Find your Lewisham bin collection day, what goes in the green, black, silver and brown bins, the garden waste price and what bulky waste costs.

Lewisham bin collection runs on a split rhythm that catches new arrivals out: your recycling and food waste are emptied every week, but your general rubbish only goes every two weeks. Get that the wrong way round and you spend a fortnight with a full black bin. This guide covers how to find your collection day, which of the four bins takes what, what the garden waste subscription costs in 2026, how much a bulky item collection is, and what to do when a bin is left behind. Every figure comes from Lewisham Council’s own pages.

How to find your bin collection day

The council runs a free address checker. Go to the find your collection day page and enter your postcode or street name, and it returns your rubbish, recycling, food waste and garden waste days.

One quirk is worth knowing before you type. If you search by street rather than postcode, the council asks for “the full name without abbreviations (e.g. Bargery Road, not Bargery Rd.)”. Shortened street names return nothing, which is the single most common reason people think their address is missing.

Whatever day the checker gives you, the deadline is the same across the borough. Put your bins out before 6am on collection day, at the edge of your property, per the council’s service standards. Crews will not come onto your property to fetch a bin unless you are signed up for assisted collections.

How often each bin is collected

This is the part that differs from most councils, and it is worth committing to memory. Lewisham collects “recycling, food waste and garden waste every week and general household rubbish every two weeks”, according to the council’s bins by property type page.

Three of your four bins go out weekly and only the black rubbish bin is fortnightly. Weekly food collections are what make a fortnightly black bin bearable in August, so using the caddy properly is not optional.

What you get, and it depends on your property

Not everyone in Lewisham has wheelie bins. What lands at your address depends on the building.

Houses and flats in converted properties get the full set of four: a 180 litre black wheelie bin for rubbish, a 240 litre green wheelie bin for recycling, a 23 litre silver bin for food waste and a 5 litre silver kitchen caddy to go with it. The brown 240 litre garden waste bin is an optional paid extra, covered below.

Flats above shops get sacks instead, because there is nowhere to keep a wheelie bin. The council supplies “orange sacks for general household waste and clear plastic sacks for recycling”, delivered quarterly, “usually in March, June, September, December”. If your quarterly delivery does not arrive, that is a supply problem to report rather than a reason to use carrier bags.

Blocks of flats and estates use communal bins: large blue bins for rubbish and green bins for recycling, shared across the block.

What goes in which bin in Lewisham

The council’s what can you put in your bin page is the authority here, and there is also a longer A to Z of what you can and cannot recycle for the awkward items.

The four Lewisham bins at a glance
BinSizeCollectedMain contents
Green (recycling)240 litreWeeklyPaper, card, glass, cans, plastic bottles and tubs
Black (rubbish)180 litreEvery two weeksWhatever cannot be recycled
Silver (food)23 litre + 5 litre caddyWeeklyAll raw and cooked food
Brown (garden)240 litreWeekly, subscriptionGrass, leaves, prunings, hedge trimmings

The green recycling bin

In goes paper, magazines, newspapers, envelopes, junk mail and catalogues, glass, cans, flattened cardboard, “plastic drinks bottles (keep lids on, do not flatten)”, shampoo and cleaning bottles, and cleaned plastic food containers. Lewisham takes glass at the kerbside in the same bin, so there is no separate glass box to remember.

Four things spoil a load and are worth learning: carrier bags and other plastic bags, crisp packets and sweet wrappers, food waste, and “cardboard that has been soiled with food such as pizza boxes”. A greasy pizza box is not recycling, however clean the lid looks.

The black rubbish bin

Anything household that cannot be recycled. What must stay out: batteries, oils, gas canisters, paint and chemicals, plus recyclables, food waste, textiles and large items such as furniture or big electricals, all of which have their own routes.

The silver food waste bin

Everything edible, cooked or raw: fruit and vegetable peelings, meat, fish and bones, bread, rice and pasta, dairy, egg shells, tea bags and coffee grounds, and mouldy or out of date food. Keep out packaging, plastic bags and wrappers, garden waste, nappies, liquids, kitchen towel, and pet waste. The council is explicit that “cat litter and dog poo” belong in the household rubbish bin.

On liners, the council gives you one roll to start and says these “won’t be provided regularly”. After that, clear bags such as a standard bread bag, or newspaper, are fine. Black bags are not recommended, because crews cannot see what is inside.

Garden waste: £100.63 a year

Garden waste is not included in your council tax. It is a separate subscription, and no brown bin is emptied until you have paid.

For the current year the garden waste service costs £100.63, which buys a 240 litre brown bin collected weekly, between 1 April 2026 and 31 March 2027. Your garden waste day appears in the same address checker as your other bins.

