Recycling and rubbish | St Albans City and District Council

Recycling, rubbish and street cleaning

We provide households in the District with a comprehensive multi-material recycling service, working together with our partner Veolia.

Our aim is to make it as easy as possible to recycle and cut down waste. Achieving this means we can reduce our impact on the environment.

We also help keep our streets and public spaces clean, safe, tidy and attractive – making sure that the district continues to be a great place to live in, work and visit.

View information on rubbish and recycling including about bins and collection days, what to do with specific waste items and how to report street cleanliness issues.

Service Delays

We are aware that you may be experiencing some delays across our waste collection services and apologise for that.

Please leave any missed containers out for collection. The crews will return to collect them as soon as they can, aiming to do so within 48 hours.

There are several reasons for these service delays, which are temporary. They are mainly due to contractor (Veolia) staffing shortages. Those shortages are the result of COVID-related self-isolation situations (e.g. NHS App “pings”) and a national shortage of HGV drivers. There are also significant queues at the household waste “tip” sites, where the crews go to empty the collection vehicles daily. Collection vehicles waiting in those queues mean less time available to deliver the service.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience.

COVID-19 Service Update

Recycling, waste collection and street cleaning services in St Albans District are currently operating as normal during the Covid-19 crisis.

Residents are urged to continue using recycling and waste collection services as usual.

In order to prevent further spread of Covid-19, households that are self-isolating and showing the symptoms of the virus should follow the UK Government's 'Stay at home' advice and ensure:

Personal waste such as used tissues and disposable cleaning cloths are securely disposed in rubbish bags, and not in paper or card recycling.
Any bags containing personal waste should be double bagged, tied securely and kept separate from other waste.
Bags containing personal waste are to be put aside for at least 72 hours before being put in the usual external general waste bin.