Wheelie bins replace green bags on Monday 12 October, with glass in the green-lid bin for the first time. Deliveries end on the 11th; what to do before then.
Wheelie bin collections start across the Sevenoaks district on Monday 12 October, and the green reusable recycling bags will not be emptied after that date. Sevenoaks District Council confirmed the start date today and says most households now have their new bins. (Sevenoaks District Council, Countdown begins to new wheelie bin collections, 1 October 2026)
The change covers 45,000 households. For the first time, glass bottles and jars go into the recycling bin at the kerb, so there is no need to take them to a bottle bank.
What you get and what goes where
Each household on the new service gets two bins:
- a 240-litre bin with a green lid for all dry recycling, including glass bottles and jars
- a 180-litre black bin for general waste
The two are emptied on alternate weeks. Food waste stays weekly, in the orange and black caddy, on its own lorry. (Sevenoaks District Council, 1 October 2026)
The council’s wheelie bin page lists what the recycling bin takes: glass bottles and jars, paper and card, cardboard, tins, cans, foil and empty aerosols, plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays, and food and drink cartons. Flattened cardboard left neatly beside a full bin will be taken. (Sevenoaks District Council, Wheelie bin collections from October 2026)
Other glass is different. Window glass, perfume bottles, Pyrex and crockery go in the black bin, as do cold, bagged ashes from a fire or stove.
The black bin has a hard limit. The council says waste outside the bin will not be collected, and it will not take extra sacks or side waste.
What to do before 12 October
If your bins have not come. Deliveries carry on for a small number of households until Sunday 11 October. If your neighbours have theirs and you do not, the council asks you to wait 24 hours before reporting it, because crews may still be in the area. The report form is on the council’s wheelie bin page.
Leave the seals on. The council says not to start filling the bins until one week before your first wheelie bin collection.
Find your first collection. Every household should have had a postcard saying whether its first collection is recycling or general waste. If yours has not arrived, or has gone missing, the council’s collection day finder has the dates. Our bin collection days guide explains how the alternate weeks work.
Put them out by 7am. Bins need to be at the edge of the property by 7am on collection day, lids closed. The council warns that recycling, general waste and food lorries come at different times, and the times may change week to week.
Garden waste moves too
Garden waste weeks are being aligned with general waste from 12 October, so garden waste will be collected on the same day as the black bin. Some subscribers will get a new collection week as a result.
Garden waste sack collections are suspended for a week, from 12 to 16 October, while the changeover beds in. (Sevenoaks District Council, 1 October 2026) Our garden waste guide has the prices and how to check your new week.
The green bags
Residents can keep the green reusable bags. Anyone who does not want theirs can hand them back through a temporary collection service the council plans for early 2027, with details to follow.
The council’s notes give the bags’ record. They cost £255,000 to buy and distribute. The council says they replaced around four million single-use clear sacks and produced a net saving of £225,000, and recycling rates rose by 3.5%. It says new regulations now require a simpler collection system with less manual handling for crews. We covered the bags’ savings figures in August.
Who keeps sacks
Not everyone is switching. A small number of properties, such as flats above shops or homes without room or access for bins, will stay on disposable sacks. The council says it will confirm their collection type in writing. Blocks of flats with communal bins see no change. (Sevenoaks District Council, Wheelie bin collections from October 2026)
Residents who cannot wheel the bins out for health or mobility reasons can apply for an assisted collection once the bins have been delivered.
“Some teething problems”
Cllr Irene Roy, the council’s Cabinet Member for Cleaner and Greener, called it “the biggest service changes in a generation”.
“There are likely to be some teething problems as residents and our crews adjust to a new collection system,” she said. “While we aim to resolve any issues as quickly as possible, I would urge our residents to be patient.”
She said experience elsewhere shows recycling rates will rise, which cuts disposal costs.
The council’s own papers flagged risks in the run-up. Its latest waste transition update, which we reported on this week, said about half the new lorry fleet was due by the end of September, with hired vehicles covering the gap.
What it means for you
Check you have both bins, find your postcard or look up your dates online, and keep using the green bags until your round switches over. From 12 October, anything not in the right bin will be left. In New Ash Green, collections work differently, from shared pink collection zones.
Sources
- Sevenoaks District Council, Countdown begins to new wheelie bin collections, including glass recycling!, 1 October 2026
- Sevenoaks District Council, Wheelie bin collections from October 2026
- Sevenoaks District Council, Find your collection day
Image: Houses on Dartford Road, Sevenoaks. Photo by Robin Webster, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph
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