We provide wheelie bins or purple bags (up to 3 per fortnight) for your general household waste.
You should not put anything recyclable in your household waste.
We collect the black, non-recycling bin or purple bags every 2 weeks.
We recommend you put your waste loose into your recycling and non-recycling bins, rather than in bags, as you will fit more in and use less plastic bags.
We will not collect any extra non-recycling - we will only empty what is in the non-recycling wheelie bin with the lid shut. If you don’t have a wheelie bin, we will only collect the Harlow Council purple sacks (up to 3 per fortnight).
We cannot collect:
- any items that could be put in your recycling bin
- textiles - you can use our textile waste service
- building or DIY waste - such as rubble, tiles, plasterboard and wood
- hazardous items - such as car batteries, pesticides and herbicides
- food that could be put in your food caddy
- garden waste - you can use our bookable green waste service
- light bulbs - you can take these to the Harlow Recycling Centre (the dump)
- liquids - such as paint
- syringes or needles - you can use our clinical waste service
- electrical items - you can use our free bulky waste service
You can also check what can be taken to Harlow Recycling Centre (the dump) run by Essex County Council.
We can collect:
- packaging that cannot be recycled for example polystyrene
- any plastics not marked with 1 or 2 symbols - such as yoghurt pots, plastic bags, film wrapping and some plastic food trays
- cartons - juice and drinks
- wallpaper
- nappies and incontinence waste - you could also use our nappies and incontinence waste collection
We can also collect batteries (for house collections only) but these must be in a separate box, see our battery collection page for full details
Currently, any non-recycling collected in Harlow is sent to landfill (rubbish tips) and buried in the ground.
Sending waste to landfill has a negative effect on the environment through greenhouse gases and is expensive.