How to find your Sevenoaks bin collection days, what goes in which bin, bank holiday changes, and the big 2026 switch to wheelie bins, food waste caddies and glass collections.

If you have just moved to Sevenoaks, or you keep guessing which week the recycling goes out, this is the page to bookmark. Below is how to find your collection day, what belongs in each bin, what happens on bank holidays, and the single most important thing to know in 2026: the whole service is changing. New wheelie bins, a weekly food waste caddy and the district’s first kerbside glass collection are all arriving this year, so the system you know now will not be the system you have by Christmas.

How to find your bin collection day

Sevenoaks District Council runs a free online checker. You enter your address and it returns your rubbish, recycling, food waste and garden waste days.

Whatever day you are given, the rule is the same: containers out by 7am on collection day. Crews will not come back for bins put out late (Sevenoaks District Council collection rules).

What goes in which bin (the system right now)

Until the new bins land, most homes in the district are still on the older sack-based service, with the new weekly food waste caddy added on top from late April 2026:

  • General rubbish: black sacks, collected weekly.
  • Recycling: reusable bags or clear sacks, collected weekly. You do not separate it; paper, card, cans, plastic bottles, pots and tubs go in together.
  • Food waste: a small grey kitchen caddy and a larger black and orange outdoor caddy, collected weekly on the same day as your rubbish and recycling.
  • Garden waste: an optional paid service (see below).

These are the rules listed on the council’s collection rules page.

Food waste: what it is and what goes in

From Monday 27 April 2026, the council started separate weekly food waste collections for most households, with caddies delivered to around 50,000 homes from 30 March (council food waste announcement). It covers cooked and raw food: peelings, plate scrapings, bones, bread, teabags and the like. What it does not take is plastic bags or food packaging. Once collected, the food waste goes for anaerobic digestion to make renewable energy and fertiliser (food waste service).

Residents have taken to the new caddies quickly: in their first month the food waste rounds gathered 220 tonnes of scraps and lifted the district’s recycling rate to a record high, as we reported when Sevenoaks recycling hit a record high.

Flats, homes above shops, properties on communal bins and a small number of hard to serve addresses are not on the food waste service yet. The council says it plans to add communal recycling facilities for those residents in future years.

Garden waste: a paid subscription

Garden waste is not free in Sevenoaks. It is a subscription that runs for 48 weeks a year, with a four week break over Christmas and New Year (garden waste collection):

  • £65 a year for a 240 litre garden waste wheelie bin.
  • £48 a year for a smaller 140 litre bin if storage is tight.
  • Sacks are sold in bundles of 25 for £29, or about £1.16 each individually.

Lawn cuttings, leaves, hedge trimmings, weeds, twigs, small shrubs and branches under one metre long and 50mm thick can go in. Soil, turf, stones, rubble, food waste, plastic, wood, fencing and pet waste cannot (what goes in garden waste). Anything bigger or unsuitable needs a trip to a Kent County Council recycling centre.

Sevenoaks garden waste collection dates 2026

Garden waste is collected fortnightly, on the same day as your other bins, across a 48 week subscription year with a four week pause over Christmas and New Year. That works out at roughly 24 collections a year: one every other week, then a gap of about a month over the festive period before the fortnightly rhythm resumes. There is no single district-wide calendar: your garden waste collection dates depend on which round your address sits in, so two streets a mile apart can be on opposite weeks.

To get your own 2026 garden waste dates:

  • Enter your address in the council’s find your waste collection day tool. It lists your next garden waste date alongside your rubbish, recycling and food waste days.
  • Note your collection weekday, then count in fortnightly steps to map out the rest of the year. The tool is the authoritative source if a date ever looks off.

One thing to plan for in 2026: the move to wheelie bins and alternate-weekly rounds (see below) reshuffles collection days for rubbish and recycling from October. Your garden waste subscription and its fortnightly pattern continue, but it is worth re-checking the council tool once your new bins arrive so your garden waste dates line up with the new schedule.

“Green bin” in Sevenoaks: which one people mean

Ask about the “green bin” in Sevenoaks and you could mean one of two things, so it is worth being clear:

  • The green garden waste bin. This is the paid subscription bin above, collected fortnightly for garden cuttings only. If you are searching for “green bin collection” and you mean garden waste, use the fortnightly dates from the council’s checker.
  • The new green-lidded recycling bin. From autumn 2026 the district’s new 240 litre recycling bin has a green lid and takes all your dry recycling, including glass for the first time. That is a different bin on a different, alternate-weekly schedule.

Until the new bins land there is no green-lidded recycling bin yet, so if someone mentions the “green bin” today they almost always mean garden waste. Once your new wheelie bins arrive, check the council tool again so you know which green bin goes out which week.

