How Reigate bin collection works: blue week and green week explained, what goes in each container, garden waste costs, the 6am rule and missed bins.
Reigate bin collection runs on a two week cycle, and once you know which week you are in, the whole thing gets easy. Reigate & Banstead Borough Council calls them blue week and green week. Some containers go out every single week, others only on one of the two, and the garden waste bin runs on its own opposite rhythm. This guide covers how to find your collection day across the borough, including Redhill, Banstead and Horley, what belongs in each container, what garden waste costs in 2026, and the two rules that cause most missed collections.
The quick answer
Food waste and your paper and cardboard box go out every week. Mixed recycling and general rubbish go out on alternate weeks, on the same day as each other. Garden waste, if you pay for it, is collected fortnightly on the opposite week to your rubbish. Everything must be at the edge of your property by 6am.
How to find your bin collection day
The council runs a free address lookup. There is no district-wide calendar, because your day and your week depend on which round your address sits in.
- Enter your postcode on the council’s check your bin collection dates page, which sends you into the Where I Live tool.
- In Where I Live, open the recycling section and choose view collections calendar. It shows which containers your address has and every future collection date.
- The council also publishes a downloadable collection calendar for the year on the same page.
Where I Live is worth a bookmark for more than bins. The same postcode search returns your ward councillor, your council tax band and local planning applications.
Blue week and green week
The council splits the fortnight into two named weeks. This is the table to screenshot.
| Container | Blue week | Green week |
|---|---|---|
| Food waste caddy | Collected | Collected |
| Paper and cardboard box (black) | Collected | Collected |
| Mixed recycling bin (dark grey) | No | Collected |
| Rubbish bin (green) | No | Collected |
| Garden waste bin (brown, paid) | Collected | No |
Source: what we collect and when, Reigate & Banstead Borough Council.
Two details in that table catch people out. Mixed recycling and rubbish are collected on the same day as each other, so green week is the heavy one. And garden waste falls on the opposite week to your rubbish, which is why subscribers never put the brown bin out alongside the green one.
What goes in each container
The council’s what goes in each bin pages have a searchable A to Z if you are stuck on a specific item. The short version:
- Food waste caddy. A lockable outdoor caddy, collected weekly. Line it with a plastic bag or wrap food in paper.
- Black recycling box, 55 litres. Paper and cardboard only, collected weekly.
- Dark grey wheeled bin. Mixed recycling on alternate weeks: mixed plastic, cans, glass, cartons such as Tetra Pak, and foil. Glass goes in here at the kerbside, not to a bottle bank.
- Green wheeled bin. General rubbish, anything that cannot be recycled, on alternate weeks.
- Brown wheeled bin, 240 litres. Garden waste, fortnightly, subscription only.
One rule sits above all of these: the council will only collect from council-supplied containers. Crews cannot empty a third-party bin you have bought yourself, and anything extra needs to go to a recycling centre.
Garden waste: what it costs in 2026
Garden waste is not included in your council tax. It is a separate annual subscription covering 25 fortnightly collections a year, spread over 50 weeks with a two week break at Christmas, paid by a single annual Direct Debit.
| Bins | Annual Direct Debit fee |
|---|---|
| 1 bin | £79 |
| 2 bins | £158 |
| 3 bins | £237 |
| 4 bins | £316 |
| 5 bins | £395 |
| 6 bins | £474 |
Source: fees for the garden waste service.
The fee covers both the collection and the hire of the bin, which stays the council’s property and may arrive second-hand. Delivery is within three weeks of applying, and you can rent up to ten bins at one subscription each, per the council’s garden waste service page.
Worth knowing right now: the council posted a notice on 6 July 2026 that its garden waste forms are unavailable while it upgrades to a new finance system, and that this could take several weeks. New orders and cancellations cannot be processed in the meantime. If you need to stop paying urgently the council says to cancel the Direct Debit with your bank directly, and you can register to be notified when the forms return on the garden waste page.
If you would rather not pay, Surrey residents can buy a discounted compost bin through the Surrey Environment Partnership, or take garden waste free to the Surrey County Council community recycling centres, the nearest being Earlswood and Epsom.
The 6am rule, and the other reasons crews drive past
Two things cause most missed collections, and both are avoidable.
