About 150 missed bins a day are being reported since wheelie bins arrived, out of 10,000 daily collections. First-week recycling was 2.5 times normal.

Around 150 missed bin collections a day are being reported across the Sevenoaks district since wheelie bins arrived on 12 October. Crews make about 10,000 collections a day.

The figures were given to Sevenoaks District Council’s Cabinet on Tuesday, in an update on the new service. The minutes were published today. (Sevenoaks District Council, Cabinet minutes, 20 October 2026)

Officers said the switch had gone well overall, with some initial problems they had expected. They also reported that recycling had more than doubled in the first week.

What Cabinet was told

The Strategic Head of Direct Services said the new rounds were becoming more established and crews were adapting. Members heard that:

  • Not every household had its bins before the service started. The remaining deliveries were expected to be finished by the end of this week.
  • Lessons had been learnt. Officers accepted residents should have had more reminders to get in touch if no bin had arrived.
  • A “significant number” of requests for extra containers had come in.
  • Extra crews were going back to properties that had been missed.
  • Side waste had been treated flexibly at first. The new lorries cannot collect both waste streams at the same time.
  • Recycling in the first week was about two and a half times the usual amount, on early raw figures. Officers said some residents may have stored recycling up before the change.

Members were told that missed collections were not unique to the new system. The number is expected to fall as the rounds settle.

How the numbers compare

Reports of 150 misses out of 10,000 collections is about 1.5%, or roughly one in 67.

Missed bins were already a problem before the switch. The council’s target is 12 missed collections per 100,000. In August the figure was 59.1, as we reported ahead of the Scrutiny Committee on 22 October. (Scrutiny Committee 22 October 2026, Appendix A, Exceptions Report) The Cabinet figure is a count of daily reports in the first days of new rounds, so it is not a like-for-like comparison with the monthly indicator.

The waste report to Cabinet said the project was on track and within budget. It listed the late delivery of some new lorries as a risk, with short-term hire used to cover the gap. (Waste Transition Project Progress Third Update, Cabinet 20 October 2026)

Swanley rounds may change again

A member asked about collection routes in Swanley. Officers said route maps could go to parish councils once the rounds have settled, because some routes could still be amended. Until then, residents should use the address checker on the council’s website.

What it means for you

  • If your bin is missed, report it online or by phone. The report goes onto the crews’ worksheets, and the council aims to come back within three working days. Use the council’s missed collection page.
  • If you never got a bin, contact the council now. Officers say the last deliveries are due this week.
  • If one bin is not enough, extra bins can be provided where the service standards allow, officers told the Cleaner and Greener Advisory Committee on 1 October. The council no longer collects side waste. (Cleaner and Greener Advisory Committee, 1 October 2026, minute 17)
  • If your property cannot take a wheelie bin, contact Customer Solutions for a site visit, the same meeting heard.
  • Old bins cannot be taken by the council, because the disposal authority will not accept them. Officers said they were talking to a charity about collecting them.
  • Food waste is still collected every week.

Our bin collection days page explains the new fortnightly pattern. Our garden waste guide covers the subscription service, and our launch story has what goes in each bin.

At the same meeting Cabinet agreed a parking charge freeze for 2027/28. Our parking report has the detail.

Sources

Image: Houses on Dartford Road, Sevenoaks. Photo by Robin Webster, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph