Non-recycling bin

Non recycling grey bin and purple bagWe 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:

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.