How to find your Southend bin collection day, which of the four bins goes out when, garden waste costs, missed collections and the two city tips.

Southend bin collection is more involved than it used to be. Since the new household service started in October 2025 most homes in the city have four containers rather than one or two, and they do not all go out on the same week. This guide sets out how to find your collection day, which bin takes what, how often each one is emptied, what garden waste costs, and what to do when a collection is missed. Every figure and rule below comes from Southend-on-Sea City Council’s own pages, linked as we go.

How to find your Southend bin collection day

There is no postcode box on the council website. The council’s answer is an app: “the best way to find out which day your recycling and waste is collected is through the app”, per its collection days page.

  • The Southend Waste app. Search “Southend Waste” on the Apple App Store or Google Play. It shows your next collections, sets reminders, tells you what can be recycled and lets you report a missed collection. It is run by SUEZ on the council’s behalf.
  • By phone. Customer services on 01702 215006 will tell you your day if you cannot use the app.
  • Coming later. The council says it is building a MySouthend web form so you can look the same information up on the website, “available in the coming months”, per the pink lid bin page.

One caveat the council repeats on every waste page: if your home is currently under review for a change of collection method, the app’s information may not be accurate.

Whichever bin is due, the deadline is the same. Put it on the inside edge of your property by 7am, not on the pavement, grass verge or road. Crews work between 7am and 6pm. Bins left out on the footway can attract a Fixed Penalty Notice, and if you miss the crew they do not come back: you wait for the next scheduled collection.

Which bin goes out when

Southend runs a four-container system, and the two recycling bins alternate. The council sets out the running order on its missed collections page: every week a recycling lorry collects the food waste bin plus one of the two recycling bins, and a separate lorry takes the black bin every fortnight.

Southend-on-Sea City Council household bins and collection frequency
BinWhat goes inHow oftenCost
Blue food waste binAll cooked and raw foodWeeklyIncluded
Pink lid binPlastic, glass and cansEvery two weeksIncluded
Blue lid binPaper and card onlyEvery two weeks, alternating with the pinkIncluded
Black binEverything that cannot be recycledEvery two weeksIncluded
Green garden waste binGarden waste onlyWeekly, by subscription£68.50 a year, plus £40 for the bin

So in practice your fortnight looks like this: one week the pink lid bin and the food bin go out, the next week the blue lid bin and the food bin go out, and the black bin turns up on its own two-weekly cycle. The food waste bin goes out every single week.

If you are on sacks rather than bins

Not every property has wheelie bins. Where the council has agreed a loose sack collection, the pattern is different and simpler: black sacks, pink sacks and the paper and card container are all collected weekly, along with the food waste bin. The council states this exception on the black bin and blue lid bin pages.

Sacks are delivered to sack-collection roads on a rota. You can look up your street’s next delivery in the council’s sack delivery date directory, and if you run out before then you can request additional sacks online.

What goes in the pink and blue lids

The split trips people up because both recycling bins are for recycling. The rule is:

  • Pink lid: plastic, glass and cans. Keep items loose, clean and dry, and do not bag them, because bagged recycling slows the sort.
  • Blue lid: paper and card only. Flatten boxes. If you have extra cardboard, flatten it and fold it neatly beside the bin, but the council will not take cardboard larger than the bin itself.

The food waste bin

You get two blue containers: a small kitchen caddy and a larger outdoor bin. Anything cooked or raw goes in, including plate scrapings, bread, pastries, tea bags, coffee grounds, raw and cooked meat and fish, bones, cheese, butter, egg shells and peelings, per the council’s blue food waste bin page. Packaging must come off first.

Use the free compostable liners, not carrier bags, which are not compostable. Rolls of liners are delivered every six months alongside the recycling sacks, and you can order more through the council’s online form. Keep the outdoor bin locked with its handle mechanism, and put your house number on it so it comes back to you.

Garden waste: a paid, weekly subscription

Garden waste is the only kerbside service in Southend you pay extra for, and unusually it is weekly, not fortnightly. The subscription runs for 12 months from the date you join, with collections suspended for three weeks over Christmas and New Year, per the council’s garden waste page.

