Containers must be at the boundary by 5am, and crews work to 6pm. Find whether you are round 1 or round 2, plus garden waste at £69 and the Christmas backlog.
The rule most St Albans households get wrong is not which bin goes out. It is what a bank holiday does. The council’s own collection calendar states it plainly: bank holiday collections run one day later than usual all week, not just on the Monday itself.
So if your bins normally go out on a Tuesday and the Monday is a bank holiday, yours moves to Wednesday. So does everyone else’s, right through to the Sunday.
One exception is worth knowing. Crews work Good Friday. Easter Friday collections happen as normal, and it is only the Easter Monday that shifts the week.
Is St Albans bin collection shifted this week? No, and it will not be until Christmas
Checked 9 September 2026. Collections are back on their normal days. The bank holiday of Monday 31 August pushed the whole of that week back by one day, with Friday households worked on Saturday 5 September, and normal collections resumed on Monday 7 September 2026.
The useful part is what comes next, because the council’s own 2026/27 calendar marks only five bank holidays and the next one is a long way off:
| Period | Are collections shifted? |
|---|---|
| Week of 7 September 2026 onward | No, normal days |
| Every week to 24 December 2026 | No bank holiday falls in it, so normal days |
| From 25 December 2026 | Yes. Festive collections run up to four days behind |
| To 15 January 2027 | Still catching up |
| Monday 18 January 2027 | Normal collections resume |
| Monday 29 March 2027, Easter Monday | Yes, whole week one day later |
So for the next three and a half months, if your bin has not gone it is not a bank holiday week. Treat it as a missed collection and report it inside 48 hours, using the route set out below.
The rule that catches people out is that a bank holiday moves the whole week, not just the Monday. The council’s calendar prints it as “Bank Holiday collections will be one day later than usual all week”. Friday households end up on a Saturday round, which is easy to miss. The one exception: crews work Good Friday, so only Easter Monday shifts the Easter week.
The council’s own service updates page needs a Microsoft login
The rubbish collections page tells you to “check for daily issues here: Service updates”. That link goes to a SharePoint list on stalbanscdc.sharepoint.com, and following it lands you on a Microsoft sign-in screen, not on a page of updates. Checked 3 September 2026.
In practice that means there is no public daily disruption feed for St Albans bins. If your bin has not gone by 6pm and you want to know whether it is a round-wide problem or just you, there is nothing to look at: report it inside the 48 hours instead, or e-mail wastemanagementservices@stalbans.gov.uk, the address printed on the collection calendar itself.
The containers, and how often each is emptied
| Container | Emptied | What goes in |
|---|---|---|
| Small green caddy | Every week | Fruit and veg peel, meat and bones, coffee grounds, tea bags, cheese, bread, plate scrapings, fish, egg shells |
| Brown wheeled bin | Every two weeks | Household waste that cannot be recycled |
| Black wheeled bin | Every two weeks, alternating with the brown | Plastic bottles, trays, pots and tubs, cans and tins, glass bottles and jars, empty aerosols, clean kitchen foil, cartons |
| Black or green box | Every two weeks, with the black bin | Cardboard, newspapers, magazines, junk mail, envelopes, catalogues, paperback books, shredded paper |
| Green wheeled bin | Every two weeks, paid subscription only | Grass, leaves, weeds, prunings, branches up to 150mm across, cut flowers |
| Plastic bags beside your bin | Every week | Small electricals and batteries in one bag, textiles and paired shoes in another, bagged separately, never black bags |
Source: St Albans City and District Council, About my bins.
Properties that cannot take a wheeled bin get purple refuse sacks instead, up to three per fortnight, delivered twice a year. Excess sacks are not collected. Nor is anything left beside a brown bin whose lid will not close.
Two things changed this year. From 31 March 2026 the black bin also takes clean Tetra Pak cartons and aluminium foil, under the Simpler Recycling rules. That is printed on the front of the 2026/27 calendar.
What still does not go in the black bin catches people out, because other Hertfordshire districts differ: plastic bags, cellophane, film wrapping and polystyrene are all refused here, along with light bulbs, drinking glasses, Pyrex, mirrors and crockery.
Flats are on a different pattern. Recycling is fortnightly with no limit on the number of bins, food waste is weekly, and general waste is collected weekly at 90 litres per property. There is no garden waste collection from flats.
How to find your day
The council splits the district into collection round 1 and round 2. Which one you are on decides which of the two calendars applies to you.
- Use the postcode search on the rubbish collections page to get your next date
- The same page has a road name search that tells you whether you are round 1 or round 2
- Both annual calendars are published as PDFs, Week 1 and Week 2
Containers must be at the boundary of your property by 5am. Crews work between 5am and 6pm, so an early gap does not mean you have been missed.
Bank holidays and Christmas
These are the bank holidays marked on the council’s 2026/27 calendar, each of which pushes the whole week back by a day:
- Monday 6 April 2026, Easter Monday
- Monday 4 May 2026
- Monday 25 May 2026
- Monday 31 August 2026
- Monday 29 March 2027, Easter Monday
Christmas is handled differently and more severely. The council’s calendar says collections over the festive period will be up to four days behind, and that normal collections resume on Monday 18 January 2027. That is a long tail: the disruption runs for the best part of three weeks after Christmas, not the few days most people assume.
