Sevenoaks District Council will deliver around 100,000 wheelie bins from mid-July, start kerbside glass collections, and move to alternate weekly waste and recycling from 12 October 2026. The green recycling bags are being scrapped.

Every household in the Sevenoaks district is getting new wheelie bins, and the way rubbish and recycling are collected is changing from Monday 12 October 2026. The council is delivering around 100,000 bins over the summer, bringing in kerbside glass collections for the first time, and scrapping the green reusable recycling bags. (Sevenoaks District Council, ‘Wheelie’ big news about waste collections!)

The council is calling it the “BIG Recycling Upgrade”. Two bins are on their way to each home: a 240-litre bin with a green lid for recycling, and a 180-litre black bin for general waste. The weekly food waste caddy stays as it is. (Sevenoaks District Council, ‘Wheelie’ big news about waste collections!)

What is changing

The headline change is how often each bin is emptied. From 12 October, general waste and recycling move to alternate weekly collections: your general waste bin one week, your recycling bin the next. Food waste is still collected every week in the existing caddy. (Sevenoaks District Council, ‘Wheelie’ big news about waste collections!)

For the first time, the council will also collect glass from the kerbside, so bottles and jars can go out with the rest of your recycling rather than being carried to a bottle bank. The green reusable recycling bags that households have used for years are being discontinued, replaced by the green-lidded wheelie bin. (Sevenoaks District Council, ‘Wheelie’ big news about waste collections!)

The timeline

The rollout runs through the summer and into the autumn:

  • Mid-July to early October 2026: the council delivers the wheelie bins to households across the district.
  • 12 October 2026: the new service starts. From this date waste and recycling must go in the wheelie bins.
  • Early 2027: a temporary collection service will pick up the old, unwanted green recycling bags.

Residents are asked not to use the new bins until the service begins on 12 October. The council says it will write to every household before delivery to explain how the new collections work; if a recycling bin is full, cardboard can be left beside it. (Sevenoaks District Council, ‘Wheelie’ big news about waste collections!)

The numbers behind it

The council says the green bags they are replacing saved taxpayers £225,000 and prevented around four million single-use plastic bags from being used, and that recycling rates rose by 3.5% while the bag service ran. It expects the switch to wheelie bins and kerbside glass to push rates higher still. (Sevenoaks District Council, ‘Wheelie’ big news about waste collections!)

Cllr Irene Roy, the council’s Cabinet Member for Cleaner and Greener, said: “Once the new service is running from 12 October, we are confident the district’s recycling rates will increase.” (Sevenoaks District Council, ‘Wheelie’ big news about waste collections!)

What it means for you

If you live in the Sevenoaks district, expect a wheelie bin delivery at some point between mid-July and early October, and a letter from the council explaining the details. A few practical points:

  • Do not put the new bins out until 12 October. Keep using your current collections until then. Using a wheelie bin early will not get it emptied.
  • Plan for the alternate weeks. With general waste and recycling collected on opposite weeks, a full recycling bin will need to wait a fortnight, so flattening cardboard and rinsing containers to save space will matter more than it did with weekly bags. Cardboard can go next to a full recycling bin.
  • Glass can stay at home. Once the service starts you will not need to take bottles and jars to a bottle bank; they go in the recycling bin.
  • Hang on to your green bags for now. The council is running a separate collection for unwanted bags in early 2027, so there is no rush to get rid of them.

The council has set up a dedicated page for the changes at sevenoaks.gov.uk/wheeliebins, which is the place to check as delivery dates and the new collection calendar are confirmed for your address.

More on bins in Sevenoaks

This is the biggest change to household collections in the district for years, and it lands in an already busy year for waste with the weekly food caddy and now kerbside glass. Our Sevenoaks bin collection days guide explains how to find your collection day, what goes in which bin, and how the new service fits together. For the wider decisions behind the change, see our roundup of recent Sevenoaks council decisions.

Sources

  • Sevenoaks District Council, ‘Wheelie’ big news about waste collections! (the wheelie bin rollout, bin sizes and colours, alternate weekly collections, first kerbside glass collection, the end of the green bags, the mid-July to early-October delivery window, the 12 October 2026 start, the early-2027 bag collection, the 100,000 bins, £225,000 saving, four million bags, 3.5% recycling rise, and the quote from Cllr Irene Roy)
  • Sevenoaks District Council, Wheelie bins information (dedicated page for delivery dates and the new collection calendar)

Image: Recycling bins, near Tonbridge, Kent, by N Chadwick, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph.