Last updated:
1st June 2026
How our waste collection services work
How our rubbish and recycling services work if you're new to the borough
How household waste works
Most households have a fortnightly household waste collection from black bins. Find out when your bins and waste will be collected.
A few households are on a blue bin bag collection. These include:
- Flats with communal collections
- Households with no front or side gardens to store a wheeled bin and no access to a rear garden other than through the house
Properties with only a back garden, that is not accessible externally will also keep bagged rubbish collections. They will be collected weekly in most circumstances.
We’ll be assessing some houses converted into flats to work out their needs. These properties will be required to have bin(s)? tailored to the number of people living there and space available.
More information
- Read more about how household waste works.
- Find out what goes in your household waste.
- Find out more about how to order and collect bags if you're a new resident.
How recycling works - green bags
- The council provides green waterproof recycling bags for each property to dispose of recycling
- Residents can put out as many recycling bags as they can fill with items we collect at the kerbside - See what to put in recycling bags
- Extra green recycling bags can be collected from a local hub
- Bags must always be sealed to make sure all recycling stays dry
- All items must be placed loose (not in plastic bags) in the bags
- Wash and squash items like bottles and tins to make the most of the space in your bags, to keep the bags clean and stop smells
- We collect your recycling from your green bags every other week, on the weeks when we don’t empty your wheeled rubbish bin. Find out when your bins and waste will be collected.
How garden waste works - brown bin or brown sack
- We provide an annual subscription brown bin collection service for garden waste which is chargeable - bins are collected fortnightly - find collection days
- To subscribe, use our garden waste collection order form
- You can also buy brown sacks to dispose of garden waste - brown sacks are also collected on your fortnightly garden waste collection day - find collection days
- Find out what you can dispose of in garden waste
- Find out where to leave your garden waste for collection
How food waste works
- To find out what to put in your bin and where to put it food waste collections page
- The council provides a small indoor food waste caddy for kitchens, and a larger lockable black food outdoor waste bin to put out for collection
- Residents in flats can put their food waste into the larger red wheeled bin, in the bin store
- Replacement food waste bins can be collected from a local hub
- Food waste is collected every week at the same time we collect your rubbish or recycling
- Only put food waste in the caddy - no packaging
- You can line your bin with any plastic bags such as bread bags and carrier bags, along with food waste bags or newspapers
- We'll only collect food waste and cooking oil (in a plastic bottle) from the outdoor food waste containers
New build or converted properties
Developers or managing agents must provide new waste containers for:
Individual Houses
- One 180 Litre Black Bin
- Four green recycling bags with Velcro fastened lid
- One outdoor 23 Litre black food waste bin
- One indoor 5 Litre indoor grey caddy.
Flats with shared waste bins
The correct capacity of bins for the number of flats is provided, ensuring residents can dispose of:
- Comingled (mixed) recycling
- Residual household waste
- Food waste