First, timing. All containers must be presented before 6am on your collection day. That is considerably earlier than many neighbouring councils, and putting bins out at eight in the morning is not good enough.
Second, placement. Containers go at the boundary of your property, next to the public highway, not up a driveway or behind a gate. Residents who cannot manage that can apply for an assisted collection, where the crew comes in to collect and return the containers. It is available to frail or disabled residents with no able-bodied member of the household to help, and you apply by calling the contact centre on 01737 276 000, Monday to Friday between 10am and 4pm, per the council’s extra waste collections page.
If your bin is missed
The council’s report a missed bin form has firm limits on when it will accept a report. You cannot report a missed bin if:
- it is before 3pm, because the crew may still come back that day,
- a whole road has been missed, in which case the council returns the next working day anyway,
- more than two working days have passed, in which case you wait for the next scheduled collection,
- the recycling was contaminated with the wrong materials.
That first one matters. Reporting at lunchtime achieves nothing, and the form will turn you away.
Replacement and extra bins
Damaged or stolen bins are replaced for a fee, set from 1 April 2026 and quoted excluding VAT. The two smallest containers cost nothing.
| Container | Cost |
|---|---|
| 55 litre black paper and cardboard box | Free |
| 23 litre outside green food caddy | Free |
| Replacement 140 litre green refuse bin | £41.50 |
| Replacement 140 litre grey recycling bin | £41.50 |
| Replacement or upgrade to 240 litre grey recycling bin | £54.25 |
| Additional 140 litre green refuse bin (maximum one per address) | £248 |
Source: fees for recycling and refuse services. Note the gap between a replacement refuse bin at £41.50 and an additional one at £248: the council prices extra general waste capacity deliberately high, and points households with more recycling towards the free upgrade to a larger grey bin instead.
Bank holidays
Reigate & Banstead does not publish a standing bank holiday rule the way some councils do, and the dates are loaded into the collection calendar instead. Check your address in Where I Live in the week before a bank holiday rather than assuming your normal day holds. The one worked example the council still publishes, from the 2022 State Funeral bank holiday, shifted every collection that week back by one day, with Friday’s round moving to the Saturday.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find out my bin collection day in Reigate?
Enter your postcode in the council’s Where I Live tool and open the collections calendar in the recycling section. It gives your collection day, which containers your address has, and every future date. There is no single borough-wide calendar because rounds differ street by street.
What is the difference between blue week and green week?
Blue week is food waste, paper and cardboard, plus garden waste for subscribers. Green week is food waste, paper and cardboard, plus mixed recycling and general rubbish together. Food waste and the paper box are collected in both weeks.
Can I put glass in my recycling bin in Reigate?
Yes. Glass goes in the dark grey mixed recycling wheeled bin along with plastics, cans, cartons and foil, and that bin is collected every other week. You do not need to take glass to a bottle bank.
How much is the garden waste service in Reigate and Banstead?
£79 a year for one bin, rising in £79 steps to £474 for six, paid by annual Direct Debit. That buys 25 fortnightly collections across 50 weeks, with a two week break at Christmas. Note that the council’s garden waste forms have been offline since 6 July 2026 during a finance system upgrade.
What time do bins need to be out in Reigate?
By 6am on your collection day, at the boundary of your property next to the public highway. Crews will not return for containers put out late.
Why will the council not let me report a missed bin?
Most likely because it is before 3pm, your whole road was missed, more than two working days have passed, or the recycling was contaminated. All four are listed as exclusions on the council’s report a missed bin page.
Sources
- Reigate & Banstead Borough Council, household bin collections and check your bin collection dates
- Reigate & Banstead Borough Council, what we collect and when and extra waste collections
- Reigate & Banstead Borough Council, what goes in each bin
- Reigate & Banstead Borough Council, garden waste, joining the service and garden waste fees
- Reigate & Banstead Borough Council, fees for recycling and refuse services
- Reigate & Banstead Borough Council, report a missed bin
- Surrey County Council, community recycling centres
Charges and service details checked against Reigate & Banstead Borough Council’s own pages on 4 August 2026. Fees change each April and the garden waste forms are currently offline, so confirm on the council’s site before paying.
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