The published costs are:

  • £68.50 for the 12 month subscription
  • £40.00 to buy a 240 litre garden waste bin
  • £11.00 for a roll of 10 compostable garden waste sacks

A new customer needs both the bin and a subscription before anything is collected, and an extra bin needs its own extra subscription. There are no refunds for cancelling mid-year, and direct debits renew automatically while card payments do not, so a card subscriber gets a reminder letter and has to renew.

Grass cuttings, leaves, prunings, cut flowers, weeds and branches up to about 12 inches long and an inch thick can go in. Soil, stones, food waste of any kind, plastic bags, treated wood, rubble, metal, glass, animal waste and garden ornaments cannot. Anything bigger goes to the tip.

Missed collections and the two Southend tips

Before you report a missed collection, the council asks you to wait until 6pm on your collection day, then report it within two working days. It will not accept a report if your bin went out after 7am, was left in the wrong place, or was tagged for the wrong contents.

For everything the kerbside service will not take, Southend has two household waste recycling centres, and each is closed one weekday:

Southend household waste recycling centre opening times
SiteClosed on1 Feb to 31 Oct1 Nov to 31 Jan
Stock Road, SS2 5QFThursdaysWeekdays 9am to 5pm, weekends 8am to 5pmWeekdays 9am to 4pm, weekends 8am to 4pm
Leigh Marshes, SS9 2ETWednesdaysWeekdays 9am to 5pm, weekends 8am to 5pmWeekdays 9am to 4pm, weekends 8am to 4pm

Both sites are for Southend residents only and ID is checked: a current driving licence or a council tax bill for the year you are seeking access, with matching names and nothing expired. You cannot walk in, children must stay in the vehicle, and asbestos, gas cylinders and tyres are not accepted at either site. Queues are worst on Sundays, and both sites have webcams you can check first, either online or through the waste app. Full details are on the council’s tip page.

Bank holidays and changed collection days

Southend does not publish a standing bank holiday rule. Instead it posts any changes on a revised collection days page, which at the time of writing states that there are currently no revised collections. Check it in the run-up to Christmas and Easter rather than assuming your usual day holds, and the app carries the same changes.

If your collection method does not suit your home

You can ask to move between wheelie bins and sacks. The council reviews each case individually through its request a change to collection method form. Reasons it is likely to accept include having nowhere on your property to keep a bin, a bin blocking the front door, or crews needing to move it more than 50 metres. Reasons it says will not qualify include disliking how bins look, having a small garden, or thinking the bin is the wrong size. If the problem is physical or medical, ask for an assisted collection instead, which is a separate service where crews move the containers for you.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find my bin collection day in Southend?

Download the free “Southend Waste” app from the App Store or Google Play, or call the council on 01702 215006. There is no postcode lookup on the council website yet, though the council says a MySouthend form is being built.

Are Southend bin collections weekly or fortnightly?

Both. The blue food waste bin is emptied weekly. The pink lid, blue lid and black bins are each emptied every two weeks, with the two recycling bins alternating. Homes on an agreed loose sack collection have everything collected weekly.

What goes in the pink bin and what goes in the blue bin in Southend?

The pink lid bin takes plastic, glass and cans. The blue lid bin takes paper and card only. Keep both loose, clean and dry, and do not put recycling out in bags.

How much does garden waste collection cost in Southend?

£68.50 for a 12 month subscription, plus £40.00 if you need to buy the 240 litre bin. A roll of 10 compostable garden waste sacks is £11.00. Collections are weekly, pausing for three weeks over Christmas and New Year.

How late can I put my bin out in Southend?

You cannot. Containers must be on the inside edge of your property by 7am on collection day, and no earlier than the evening before. Crews will not return for a bin put out late.

When can I report a missed bin collection in Southend?

Wait until 6pm on your collection day, then report it within two working days of the scheduled day. Check first that the bin was out by 7am, in the right place, and not tagged for the wrong contents.

Sources

Charges and rules are those published by Southend-on-Sea City Council and checked in August 2026. Fees are reviewed periodically, so confirm on the council’s own pages before you pay. Our guides to Southend council tax bands and parking in Southend cover the other two council charges people ask about most, and if you are planning building work, Southend planning applications explains how to search the register.