The big change in 2026: wheelie bins are coming

This is the part worth reading even if you think you know your bin days. Sevenoaks is moving from sacks to wheelie bins, and the changeover happens in stages across 2026.

The council has now confirmed the full detail, including the exact start date. Our report on the Sevenoaks wheelie bins recycling upgrade sets out the 12 October 2026 switch-over, the summer delivery window, and what happens to the old green recycling bags.

From autumn 2026, most households will receive two wheelie bins (new bins and collections from autumn 2026):

  • A 180 litre black bin for general rubbish.
  • A 240 litre bin with a green lid for all your dry recycling.

The recycling bin will, for the first time, take glass bottles and jars at the kerbside, alongside paper, cardboard, cans, foil, plastic bottles, pots and tubs, cartons and even empty toothpaste tubes. The council’s line is simple: “You can put all your dry recycling in one bin.”

What changes for you

Two things matter for your routine:

  1. Collections go fortnightly for rubbish and recycling. From October 2026, general waste and recycling will be collected on alternate weeks, one week one, the next week the other. Food waste stays weekly, which is the council’s answer to the usual worry about smell with fortnightly rubbish (changes to your collection service).
  2. New collections do not begin until the bins arrive. With over 100,000 bins to deliver, distribution runs through late summer and autumn, and the new alternate-weekly rounds start in October 2026 once your bins are with you. Until then, keep using your sacks as normal.

Households with extra need, large families, certain medical conditions, or nappy users, will be able to apply for more capacity, and assisted collections continue for residents who cannot move a bin themselves.

Bank holidays: collections move back a day

Around most bank holidays in Sevenoaks, collections do not stop, they shift. The council’s standard pattern is that there is no collection on the bank holiday Monday, and every collection that week moves back one day, so a Tuesday round becomes Wednesday, and so on to the Saturday (bank holiday waste collections).

The dates change every year, and the Christmas and New Year period is the one to watch, so check sevenoaks.gov.uk/bankholiday in the run-up rather than assuming your normal day holds.

If your bin is missed

Crews will not empty a bin or sack that is contaminated with the wrong materials, overflowing, too heavy, blocked, or left out with loose side waste. If none of that applies and your collection was genuinely missed, report it through the council’s report a missed collection page.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find my bin collection day in Sevenoaks?

Use the council’s find your waste collection day tool and enter your address. It returns your rubbish, recycling, food waste and garden waste days. Put everything out by 7am.

When do the new wheelie bins start in Sevenoaks?

Bins are delivered through late summer and autumn 2026, and the new alternate-weekly collections begin in October 2026 once your bins have arrived. Until then, keep using your current sacks.

When is the green bin collected in Sevenoaks?

It depends which green bin you mean. The green garden waste bin is a paid subscription collected fortnightly, on the same weekday as your other bins, so check your dates in the council’s find your waste collection day tool. From autumn 2026 there is also a new recycling bin with a green lid for all your dry recycling, including glass, collected on alternate weeks once the new bins are delivered.

Are bin collections weekly or fortnightly in Sevenoaks?

Right now most rubbish and recycling is weekly. From October 2026, general rubbish and recycling move to alternate weeks (fortnightly each), while food waste stays weekly.

Does Sevenoaks collect glass at the kerbside?

Not yet, but it will. Kerbside glass collection arrives with the new recycling bins from autumn 2026; glass bottles and jars will go in the green-lidded recycling bin.

What are the garden waste collection dates for 2026 in Sevenoaks?

Garden waste is collected fortnightly, on the same weekday as your other bins, over a 48 week year with a four week break at Christmas. There is no single calendar for the district, so enter your address in the council’s find your waste collection day tool to see your own dates, then count in fortnightly steps. Re-check it once the new wheelie bins arrive in autumn 2026, as collection days are being reorganised.

How much does the garden waste service cost in Sevenoaks?

A 240 litre garden waste bin is £65 a year, a 140 litre bin is £48 a year, and sacks are £29 for a bundle of 25. The service runs 48 weeks a year.

Do bin days change on bank holidays in Sevenoaks?

Yes. There is usually no collection on the bank holiday Monday and the rest of that week’s collections move back by one day. Check sevenoaks.gov.uk/bankholiday for the exact dates.

Sources

Last updated June 2026. Figures and dates are from Sevenoaks District Council; the service is mid-change in 2026, so check the council’s own pages for the latest before putting your bins out.

Image: “Wheelie bins on parade in Pepper Lane” by Ian Greig, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wheelie_bins_on_parade_in_Pepper_Lane_-geograph.org.uk-_2724999.jpg).