How your rubbish and recycling is collected depends on where you are and your property type.
1. Doorstep collections: central Westminster and commercial premises
Streets in the centre of Westminster and all our shopping streets are
bags off streets areas 'BOS'. These streets have lots of pedestrians or narrow pavements, so we want to keep rubbish and recycling bags off the street for as long as possible.
Please place your bags out on the pavement up to 30 minutes before the start of the rubbish collection for your street. Bags placed out after the start of your collection period may not be collected.
The bags off streets areas are marked 'BOS' in our collection times database:
Households
Please tie up rubbish in black bags and put recycling in free clear bags or black boxes.
Businesses
Please tie up rubbish in red bags and put recycling in blue bags - find out more about Westminster's special waste disposal service for businesses.
2. Doorstep collections: outer Westminster
If you have a front garden, please place your rubbish and recycling out in the morning before the start of the collection so it's clearly visible to the collection team.
If you don't have a front garden, please place your bags/boxes out on the pavement at the edge of your property boundary.
Please tie up rubbish in black bags and put recycling in free clear bags.
Items placed out after the start of your collection period may not be collected.
3. Estates and mansion blocks
Estates and mansion blocks often have rubbish and recycling bins in dedicated rooms. Your estate office staff, caretaker or porter can help you find them. Mixed recycling bins look like this:
Some properties may need to use doorstep collections. If so, check arrangements for your block with your managing agent and then check your collection day and time.
Please tie up rubbish in black bags and put recycling in free clear bags.
Every year Westminster City Council runs a campaign knocking of the doors of residential properties to speak to residents about how to recycle in Westminster. In June-July 2019 our teams will be visiting over 500 mansion blocks (private purpose-built flats) across Westminster to speak to residents about recycling.
For property managers
All housing blocks need to have sufficient storage space for rubbish and recycling. If you're a managing agent, building manager or landlord and want to order rubbish or recycling bins please contact the Environment Action Line on 020 7641 2000. There is a charge to cover maintenance costs of rubbish bins, but recycling bins are free of charge for residential properties.
4. Communal rubbish bins
Large communal bins are located in various areas of Westminster.
Anyone found dumping commercial or builder’s waste in these bins could be fined up to £5,000. If you witness illegal dumping, please call 020 7641 2000 providing the following information:
- the day, date and time you saw the incident
- what you saw - how many people were involved and what they looked like, what waste was dumped and where
- any vehicles involved - their make, colour and registration number
Get more information on fly-tipping and enforcement and Westminster’s commercial waste service.
5. Residential bulky waste
If you have bulky items to dispose of, please don't dump them in the street for someone else to deal with. There are a number of ways to get rid of big items such as mattresses, sofas and fridges.
6. Where your rubbish and recycling goes
Rubbish
Your household rubbish is sent to SELCHP, a waste-fired power station in Deptford. The waste is then burned to generate green power for around 50,000 London homes. Residual metals are extracted from the ash and the rest is used as an aggregate in road building.
For more information read our waste strategy.
Recycling
Household recycling is dealt with depending on the materials.
7. Schools recycling
All Westminster City Council's own schools get a free recycling service.
- mixed recycling bins
- paper recycling bins - for schools that produce lots of paper waste
- battery bank - collection on request
Schools can buy discounted composting bins and set up a textiles recycling scheme to raise funds for the school.
Free educational talks and activities
We can also give an assembly or work with students and staff with their own campaigns.
Waste audit
This is for older children and eco clubs. A recycling officer will visit to see how much you currently recycle, then give advice on improvements. They'll then organise a second visit to see how much you have improved.
Q and A
Ask a member of the recycling team all the questions you have been meaning to ask about recycling.
Craft activity
For young children. We can run a simple activity using images of materials to create an artwork that helps the children to understand what they can recycle.
Teaching resources
- Munch and the Funny Tummy (written by recycling drivers)
- Friends of the Earth teaching resources
- Recycle Now
- The Pod