Weekly black and orange sacks, the £87 garden bin and £71.50 bulky waste. Food waste collections now start in April, not October, a council report says.
Havering does not give you a wheelie bin for your rubbish. It gives you sacks, black for general waste and orange for recycling, and it collects both of them every week, which is more often than most London boroughs manage. The awkward parts are the ones the council splits across eight separate pages: how many orange sacks you actually get, what the garden bin costs, what a bulky collection costs, how long you have to report a miss, and what happens on a bank holiday.
Latest, 15 September 2026: food waste collections are delayed again. A council budget report now says the service, planned for this autumn, is expected to start in April. Until then, food waste stays in the black sack. Details below.
The last bank holiday, Monday 31 August 2026, brought no change to any collection. Havering usually works bank holidays; Christmas is the exception.
Your collection day
Havering has no printed calendar. You enter your address on the council’s check your collection day tool and it returns your next dates. Both sack collections are weekly and fall on the same day; the green garden bin is fortnightly.
Whatever your day, the rules for putting waste out are the same and the crews enforce them:
- Out by 7am, on the ground, just inside your property boundary nearest the pavement.
- Not on a grass verge, not by a post, not on the public highway or footpath, and not on top of a wall or a bin, which snags the sacks and spills them.
- Not grouped with a neighbour’s waste.
- Sacks are not collected out of wheeled bins.
- Broken glass and dog mess wrapped. Knives go to the recycling centre or a police station, never in a sack. No bleach, pepper or curry powder on the bags to deter animals: it gets in the crew’s eyes.
- Do not use charity-branded sacks for rubbish. The crew will read them as donations and leave them.
Put the wrong thing in and the sack is not taken. It gets a sticker telling you why, and disposing of it correctly becomes your job.
What goes in each sack
Orange sack (recycling), weekly
Everything goes in loose and together, no sorting. The council’s list covers metal (food tins, drinks cans, empty aerosols with the lids on, clean aluminium foil), glass bottles and jars, plastic bottles and clean pots, tubs and trays, cartons and Tetra Paks, clean tubes such as toothpaste and face wash, and paper and thin card. Black plastic is not accepted. Rinse everything, squash it, and fold larger cardboard flat and put it underneath the sack rather than trying to force it in.
You get one roll of 16 sacks every 13 weeks, delivered. That is about 1.2 sacks a week, which is tight for a family, and the council’s answer is that spare rolls are available from local libraries. The delivery schedule tells you which week your area is due.
Black sack (rubbish), weekly
General household waste only. The council does not deliver black sacks and does not publish a limit on how many you can put out, but anything too large for a sack has to go as a bulky collection or to the recycling centre. If you are not sure where an item belongs, the council’s what item goes where guide searches by item.
Green bin (garden waste), fortnightly and paid
Garden waste is a subscription: £87 per 240-litre bin, per year. The contract runs 1 April to 31 March and the renewal window opens in early March. Two things worth knowing before you sign up:
- There is no pro rata. Joining in September costs the same £87 as joining in April, and cancelling after you have renewed gets you nothing back.
- Delivery takes up to four weeks, and the bin you receive may be a refurbished one.
Collections are fortnightly all year with a two-week pause over Christmas. Flowers, plants, weeds, grass cuttings, hedge trimmings, leaves and small twigs and branches are accepted. You can order more than one bin.
Food waste: still not here
Havering has no food waste collection, and it is one of the councils that missed the deadline. The Environment Act 2021 required separate food waste collections everywhere by March 2026.
The start has slipped again. The council’s first quarter budget report for the Cabinet on 16 September 2026 says the service, budgeted for the autumn, “is now expected in April”. It books the money as unspent in the financial year ending 31 March 2027, so that means April 2027. Full detail in our food waste delay story.
Havering’s food waste page still carries no date. The council’s September 2025 service update blamed delays on the collection vehicles, then expected in October 2026. Ray Morgon, council leader at the time, added a warning about what happens after launch: “it is extremely disappointing that we are receiving limited funding from the Government to run the service, it doesn’t cover the full costs.”
Until it starts, food waste goes in the black sack.
Bulky waste: £71.50 for the first three items
Havering’s bulky collection is at the expensive end for London.
| Cost | |
|---|---|
| One to three items | £71.50 |
| Each extra item | £18.50 |
The charge is non-refundable under any circumstances, so get the item count right when you book. Nothing over six feet in height or length is accepted, because of the truck. Furniture, white goods, carpets, toys, sports equipment, garden furniture, doors and bathroom fittings are all on the list. Book online or on 01708 432563, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and have the items at your boundary or communal bin area by 7am on the day.
