About the Absorbent Hygiene Products (AHP) collections service

You may be eligible for weekly Absorbent Hygiene Product (AHP) collections if your household has any of the following items to dispose of:

• nappies, nappy bags and wipes,
• disposable bed pans and liners,
• incontinence pads,
• bed and chair pads,
• colostomy and stoma bags,
• catheter bags and urine bottles, and
• plastic gloves and disposable aprons.

What are 'Absorbent Hygiene Products' (AHP)?

'Absorbent hygiene products', known as 'AHP', are items used to absorb bodily fluids and wastes, such as nappies, nappy bags and wipes, as well as adult incontinence products.

What is the new AHP waste collections service?

From September 2023, we’re introducing a free collections service for your AHP. If you register for this new service, we’ll collect this waste from you every week.

After you've registered for the service, we’ll deliver to you:

• a supply of purple single-use sacks for you to fill with your AHP waste,
• a black caddy with purple lid for you to put your filled sacks in for us to collect,
• a set of 'reorder' tags - when you’re about to run out of sacks, please attach one of these tags to the handle of your caddy, and we’ll leave a new supply of sacks on top of, or alongside, your caddy – and
• a letter confirming your collection day, with a reminder about what we will collect as part of this new service.

We'll deliver these items to your home between 7 August and 22 September, before the new service launches on Monday 25 September 2023.

Why are you introducing new collections for AHP?

We know that up to 20% of what residents put in their black bin or pink sacks for non-recyclable waste is AHP waste. We’re introducing this new service to move this waste out of those containers, to create more space for your non-recyclable waste.

We’re also currently considering ways in which we can recycle the AHP we collect from you. We’re starting to collect this waste separately to your other recycling and non-recyclable waste from September 2023, so that when we have a contract in place with a recycling facility, we’ll be ready to start recycling your AHP straight away.

Once we’re able to recycle AHP waste, it could be used to produce a variety of new products, which might include fibreboards and acoustic panels for floors and walls, and as an engineering material used in road surfaces.

How can I register for the new AHP collections service?

You can register for our new AHP collections service from Monday 3 July 2023.

Register for the Absorbent Hygiene Product (AHP) collections service

Registering for this service will be limited to homes with LL16 and LL17 postcodes during the initial registration period.

Once we’ve delivered this service in these areas for around six months, we’ll expand the service county-wide. We’ll communicate the next registration period, which will be open to all Denbighshire residents, nearer the time.

If you choose not to register to our new collections service, or you’re not eligible to register during this initial registration period, please continue to put your AHP waste in your black bin or pink sacks.

If you live in a flat with communal recycling and non-recyclable waste bins, this new AHP collections service doesn’t yet apply to you. We’ll tell you when this new service is being rolled out where you live. Until then, please continue to put your AHP waste in your communal bin for non-recyclable waste.

What types of AHP will you collect?

We’ll collect:

• nappies, nappy bags and wipes,
• disposable bed pans and liners,
• incontinence pads,
• bed and chair pads,
• colostomy and stoma bags,
• catheter bags and urine bottles, and
• plastic gloves and disposable aprons.

We won’t collect:

• clinical waste, such as dressings or bandages contaminated with blood; needles, syringes and other sharp products,
• sanitary products, such as sanitary liners, tampons and towels,
• any items that can be recycled from home using your other Council-provided containers, and
• any items that can be recycled at your local Household Waste Recycling Centre.

How much does the new AHP collections service cost?

The new AHP collections service is free for residents living in Denbighshire.

How often will you collect AHP?

Once you’ve registered for the new service, we’ll deliver a letter confirming your collection day.

We’ll collect AHP waste from your home every week.

Frequently Asked Questions

For more information about the AHP collections service, please read our Frequently Asked Questions.