Garden waste stops entirely. There is no garden waste collection for two weeks from 25 December 2026, and the service restarts on 11 January 2027. Two concessions come with that pause:
- extra garden waste can be left beside the bin on your first scheduled collection after the break
- subscribers can put their Christmas tree in the green bin at the same time
Garden waste costs £69, and there is no pro rata
Garden waste is an opt-in subscription running 1 July to 30 June. The 2026/27 year is open now.
| Subscription | Cost |
|---|---|
| First bin, or pair of bags | £69 |
| First bin, if you receive Council Tax Support | £30 |
| Each additional bin, up to three extra | £114 |
Source: St Albans City and District Council, Garden Waste Subscription Service.
Note that the concession is tied to Council Tax Support and not to the single person discount, which the council spells out because people confuse the two.
Two conditions are easy to miss. Sign up after 1 July and you still pay the full amount, with no reduction for the months you have lost. And once you are past the 14-day cancellation window there are no refunds if you cancel mid-year.
Bins are only emptied if they display the current year’s sticker, and the sticker colour changes annually. Stickers can take up to 14 days to arrive.
Bulky waste: £59, or £19 if you are on benefits
A bulky collection costs £59 for up to three items, non-refundable. Individual items must weigh under 100kg, and the council will not take pianos.
The concession rate is £19 if you receive Income Support, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Working Tax Credit, Guaranteed Pension Credit, Employment and Support Allowance, Incapacity Benefit or Universal Credit. That concession is limited to one collection every four months; anything beyond that is charged at the full £59.
Items go outside the front of the property, visible from the kerb but within your boundary, by 6am. Fridges and freezers must be emptied first. Booking is by phone on 01727 809019, Monday to Friday, 08:45 to 17:00.
Building waste is refused. Sheds, fencing, boilers, radiators, doors, bathroom and kitchen suites, soil and rubble all count as industrial waste and need a skip or a licensed carrier. Details on the council’s bulky items collections page.
A missed bin gives you 48 hours
If a container was out at the boundary on time and was not emptied, you have 48 hours from your collection day to report it. The council is explicit that once that window passes it will not act, and you wait for the next scheduled collection.
Before reporting, check the council’s service updates list, which logs delays on the day.
Replacement containers are ordered from Veolia on 01727 809019 and are charged:
- wheeled bin, £45
- garden waste bags, £15 each
- box, £10, or £3 for a lid on its own
- food caddy, £10
An assisted collection, where crews move the bins for you, is available if no one in the household is able to do it because of age or disability. The form is on the rubbish collections page.
The two tips are closed on opposite days
The district has two household waste recycling centres, both run by Hertfordshire County Council rather than the district. Usefully, they close on different days, so one is always open.
| Centre | Address | Closed | Open |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Albans | 14 Ronsons Way, Sandridge, off St Albans Road, AL4 9XR | Tuesday and Wednesday | 10am to 5.30pm on other days |
| Harpenden | Dark Lane, off Grove Road, Harpenden, AL5 1QB | Thursday and Friday | 10am to 5.30pm on other days |
Sources: Hertfordshire County Council, St Albans recycling centre and Harpenden recycling centre.
You now need an ePass to get in. This is new and it applies to every visit, not just vans. Hertfordshire’s ePass page states that residents must have one for any Hertfordshire recycling centre, and that ANPR cameras read the plate on arrival.
Worth knowing before you drive over:
- it is free, and available instantly once you apply
- there is no booking and no cap on the number of visits, except the existing van and trailer rules
- a household can hold up to three ePasses, or two car ePasses plus one van and trailer ePass
- turn up without one and staff will register you there and then, but only if you have proof of address with you
The individual centre pages still carry an older line saying an ePass is needed only for a van, trailer or an out-of-county visit. Treat the ePass page as the current rule.
Frequently asked questions
What day is my bin collected in St Albans?
It depends which of the two rounds you are on. Use the postcode search on the council’s rubbish collections page for your next date, and the road name search on the same page to find out whether you are round 1 or round 2. The two annual calendars are published separately as PDFs, one per round.
What time do I need to put my bins out in St Albans?
Containers must be at the boundary of your property by 5am. Crews work from 5am to 6pm, so a lorry that has not arrived by mid-morning does not mean you have been missed. Do not report a missed bin before 6pm.
Are St Albans bin collections running normally right now?
Yes. Checked 9 September 2026, the district is back on normal days after the 31 August bank holiday week, and no further shift is due until the festive period starting 25 December 2026.
What happens to St Albans bin collections at Christmas 2026?
Collections run up to four days behind over the festive period and normal service does not resume until Monday 18 January 2027. Garden waste stops for two weeks from 25 December 2026 and restarts on 11 January 2027, with extra garden waste allowed beside the bin on your first collection back and Christmas trees accepted in the green bin at the same time.
My bin was missed in St Albans. How long do I have to report it?
48 hours. There is no public daily disruption feed for St Albans, because the council’s own service updates link goes to a SharePoint list behind a Microsoft sign-in. Report it inside the 48 hours or e-mail wastemanagementservices@stalbans.gov.uk, the address printed on the collection calendar.
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