Commercial Waste Recycling & Contamination
Case reference EIR2026/00995
Received 25 April 2026
Published 18 May 2026
Request
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 regarding commercial waste collection, bin standardisation, and contamination rates within your council.
Please provide the following data, if held, for the following calendar years: • 1st April 2024 - 31st March 2025 • 1st April 2025 – 31st March 2026
1. The current standard bin colours used by the council for commercial and business waste collections for general waste, dry mixed recycling, paper and cardboard, glass, food waste.
2. The total tonnage of commercial/business recycling collected.
3. The total tonnage of commercial/business recycling that was rejected or sent to landfill/EfW (Energy from Waste) due to contamination.
4. The number of commercial/business waste collections refused (i.e. the bin was not emptied) by the collection crew due to bin contamination.
5. The number of formal warnings, fines, or Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) issued to businesses for failing to correctly separate waste or for bin contamination.
If possible, please provide the data in spreadsheet format (e.g. CSV or Excel). If data is not held for the full period requested, or if the breakdown cannot be produced within the statutory time or cost limits, please instead provide the most up to data figures available for a complete 12 month period. Thank you for your assistance. Please let me know if any clarification is needed.
Response
Please provide the following data, if held, for the following calendar years:
• 1st April 2024 - 31st March 2025
• 1st April 2025 – 31st March 2026
1. The current standard bin colours used by the council for commercial and business waste collections for general waste, dry mixed recycling, paper and cardboard, glass, food waste.
A: General waste – grey
Commingled recycling – green
Food waste – grey with green lid
Please see website page for details of what can go in recycling bins:
Our business waste and recycling service - Herefordshire Council
2. The total tonnage of commercial/business recycling collected.
A: 1st April 2024 - 31st March 2025 - 263.57 tonnes recycling
1st April 2025 – 31st March 2026 - 312.10 tonnes recycling and 198.88 tonnes food waste
3. The total tonnage of commercial/business recycling that was rejected or sent to landfill/EfW (Energy from Waste) due to contamination.
A: This figure cannot be provided separately for commercial recycling. Commercial recycling is collected on the same vehicles as household/domestic customers.
4. The number of commercial/business waste collections refused (i.e. the bin was not emptied) by the collection crew due to bin contamination.
A: 1st April 2024 - 31st March 2025 - 30
1st April 2025 – 31st March 2026 - 111
5. The number of formal warnings, fines, or Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) issued to businesses for failing to correctly separate waste or for bin contamination.
A: None
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.