Waste and recycling containers

Waste and recycling containers procedures.

Collection points

All householders should place refuse and recycling containers kerbside, on the pavement where one exists, or at the edge of the property and be accessible from the pavement or on the highway by 6am on the scheduled day of collection, and no earlier than 6pm the night before. Crews are unable to enter a customer’s property to collect their waste except for assisted collections.

Householders are responsible for wheelie bins left on the highway or pavement, making sure they are not causing an obstruction once they have been emptied. Liability is on the householder if an accident occurs as a result of any obstruction caused following collection after 6pm on the same day the collection took place. There will be some exceptions eg. when customers have been advised to leave bins out following a genuine missed collection.

Where required, we will make separate arrangements for the collection point for flats, properties with long drives, properties with narrow access, and hard to reach properties.  A member of the Works and Recycling Team will agree the collection point with the householders, or specify one where agreement cannot be met.

Where we agreed to collect in a private road, residents will be required to indemnify us against any claims for damage by signing a waiver. Householders should contact us to arrange a visit.

Collection crews will return wheelie bins to the original collection point after emptying and householders should then return the bins to within the boundary of the property.

Container types

We will provide all eligible households with one black 240-litre wheelie bin or 120-litre bin where appropriate.

We will provide all households with a maximum of two 55 litre plastic recycling boxes (plastic and tins), one blue recycling box (glass only), two green recycling bags (paper) and two brown recycling bags (cardboard and brown paper).

We will provide all households with one 27-litre kerbside food caddy.

We will provide all households with one kitchen caddy.

We will provide 240-litre green wheelie bins for an annual garden waste collection charge of £55 per bin.   

We will only empty containers we have provided.

Container ownership

All waste containers remain in our ownership but are the responsibility of the householder (owners and/or occupiers of properties are responsible for their use). In those cases where we consider customers have failed in their duty to take reasonable care of them, the cost of any repair to or replacement of these containers will be passed on to them.

It is the householder’s responsibility to keep all containers in a clean condition after emptying.

Communal bins

At appropriate locations, with adequate storage, we may provide communal bins. In such cases, responsibility for the correct use of bins will rest with either a named person, or a representative of the managing agent/housing association.

All cleaning and presentation of communal bins is the responsibility of the residents/managing agents.

Sharing bins

If householders request to do so, we allow them to share bins with neighbour(s), if both/all are in agreement. We will need one householder to claim overall responsibility for the bin (as a bin can only be allocated to one address). It is the responsibility of the named householder if the bin is contaminated, misused or needs replacing.