Bin days
How to find your bin collection day in the UK
Your bin day is set by your local council, and in most places it is set address by address rather than street by street. That is why the most reliable answer always comes from the council’s own bin day checker. Here is how to get there quickly, and how to make sure you never miss a collection again.
1. Use your postcode
Type your postcode into the postcode lookup on our homepage. It works out which of the UK’s 361 bin-collecting councils covers your address using the official Office for National Statistics boundaries, then links you to that council’s bin day checker. Pick your address from the council’s list and it shows the next date for each bin.
If you only know the first half of your postcode, such as LS6, that usually works too. A few postcode districts sit across two council areas, so the full postcode is the safest choice.
2. Go to your council’s website
Every council has a page called something like “Check your bin day”, “Bin collection calendar” or “When is my collection?”. Searching the council name plus “bin day” will normally find it. Our council list has a page for every council with a direct link where we have one.
In England, remember that district and borough councils empty bins while county councils run the tips. If you live in Kent, for example, your bins are collected by one of Kent’s district councils, not by Kent County Council.
3. Check your paperwork and bins
Many councils still send a printed calendar when a rota changes, and some print the collection week on a sticker on the bin lid. If you have just moved in, ask the previous owner or a neighbour, but check online too, because rotas change.
4. Ask the council
If your address is not listed in the checker, which can happen with new-build homes, contact the council’s waste team. New addresses can take a few weeks to appear on collection rounds.
Why neighbours have different days
Collection rounds are planned around the lorry: how much it can carry, how far it travels and where it tips. Councils redraw rounds from time to time to keep them balanced, and the boundary between two rounds can fall anywhere. Flats with communal bins often have their own day too. So never assume your day from the house next door.
Which bin goes out this week?
Most councils now run an alternating rota. A common pattern is general waste one week and recycling the next, with food waste every week. Some councils use a three-week cycle. The checker tells you which bin is next. Once you know the pattern, you can work out the rest of the year.
Stop forgetting bin day
The easiest way is to put the dates where you already look. Our free bin calendar takes the next date and frequency for each of your bins and creates:
- a list of which bin goes out each week
- a year planner you can print for the fridge
- a calendar file for your phone with a reminder the evening before
Bank holiday weeks are flagged automatically, using the official GOV.UK dates for your part of the UK. Read our guide to bank holiday bin collections to see how councils usually change days.
Putting bins out at the right time
Most councils ask for bins to be out by 6am or 7am on collection day, and some say not before the evening before. Collections can run into the afternoon, so leave the bin out until it has been emptied. Take it back in the same day where you can; some councils can take action over bins left on the pavement. See missed bin collections if the lorry has passed you by.