If you can move it yourself, Gerpins Lane takes the same items free.
Missed collection: you have until 5pm the next working day
Report it on the missed collection form by 5pm on the working day after the round was marked complete. Miss that window and the council will not come back for it.
The council aims to collect the next working day. Crews work Monday to Saturday, so a Friday miss should be picked up on the Saturday. Leave the waste at the boundary, or if you have brought it in overnight, put it back out at 7am.
Your report will not be accepted if the waste was not out by 7am, was in a wheeled bin, carries a sticker, or was presented on a day that is not your collection day.
Bank holidays and Christmas
Havering handles bank holidays better than most boroughs: it usually just works them. For the Summer Bank Holiday on Monday 31 August 2026 the council has confirmed no change to recycling, rubbish, clinical, garden or bulky collections.
Christmas and New Year are the exception. That is the one period when Havering does shift collection days across the borough, often for a fortnight, and the garden waste service pauses for two weeks. The revised dates go up on the bank holiday collections page in December; nothing is published for Christmas 2026 yet.
Gerpins Lane recycling centre
Havering’s tip is Gerpins Lane, Upminster, RM14 2XR, run by the East London Waste Authority rather than the council.
- Open seven days, 07:30 to 17:45, but last entry is 17:30. Turning up at 17:40 is turning up too late.
- Bank holidays are normal hours unless stated otherwise. Christmas Day closed; Christmas Eve 07:30 to 16:30; Boxing Day and New Year’s Day 09:30 to 16:00; New Year’s Eve 07:30 to 16:30.
- Bring proof you live here: a driving licence with your current address or a current council tax bill. An e-bill on your phone is fine. Without it, charges may apply.
- Book ahead if you are in a van, towing a trailer, or bringing DIY waste in any vehicle at all. That last one catches people out: a boot full of rubble in an ordinary car still needs a booking.
- Gerpins Lane takes light commercial vehicles under 3,500kg and single-axle trailers only. No Luton vans, flatbeds, tail lifts or tippers. Bring the V5C to prove the weight, or you may be sent on to Jenkins Lane.
- Damaged or dismantled upholstered furniture must be double-bagged and put in the marked area.
- Fridges and freezers are subject to a national capacity restriction and acceptance can be suspended at short notice, so ring ahead or ask the retailer to take the old one when the new one arrives.
Havering residents can also use Frizlands Lane (Barking and Dagenham), Jenkins Lane (Newham) and Chigwell Road (Redbridge) free, which is worth knowing if you live at the western end of the borough.
Common questions
Does Havering collect bins or sacks?
Sacks. Black for general waste, orange for recycling, both weekly. The only wheeled bin is the green garden waste bin, which is a paid subscription.
How much is garden waste in Havering?
£87 per bin per year, on a 1 April to 31 March contract with no pro rata for joining late.
How many orange sacks do I get?
A roll of 16 every 13 weeks. Extra rolls are available from local libraries.
Are bins collected on the August bank holiday in Havering?
Yes. The council has confirmed no change to any collection on Monday 31 August 2026.
How long do I have to report a missed bin in Havering?
Until 5pm on the working day after your collection was due.
Do I need to book to use Gerpins Lane?
Only for vans, trailers, or DIY waste in any vehicle. An ordinary household load in a car needs no booking, just proof of address.
Sources
- Rubbish and recycling, black sacks and orange sacks, London Borough of Havering, for containers, contents, frequency, presentation rules and sack supply.
- Garden waste bin service for the £87 charge, contract dates and delivery time.
- Food waste collections and Food waste collection service update (9 September 2025) for the October 2026 target, the missed March 2026 deadline and the leader’s quote.
- Bulky collections for the £71.50 and £18.50 charges and the six-foot limit.
- Report a missed collection for the 5pm next-working-day window.
- Bank holiday rubbish and recycling collections for the 31 August 2026 position.
- Gerpins Lane RRC, East London Waste Authority, for opening hours, last entry, ID, booking and vehicle rules; Havering’s recycling sites pages for the other three centres.
Charges and rules change, and the collection day tool is the only authority on your own address. Confirm anything that matters against the linked council pages. Last checked 15 August 2026.
Also useful: parking in Romford, Havering council tax bands and Romford roadworks and travel.
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