You can pay in one go or spread it over four direct debit instalments: £25.63 on 31 May, then £25.00 on each of 31 July, 30 September and 30 November. New subscribers get their bin “within 10 working days” along with a permit sticker, which has to stay on the bin so crews can see the subscription is live. Cancel within 14 days of purchase and you get a refund; after that the fee is non-refundable.

In goes grass cuttings, weeds, fallen fruit, flowers, hedge trimmings, leaves, plants and small branches, with branches capped at 10cm thick and 50cm long. Out stays soil, plastic pots, timber, ceramics and furniture. Japanese knotweed is a legal issue rather than a preference: the council warns “you will be breaking the law if you dispose of invasive species”.

Bulky waste: £5 an item, £25 for a fridge

Sofas, beds and mattresses do not go in any bin. The bulky item collection service charges £5 for each large item, including mattresses of any size, carpets, chairs, beds and sofas, and £25 for a fridge or freezer.

Book it on the council’s bulky waste form. Collections run Monday to Friday by ward, with fridges and freezers on Tuesdays and Fridays. Leave the items at the edge of your property or on the pavement the night before, and note that a carpet “must be rolled, tied and manageable by two people”. You do not need to be home. American-style and double-door fridge freezers are not accepted, and nothing is collected from inside a property. The fee is non-refundable even if you cancel before collection.

The free alternative is the council’s own tip. The Landmann Way Reuse and Recycling Centre at Landmann Way, SE14 5RS takes bulky household waste from Lewisham residents at no charge, with no booking needed. Bring photo ID and proof of address, because both are checked at the gate. Cars get in Sunday to Friday 8am to 3.30pm and Saturday 8am to 11.30am; vans, pedestrians and cyclists half an hour earlier. Vans are limited to four visits a year and commercial vehicles are turned away.

Bank holidays

Lewisham does not publish a standing bank holiday rule for bins, and there is no bank holiday page anywhere in the council’s waste section. Other councils promise that everything shifts back a day; Lewisham makes no such published promise, which means you cannot assume it.

The reliable move is to check the collection day tool in the week before a bank holiday, since it returns your actual next dates rather than a general rule, and to leave the bin out rather than take it back in if the day is uncertain. Note that the council does not take the day off for parking either: as our guide to parking in Lewisham sets out, restrictions are enforced on every bank holiday except Christmas Day and Easter Sunday.

If your bin is missed

First, be sure it was actually missed. Crews red-tag and leave bins that contain the wrong things, so a bin still full with a tag on it is a contamination problem, not a missed collection.

If it was genuinely missed, there is a wait before you can report it, and the council’s own pages give two different times. The report a missed collection page says “please wait until 1pm to report a missed collection and do so within 48 hours”. The service standards page says to report “after 2pm and within 48 hours”. Wait until 2pm and you satisfy both. What is not in dispute is the 48 hour deadline, so a Friday miss noticed on Monday is too late.

There are separate report forms for rubbish, recycling, food waste and garden waste, all reachable from that page, and a callback line on 020 8314 7171.

Frequently asked questions

How often are bins collected in Lewisham?

Recycling, food waste and garden waste are collected weekly. General household rubbish is collected every two weeks. That pattern applies to houses, flats above shops and estates alike.

How do I find my bin collection day in Lewisham?

Enter your postcode or street name in the council’s find your collection day tool. If you search by street, type the full name, so “Bargery Road” rather than “Bargery Rd”. Bins must be out before 6am.

How much is garden waste collection in Lewisham?

£100.63 for the year, covering weekly collections from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 in a 240 litre brown bin. You can pay in one go or in four direct debit instalments of £25.63, £25.00, £25.00 and £25.00.

What colour bin is recycling in Lewisham?

Green. Houses get a 240 litre green wheelie bin, estates have communal green bins, and flats above shops get clear plastic sacks instead. Glass goes in the same green bin as paper, card, cans and plastic.

How much does Lewisham charge to collect a sofa or mattress?

£5 per item for furniture, mattresses, carpets and beds, and £25 for a fridge or freezer, booked through the council’s bulky waste form. Taking it to the Landmann Way recycling centre yourself is free.

How long do I have to report a missed bin collection in Lewisham?

48 hours. Wait until at least 2pm on collection day first, which satisfies both the 1pm stated on the missed collection page and the 2pm stated in the service standards.

Sources

Prices and collection arrangements are those published by Lewisham Council and checked in August 2026. Charges are usually reviewed each April, so confirm on the council’s own pages before you pay. More Lewisham local information is on the Lewisham News home page.