What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Friday 9am - 5pm

Rossendale Borough Council Environmental Services

Home
United Kingdom
Bacup
Rossendale Borough Council Environmental Services

Directions Website

You can also post queries about the above services which officers will respond to.

Information about Rossendale Borough Council's Environmental Services department responsible for bin collection, parks, grass cutting, street cleansing and other things.

31/10/2026

🎃 CARVE A PUMPKIN? DON'T LET IT GO TO WASTE! 👻

A frightening 18,000 tonnes of edible pumpkins go to waste every year in the UK! 😱

🍂 If you're not roasting the seeds for a healthy snack or using the flesh to make a lovely autumnal pumpkin pie, please put your pumpkin scraps in your food waste caddy! 🥧♻️

Your pumpkin waste can be turned into renewable electricity ⚡, whereas pumpkins sent to landfill release gases as they break down, which are harmful to the environment.

Borough Council

30/10/2026

♻️ FROM BLUE BIN TO SORTED MATERIALS: READY FOR A NEW LEASE OF LIFE!

We’ve followed the recycling collected from kerbside blue bins to our depot and on to Farington Material Recovery Facility, where it passes through the trommel, hand-sorting cabin, overband magnets, Eddy Current Separator and optical sorting machines.

Finally, the different materials are separated and compressed into bales, ready for collection and onward processing into new products! ♻️

💚 Every stage helps recover valuable materials, conserve natural resources and protect our environment.

👏 Rossendale, keep up the good work and keep recycling! Every correct item counts.

Rossendale Borough Council

30/10/2026

♻️ FOLLOW THE JOURNEY: THE FINAL STAGE

We’ve followed your recycling through the different stages at Farington Material Recovery Facility, but what happens to the plastics and non-ferrous metals that remain?

Inside the facility, an Eddy Current Separator uses a rapidly changing magnetic field to separate non-ferrous metals, such as aluminium cans, from other materials.

The remaining plastics then go through five optical sorting machines, which use different wavelengths of light to identify and separate plastics, including PET and HDPE, into their correct groupings.

Once sorted, the different plastics are compressed into separate bales, ready for collection and onward processing. The recovered ferrous and non-ferrous metals, along with glass separated earlier in the process, are also kept separate and prepared for their next destination.

♻️ Each material has the potential to be recycled into new products, giving valuable resources a new lease of life while helping conserve natural resources and protect our environment. 💚

And that brings us to the end of our recycling journey at Farington! Thank you for following along and discovering what happens to your Glass, Cans and Plastics recycling after it's collected.

💚 Rossendale, keep up the good work! By recycling correctly, you're helping valuable materials find a new lease of life and protecting our environment. Every item counts! ♻️

Lancashire County Council

29/10/2026

♻️ FROM MIXED RECYCLING TO STEEL AND METAL SEPARATION!

The journey continues at Farington Material Recovery Facility!

After staff hand-pick contaminants and dangerous items from the recycling, an overband magnet gets to work, pulling out steel cans and other ferrous metals. 👀 Look closely and watch them fly up and off the conveyor belt!

Inside the Materials Recovery Facility, an Eddy Current Separator uses a rapidly changing magnetic field to separate non-ferrous metals, such as aluminium cans, from other materials. Unlike a conventional magnet, it creates a force that repels these metals, making them jump away from the conveyor belt and separating them from the plastics.

♻️ Both processes help recover valuable materials so they can be sent for recycling.

Every stage plays a part in giving your recycling a new lease of life! 💚

Rossendale Borough Council

28/10/2026

Please see below, be ready for 9.00am on Monday 2nd November 2026 for your opportunity to take one of the free 50 bulky waste slots.

Rossendale Borough Council

28/10/2026

♻️ WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR MIXED RECYCLING NEXT?

Once the smaller materials have been separated, the remaining plastics, cans and some glass continue their journey.

Lancashire Renewables Ltd vehicles transport the remaining mixed recycling to the next processing area, where it's offloaded onto conveyor belts.

Staff then hand-pick items that shouldn't be in the recycling, including plastic bags, bubble wrap and dangerous or unsuitable items such as gas canisters, electrical waste and frying pans.

⚠️ But there's something else being picked out… VAPES!

Vapes can turn up in mixed recycling in surprisingly large numbers. But they don't belong in your household recycling bin.

Vapes contain lithium-ion batteries that can be damaged during collection and processing. If punctured, crushed or exposed to heat, these batteries can ignite, creating a serious fire risk for waste collection vehicles, recycling staff and facilities. 🔥

We've seen the potential risks first-hand. In 2024, a fire onboard one of Lancashire Renewables Ltd's vehicles at our depot was suspected to have been caused by a battery. The risks are real!

✅ HELP KEEP RECYCLING SAFE:

♻️ Put the right materials in your recycling bin.

🚫 Never put vapes or other electrical items containing batteries in your household recycling or general waste bin. Take them to an appropriate collection point instead.

Every item counts - and keeping the wrong things out makes a real difference!

👀 Follow the journey to discover what happens next! ♻️

Rossendale Borough Council

27/10/2026

♻️🔄 NEXT STOP: THE TROMMEL! HOW DOES THE SORTING PROCESS BEGIN?

At Farington Material Recovery Facility, mixed recycling enters a large, rotating drum called a Trommel.

As it turns, smaller materials, predominantly glass, fall through holes in the drum. Removing these materials early helps the remaining recycling move through the next stages of sorting more effectively.

♻️ The separated materials continue through the recycling process, where they are prepared to be sent on for further processing and made into new products.

🚛 Keep following the journey to discover what happens next!

💚 Every item recycled correctly helps give valuable materials another life.

Rossendale Borough Council

27/10/2026

***ISSUES WITH INCONSIDERATE PARKING***

The crews have recently had a number of problems accessing roads/back streets to service the bins, due to cars parking inconsiderately and/or being abandoned in them. Please do not block the roads/back streets/junction of streets. As well as preventing us from emptying the bins, you may be putting lives at risk by stopping emergency service vehicles (ambulance, fire, police) from getting access too.

This photo is from today's General waste collection crew, which they could not access properties on Industrial Street and Co-operation Street in Bacup because of the cars. We will try back tomorrow.

Bacup Past & Present

Rossendale Borough Council

27/10/2026

♻️ FROM ROSSENDALE’S BLUE BINS TO FARINGTON MATERIAL RECOVERY FACILITY: FOLLOW THE RECYCLING JOURNEY!

Ever wondered what happens to the glass, cans and plastics collected from Rossendale’s blue bins?

Your recycling is first emptied at our depot, where a loading shovel gets to work, using its huge bucket to load the mixed materials onto a Lancashire Renewables Ltd vehicle. It takes plenty of bucket loads to fill the vehicle, which carries an average of 18 tonnes of recycling on its journey to Farington Material Recovery Facility!

Keep following along as we take you behind the scenes to discover what happens next.

💚 Every item counts – and keeping the wrong things out makes a real difference!

Borough Council

Address

The Business Centre
Bacup

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Website

http://www.rossendale.gov.uk/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Rossendale Borough Council Environmental Services posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.