Leaving your bin out for collection

Leaving your bin out for collection

Follow these steps to make sure your bin is emptied and keep your street clean and tidy.

• Leave your bin out from 7am on your scheduled collection day at your designated 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 7pm, even if it hasn’t been emptied.

We ask you to do this 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:

• making sure your bin lid is fully closed.
• not using large bags to line your bins. You can still have your bin cleaned by others, but we ask you not to put large liners inside any of your bins.
• not overfilling your bin.
• not leaving additional bin bags or loose waste beside your bin. These will not be lifted, and you risk a fixed penalty notice of £80 or £400, depending on the extent of the offence. 
• sorting your recycling properly. We cannot lift your bin if you have wrong items inside. You must use your recycling bins or boxes to recycle as much as waste as possible.
• numbering your bins. Put your house number on your bin, for example, with a sticker, to help us return it quickly to your collection point.

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

• six or more people live in the property 
• someone has a medical condition that generates additional waste, or
• you’re recycling and you’ve had an assessment from a council officer and been approved for additional capacity.

For help with any of these categories, call 028 9027 0230.

Update on closed bin lids, overfilled bins and large bin liners

Last updated: Monday 29 September 2025

We have introduced new measures to keep staff safe while emptying bins. They include highlighting the importance of making sure bin lids are fully closed, not overfilled and not using large liners to line your bin ahead of collection.  

Our measures will reduce the risk of accidents to our staff and prevent debris from falling from overfilled bins and onto our crews.

Safety modifications, introduced by the vehicle manufacturer for new vehicles, will prevent any bins which are not fully closed from being lifted and emptied into our bin lorries

We will place a red tag on bins with large liners, or where the lid does not fully close, and these bins will not be emptied.

I have extra waste – what can I do?

We recognise that household waste can build up, especially at certain times of the year. To slim your waste and make sure we can empty your bin on each collection day, you can:

• recycle as much as you can, 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
• flatten down large items or bin bags in your bin to make the most of space 
• read our frequently asked questions about bins and boxes for more information. 

Warning - 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 up to £400. 

You are responsible for your containers and for how your waste is managed. Always sort it yourself and ensure it is disposed of properly.