city’s comprehensive network of glass recycling banks remains available and collects over 8,000 tonnes of glass each year, residents still have the flexibility to use these facilities for excess glass, such as after social events. This dual approach offers convenience and supports the city’s environmental goals.
Leeds City Council’s executive member for climate, energy, environment and green space, Councillor Mohammed Rafique said:
“We are very excited that along with celebrating Yorkshire Day we will also be celebrating the start of household glass collections in Leeds. It has long been an ambition to be able to offer this service, and we are delighted working with our partners we are now able to deliver it for all residents of the city.
“Collecting glass bottles and jars and recycling them will make a big difference to recycling rates in Leeds as well as benefiting the environment and the Yorkshire economy, so we would encourage everyone in the city to make use of this new service and know that from now on green is go for glass.”
