We will collect recycling wheelie bins from the same place that your household refuse bin (grey bin) is currently collected from.

Smaller 140 litre recycling wheelie bins can be requested. However from March 30 2026, we will switch from fortnightly to three-weekly collections and you will need to have more capacity to manage this change.

If you request smaller bins and later decide that you need to swap to the standard 240 litre size, you will need to have your waste audited by our teams and charges may apply. 

To request smaller recycling bins, please email wastechanges@lancaster.gov.uk. 

Every household in the district has been reviewed for eligibility to collect recycling from wheelie bins, and most households will fit these criteria. 

We will only be providing recycling wheelie bins to households that do not already have them. So if you have purchased one, you will not be entitled to another free of charge.

We understand that not everyone has space on their property for 240 litre wheelie bins. Our friendly waste and engagement officers can assess whether you qualify for alternative containers.

The quickest way to discuss your needs is to email wastechanges@lancaster.gov.uk. You can also call 01524 582491.

If you would like to repurpose your boxes, please firmly attach a note to your boxes stating this (ideally facing the road). Although we will do our very best to ensure your box is left, we cannot guarantee this will happen as staff are working at pace and notes may be removed by the weather.

We understand this is one of the big questions that people have and it's important to remember that not everyone will receive new wheelie bins for their recycling. There will be people who do not have space and/or our collection crews cannot access an area to safely pick up wheelie bins. Where this is the case, we will engage with you on how this can be resolved and deliver a solution that works for everyone.

No. This provision is free for eligible residents.

If there is nobody in your household that can move your wheelie bin to the kerbside for collection, you may be eligible for assisted collections — we can come onto your property to collect your wheelie bin. Click here to apply.

We acknowledge that having paid the delivery fee for your recycling bins, it can be frustrating to find out that the council will now offer them to every household without charge.

For many years, residents have informed the council that the present recycling boxes are unsuitable — particularly as the amount of recycling people put out has increased.

Unfortunately, the council’s financial situation means that to date it has been unable to provide every household with recycling wheelie bins. However, recognising that this was something people wanted, we decided to offer residents the opportunity to order them upon payment of a delivery fee, whilst also continuing to provide a side-waste recycling service alongside collections.

The delivery fee—which included carriage from the manufacturer—is in line with what the council has charged for many years for replacement wheelie bins and boxes, which was brought in due to the high cost of replacing lost or stolen containers.

The reason that this is now changing is due to the mandatory introduction by the Government of weekly food waste collections by the 31 March 2026 and the national drive to increase recycling rates.

Because of these changes, the council will switch to three-weekly collections of waste and recycling in 2026 — so larger recycling containers are now necessary to provide more space for residents to recycle.

As soon as we anticipated these changes could be introduced, we placed a notice on our website in February 2025, advising that while we would continue to accept orders for new bins, subject to payment of a delivery fee, bins may be provided in the near future to all households. This messaging was later updated with the dates of delivery of the new service.

While we appreciate that this may be disappointing for those who have ordered bins in the past, any fees that were payable at the time were non-refundable.

You can recycle the same separated materials in your wheelie bins as you do in your recycling boxes. To find out what plastic, glass or cans you can recycle, please visit this webpage. For paper and cardboard collections, visit this webpage.

We will no longer accept side waste recycling from 30 March 2026. You can take any excess to a local bring site, waste and recycling centre or a local recycling point.

Yes. The yellow lidded bin is for cardboard and paper, and the red lidded bin is to be used for glass, plastics and tins.

Yes. If you find that even with the extra space the bins provide you still require more space, you can order additional wheelie bins on our website from February 2026 onwards via our website. The standard charges will apply.

As we do now, if you report a missed collection we will come back to collect, provided the crew have not reported any issues. Issues that may exclude a return include the bin not being presented for collection at the required time or the bin’s contents being deemed contaminated.