General info

(Don’t forget to pay your yearly waste tax. More info about that in this guide.)

Recycling

As of now, recycling is not compulsory in Brno but it’s very much encouraged by the local authorities.

To find out where your waste should go, use this simple app – it’ll show you the closest spot on the map.

Or read this list of things to sort from your waste, and where to put them:

  • glass, paper and plastic – probably the easiest thing to recycle in Brno. You must have noticed the green and white bins (for coloured and clear glass), blue (for paper) and yellow / wire (for plastic) at the end of nearly every road. See the map here. Also in some supermarkets, such as Kaufland, you can take your returnable brown bottles back and get vouchers to use in the shop. The paper bins also take cardboard of any colour, and the yellow ones take plastic bags and aluminium drinks cans as well as plastic lined juice cartons (Tetra Pak);
  • clothes – less frequently you will find white bins marked textil. Alternatively, you can donate clothes, toys, and other useful things you no longer need to charity shops. These are quite rare in Brno, but Veronica have four such shops that also accept accessories, jewellery, ceramics and porcelain, books, and toys;
  • batteries / lightbulbs / electronics – at some supermarkets, you can recycle all of these and more. There are also special containers for electronics that can be found in many areas;
  • bulky waste – such as furniture, fridges and cut tree branches go to waste collection centres;
  • old pharmaceuticals – you can take these to any pharmacy (lékárna) to be disposed of;
  • cans – for those of you, like me, who find it odd not separating the cans out for recycling, be reassured. The waste that gets taken away by Sako is burnt and used for energy, then any metals are separated from the burnt waste (slag) and reused in the building industry;
  • kitchen and garden waste – the city has introduced brown bins for organic waste. See the map here for “bioodpad”. What you can or cennot throw in is explained in this article from Brno Daily. You  If you have a lot of garden or kitchen waste (vegetable matter only) you can take it to one of Sako’s waste collection centres. If you are lucky enough to have a garden, then a compost heap is your answer.  Be aware not everything can go into your compost, as a small one will not reach temperatures that kill certain bacteria, so stick to vegetable matter.

Useful links

  • Map of bins and recycling centers in Brno
  • Waste sorting in Brno – a comprehensive list of things to sort from your waste in English
  • A guide to sorting and recycling in the Czech Republic (4/2022) – A detailed guide on what should be sorted where, in English, by EkoKom – recycling company
  • Ekomap – a map showing where to find organic food, ekoflorists, waste collection centres, environmental organisations, nature walks and more.
  • Download the mobile application SAKO (available for iOS, Google Play) – this app will help you find the closest paper/plastic/glass disposal containers. If you see them overflowing, the app asks you to take a picture and send it over: they’ll come and empty it ahead of their normal schedule.
  • Trash Hero Brno – non-profit organising regular clean-up hauls