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Changes to black top bin collections

What's changed

We now collect general waste from your black top bin every two weeks.

We still collect your food and garden waste bin and recycling bin every week.  

Who this affects

If you live in a property that uses wheelie bins, we collect general waste every two weeks.

You are not affected if:

  • your property cannot have bins and you only use bags
  • you live in a flat with large communal bins  

Why we’re doing this  

We've made these changes to:

  • move Towards Zero Waste, this is a vital step in our action against the climate emergency
  • reduce our vehicle emissions by 60 tonnes of CO2 each year by making fewer collections 
  • incinerate less waste by recycling more which is kinder to the planet 
  • save money as recycling is cheaper to process. Savings help fund other council services which are funded by council tax, central government, business rates and income from fees and charges

Watch our video to find out how we're moving Towards Zero Waste or read the video transcript

Generating less general waste in the borough will also support the Mayor of London's Environment Strategy to reach a London-wide recycling rate of 50% by 2030. 

Read our Carbon Neutral Plan to see what else we’re doing to respond to the climate emergency. 

Changes to collecting contaminated recycling

We no longer empty blue or green contaminated wheelie bins.

If the wrong items go in your bin, we'll put a red tag on it and send you a letter explaining why. You'll need to remove the item for us to empty it the next week. If your bin is contaminated three times, we'll remove it.

Find out how to recycle the right items and what we do if you put the wrong items in your recycling.

What we're doing to help with the change

What you can do to make the change easier

Extra black top bins if your household creates a lot of waste

If you have more waste than others, for example if you have a medical need, you can request an extra black top bin. We will make an assessment before providing any additional bins.

Email contact.centre@royalgreenwich.gov.uk or call 020 8921 4661.
 

About our collections

Put your bins and sacks outside your property by 6am on collection day. 

We will not collect extra bags of general waste not contained in your black top bin.

If we collect bags from your property on a weekly basis, you can put out a maximum of three black bags each week.

Sometimes your rubbish may be missed. Find out about missed rubbish collections.

We can also send you a paper copy of when your rubbish will be collected. Call 020 8921 4661 or email contact.centre@royalgreenwich.gov.uk to request a paper copy of the calendar.

Assisted collections 

We will continue to assess requests for assisted collections and offer these to older people or disabled residents who cannot move their bin.

Call 020 8921 4661 to ask for an assisted collection assessment or email contact.centre@royalgreenwich.gov.uk 

Help to move towards zero waste