Mid Suffolk collects food waste every week in a grey bin, and refuse, recycling and paper on a three-week cycle. For Mid Suffolk the blue-lidded bin is glass, plastics, metal and cartons, and the green-lidded bin is paper and card. Babergh, which shares the website, uses the opposite colours. Garden waste is a paid brown bin, still fortnightly. These colours and the Mid Suffolk price are the ones to use for this district.
Last checked against 8 sources (www.midsuffolk.gov.uk).
What goes in each bin
Black refuse bin · General waste
Bin · Every three weeks
Yes please
Household waste that is not accepted in the recycling, paper and card, or food bins
Bagged animal waste and bagged pet bedding
Ash, vacuum dust and sweepings, wrapped or bagged
Crisp packets, polystyrene and sanitary items
Nappies and incontinence waste, bagged
Items with remnants of food, oil or grease, such as soiled fast-food containers
Not in this one
Batteries and vapes
Clinical waste, including needles and sharps
DIY waste, building materials, bricks, tiles, hardcore, rubble and soil
Electrical items
Garden waste
Hazardous waste, including asbestos
Large bulky items such as furniture
Liquids or drinks
Tyres
Waste left beside the bin in black bags or other sacks that are not the council's authorised orange sacks
Mid Suffolk collects food waste every week. From 1 June 2026 Mid Suffolk collects food every week, refuse every three weeks, paper and card every three weeks, and recycling every three weeks. The blue-lidded bin is glass, plastics, metal and cartons. The green-lidded bin is paper and card. That is the opposite of the colours the same site describes for Babergh. Homes should have a lockable 23 litre outdoor food bin, a 5 litre kitchen caddy, and for most houses one extra 240 litre wheelie bin. Food must not go in the brown garden bin. The council no longer provides a fortnightly refuse collection.
Garden waste is a paid-for service. For a Mid Suffolk address the annual cost is £66.00 per brown bin, plus a one-off administration charge of £21.00 for a new or additional subscription. The same page lists a different price for Babergh addresses. There are no reductions. The bin is a 240L brown wheeled bin. Garden waste is collected every fortnight, with a pause of two weeks over Christmas and New Year. Put the bin out by 6.30am. Delivery can currently take up to 5-6 weeks, and the 12 month subscription starts when the bin arrives. No full or partial refund if you cancel. A real Christmas tree under 7ft, with decorations off and a trunk less than 7cm, may be left beside the bin in January only.
Wait until 5.30pm on collection day before reporting a miss. If your road is already on the delay table, do not report it. Leave the bin out. A return is not made if the bin was not out by 6.00am, contained items that are not accepted, or had been refilled. Report within two working days. The council aims to return within five working days. The correct bin should be at the boundary by 6.00am, handle outwards, lid shut. Take it back in by 7.00pm unless the collection is delayed. Garden bins on the subscription use 6.30am.
The change started on 1 June 2026. Refuse used to be fortnightly. The council says it no longer provides a fortnightly refuse collection, because food and more recycling now leave the black bin. Food is collected by a separate crew, on the same day as one of the other collections for most addresses.
The outdoor food bin is 23 litre and lockable. The kitchen caddy is 5 litre. You can line it with a compostable liner, a plastic bag that is not a black bin bag, a carrier bag, a food bag, or newspaper or kitchen roll. The council does not supply replacement liners. Black bin bags are excluded. Milk, liquids, oils, packaging, garden waste and pet bedding stay out. Extra food beside the bin is not collected.
Recycling must be empty, clean, dry and loose. Glass bottles and jars, cartons, carrier bags, films and bubble wrap are now accepted in the blue-lidded bin. Paper and card are not. Crisp packets, Pyrex, nappies and hard plastics stay out. Flattened cardboard that will not fit can go beside the green-lidded bin, not in a plastic sack, and not if it is soaked.
The black bin takes what the other bins refuse, including bagged nappies, crisp packets and polystyrene. Batteries, vapes, soil, garden waste, liquids and clinical waste stay out. Extra refuse beside the bin is collected only in the council's authorised orange sacks. The refuse page says those sacks can be bought from stockists. It does not give the price.
Garden waste for a Mid Suffolk address is £66.00 a year per bin, plus £21.00 once for a new subscription. Babergh's price on the same page is different. Collections are fortnightly except two weeks at Christmas and New Year. Out by 6.30am. The contents page allows small branches no thicker than 7cm, and refuses food, soil and compostable bags. Delivery can take up to 5-6 weeks.
Report a miss after 5.30pm and within two working days. The aim is a return within five working days. Ordinary bins should be out by 6.00am and back in by 7.00pm. As of 3 October 2026 the delay table on the missed page said each collection type was up to date. That table changes, so check it before you report.
Bin questions in Mid Suffolk
Which Mid Suffolk bin is for paper?
The green-lidded bin, collected every three weeks. The blue-lidded bin is glass, plastics, metal and cartons, also every three weeks. Babergh's colours on the shared site are the other way round.
How much is Mid Suffolk garden waste?
£66.00 per brown bin per year, plus £21.00 once if the subscription is new or additional. There is no reduction. Collections are fortnightly, out by 6.30am, with two weeks off over Christmas and New Year.
How often is the Mid Suffolk black bin emptied?
Every three weeks, from 1 June 2026. The council says it can no longer provide a fortnightly refuse collection. Food waste is weekly, in the grey bin, and should not go in the brown garden bin.
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