Last updated:
1st June 2026
Storing and putting out your recycling
To ensure your waste is emptied on your collection day, you should leave your green recycling bags:
- At the edge of your property
- Where it meets the nearest public pavement
- By 6.30m on your fortnightly collection day (5.30am on bank holidays)
You can put out as many green recycling bags as you like, although we recommend obtaining at least four green bags for each property.
If you don’t have enough green recycling bags, you can collect more green recycling bags free of charge from several hubs around the borough.
Label your recycling bags
Clearly mark your green recycling bags with your house number or name. This helps our crews:
- Return bags to the correct property
- Ensure bags are safely and easily retrieved after collection
Unmarked bags may not always be returned to the right address.
Get help putting out waste
We offer assisted collections for residents who:
- are not able to wheel their bin to the edge of their property
- don’t have anyone else in the house who can do it for them
For residents who qualify, our waste crews will collect, empty, and return their waste containers to and from an agreed location.
Find out more about registering for assisted collections.
Storing two weeks' worth of recycling on your property
Your green recycling bags don't need to be stored indoors. If they are sealed properly, they can be safely left outside, until you’re ready to put them out on your next collection date.
It may be helpful to either:
- keep them in a shed, a bin store, or inside your old traditional dustbin if you have one
- stack them against a garden wall, fence or other surface
- compact your recycling as much as possible, particularly items like cardboard boxes, plastic bottles and drinks cans
In other areas which use wheeled recycling bins, these are typically limited to 240 litres - the same amount as four of our 60-litre green sacks.
- We're not limiting how many green recycling bags you can put out for collection, but most households should find four are enough.
