Household bin collections

We operate a weekly kerbside collection service across households:

Changes to bin collections

We are making changes to our waste and recycling services. Find out more about bin collection changes.

What and when we collect

Your collection day for refuse and recycling is on the same day on alternate weeks. We collect:

  • blue-lidded recycling bin one week
  • black refuse bin the following week
  • food caddy weekly (with either recycling or refuse collection)
  • household batteries bags weekly (with either recycling or refuse collection)

Check your bin days

If you have the myAberdeenshire app, you can also get reminders when your bins are due for collection.

We don't collect garden waste or glass, bottles and jars. You can bring your garden waste to recycling centres that accept garden waste. To recycle glass, bottles and jars, take them to our glass and textiles recycling points.

Check how to dispose of different waste and recycling materials but generally here is what you can put in each waste container:  

  • blue-lidded recycling bin: paper, card and cardboard, metal tins, cans, aerosols and foil,  food and drink cartons, plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays
  • black refuse bin: non-recyclable waste only
  • food caddy: tea bags and coffee grounds, out-of-date food including meat and fish, plate scrapings and leftovers, meal preparation waste, compostable food packaging, compostable coffee cups, compostable cutlery

How to put rubbish out

When you put bins out for collection make sure that you:

  • place your bins at the kerbside or your designated collection area no later than 7am on your bin collection day
  • close bin lids (lock your food caddy by leaving the black handle upright or fully forward)
  • don't overfill your bins
  • don't put any waste next to your bins (take items that won't fit in your bin to a recycling centre or request bulky waste uplift)
  • don't put heavy items in the bins (sometimes they are too heavy for the loader to safely wheel to the lorry and empty)
  • don't contaminate your recycling bins - put right items in the right bins

After the bins are emptied, it is your responsibility to make sure they are returned to your property.

Sometimes we might not be able to empty your bins. Usually, we won't collect:

  • bins that are too heavy to safely wheel to the lorry and empty
  • contaminated recycling
  • additional black refuse bins that we didn't authorise

If we didn't collect your rubbish for any of these reasons, we won't offer you an alternative collection. You will need to make sure your bins are put out correctly for your next scheduled collection date so we can empty them. If the bins were too heavy, you will need to remove items from them to reduce the weight.

If your bin was missed

Please check if there are any disruptions to bin collections before reporting a missed bin.

If you put your rubbish out correctly and we still didn't empty your bins, please report a missed bin collection.

Additional collection services

We offer a range of additional services for residents who:  

Communal bins

In some areas in Aberdeenshire we provide communal bins to dispose of your waste and recycling rather than individual bins. If you live in a council flats or a communal dwelling it is likely that you will have communal bins shared with other residents.

Communal bins can be used to deposit exactly the same materials as individual bins. You will have one big black refuse bin and one big blue bin for mixed recycling. You will have your individual green food caddy that you take out to the communal area for pick up. In some areas we also provide shared big bin for recycling glass.

Shared bins sit permanently in their designated area. This means you don't have to worry about putting your own bin out for collection or bringing it back in again. Just put your rubbish in the appropriate big bin when it is convenient to you.

We make sure that there are enough communal bins to accommodate all the waste that residents put out, and that you don't have to carry waste too far from your own door.

If the communal bins are full please use the next available bin and don't leave waste beside the bins as we won't collect it.