Leaving your bin out for collection

Leaving your bin out

To make sure your bin is emptied, you should:

• leave your bin out from 7am on your scheduled collection day at your bin collection point - this could be in front of your house or an agreed area like the top of an alleyway
• bring your bin back in by 8pm, even if it hasn’t been emptied.

This is to limit the risk of extra bags being placed inside your bin by others, causing it to be overfilled.

Before your bin collection, you can help us by:

• not overfilling your bin and making sure your bin lid is fully closed;
• booking a bulky waste collection if you have electrical or bulky items;
• not using large bags to line your bins. You can still have your bin cleaned;
• flattening large items or bin bags in your bin to make the most of the space;
• sorting your recycling properly. We cannot collect your bin if you have put the wrong items inside.
• not leaving additional bin bags or loose waste beside your bin. These will not be collected. You may receive a fixed penalty notice of £80 or £400, depending on the extent of the offence;
• putting your house number on your bin, for example, with a sticker, to help us return it quickly to your collection point.

I have extra waste

Reduce your waste

To reduce your waste and to make sure we can empty your bin on each collection day, you can:

• find other ways to reuse and recycle;
• recycle as much as possible using your recycling bins or boxes - check what goes in each bin or box;
• use our free bulky waste collection service for larger items;
• visit one of our recycling centres or amenity sites – lots of common items can be recycled here, like old electrical goods, and they also take extra bin bags of household waste which cannot be recycled.

You are responsible for how your waste is managed. Always sort it yourself and make sure it is disposed of properly. If you organise for a third-party to take your excess waste and it’s illegally dumped, you could receive a fixed penalty notice of £300.

Request additional capacity

We can only collect one general waste bin per household, unless:

• six or more people live in the property;
• someone has a medical condition that generates additional waste; or
• we’ve approved you for additional capacity.

To arrange an assessment, or to find out more information about extra waste, email [email protected] or call us on 028 9027 0230.

Updating our approach to bin collections

Last updated: 11 April 2025

We are considering our approach to bin collections from May 2025 to protect our staff who are emptying bins. This includes promoting the importance of fully closing your bin lids, making sure bins are not overfilled, and not using bin liners to line your bin ahead of collection.

This approach will increase the safety for our bin collection crews.

During May and June 2025, we will place amber tags on bins with bin liners and overfilled bins, as part of a phased approach to support residents. We will still collect overfilled or lined bins during this time, where it is safe to do so.

From late June 2025, we will place a red tag on bins with liners, and on bins where the lid does not fully close. These bins will not be emptied.

More details and support will be available and added to this page in early May 2025.