North Herts changed household collections on 4 August 2025. Houses now have a purple lid for rubbish, a black lid for mixed recycling, a blue lid for paper and card, a brown caddy for food, and a brown-lidded garden bin only if they subscribe. The blue bin replaced the old lidless box. The three large bins take turns rather than coming every week.
Last checked against 4 sources (www.north-herts.gov.uk).
What goes in each bin
Purple-lidded bin for non-recyclable waste · General waste
Bin · Varies by area, so check your address
Yes please
Rubbish that cannot be recycled at the kerb
Polystyrene, cigarette ends, nappies and pet waste
Tissues and similar items listed for the purple lid on the A to Z
Not in this one
Batteries, vapes and products with a built-in battery
Collection frequency by bin for North Hertfordshire
Bin
Collected
Purple-lidded bin for non-recyclable waste · General waste
Varies by area, so check your address
Brown outdoor food caddy · Food waste
Every week
Brown-lidded garden bin, subscription only · Garden waste
Every two weeks
Food waste and the national recycling rules
North Hertfordshire collects food waste every week. Food stays on a weekly round in a 23 litre brown outdoor caddy. Liners can be a bread bag, a cereal packet liner, a frozen-food bag or a compostable bag. The kitchen liner can go into the outdoor caddy without being tipped out. Black bin bags are refused. After collection the council says the food is used to make electricity and biofertiliser. From 4 August 2025 loose plastic bags and wrappings also go in the black-lidded mixed recycling bin.
Garden waste is a paid-for service. For collections from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 a single subscription is £57.00, including if you join part way through that period. Each extra collection is another £57.00. A bin that has to be supplied or replaced is £40.00, and the bin stays council property. Residents on the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, with a benefit reference entered at sign-up, pay £28.50 for the first bin. No other benefit gets that rate. You can pay for up to two extra brown bins. Subscribed brown bins are emptied every two weeks, with no collection for two weeks after Christmas. Put the bin on the front boundary by 6.30am. A new subscription can take up to two weeks to reach the crew. If you already have an assisted collection for the other bins, that help covers the garden bin too, and it can stay visible at the front rather than on the boundary. Direct debit renews on its own.
Use the missed-bin form only when the container was out on the right day, before 6.30am, at the boundary, and it does not carry a sticker saying it could not be emptied. If the form cannot find the address, call 01462 474000 and choose the waste option. Give the full address and which bin was missed. Report within two days of the missed collection. A return can take up to 72 hours. A garden bin that was missed should be reported within 48 hours, and only if the contents were right.
The house rota is three-weekly for the 180 litre purple-lidded bin, the 240 litre black-lidded bin and the 240 litre blue-lidded bin. Food stays weekly in a 23 litre brown caddy. Most flats and communal areas were left on a fortnightly cycle, with a separate note where that is not the case. Some streets also moved to a new collection day.
Between May and June, households were given the blue-lidded bin, or reusable sacks where there is no off-street storage or the house fronts straight onto the road. The council is not collecting the old blue boxes. They can be kept for storage or taken to a recycling centre.
Mixed recycling and paper have to be loose. Bagged recycling is treated as contamination and left. A sticker, and sometimes a letter, explains a rejected bin. Repeating that can lead to enforcement. Communal blocks that fill early, or that keep getting the wrong items, are asked to call 01462 474000 and choose waste.
Soft plastics joined the black-lidded bin on 4 August 2025. Bags and wrappings go in loose. They do not need their own sack. Cardboard still has to stay in the blue bin, including cereal boxes and flattened delivery boxes with tape and plastic taken off.
Extra rubbish capacity is a separate application. The council lists larger households with 6 or more permanent residents, homes with two or more children under 36 months, and adults using incontinence products or with medical needs. Anyone already getting extra capacity was due a letter of their own.
The garden charge for 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 is £57.00 a bin, plus £40.00 if a bin has to be delivered. Council Tax Reduction brings the first bin down to £28.50. Food, soil, nappies and pet bedding are refused. A bare Christmas tree can go in. Giant hogweed and Japanese knotweed cannot. There is no round for two weeks after Christmas.
More than 80% of food waste is avoidable, the food page says, mostly from buying or cooking too much or forgetting what is in the cupboard. In warm weather the council suggests emptying the kitchen caddy more often, wiping it, and tying liners tight. The North Herts Council app has a recycling search as well as collection reminders.
The A to Z on the what-goes-in page was updated for the arrangements that began on 4 August 2025. It lists the house bin and then the communal equivalent. Garden waste is not offered to communal properties.
As of 3 October 2026 the pages read did not publish a day-by-day Christmas timetable for rubbish and recycling. Garden subscribers are told collections stop for two weeks after Christmas.
Bin questions in North Hertfordshire
How often does North Herts collect bins?
Food is every week. For houses, the purple-lidded rubbish bin, the black-lidded mixed recycling bin and the blue-lidded paper and card bin each come every three weeks. Most flats stay fortnightly. Paid garden waste is every two weeks, except two weeks after Christmas.
How much is the North Herts garden waste subscription?
£57.00 per bin for 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027, whether you join at the start or later in that period. Supplying a bin is a further £40.00. The Council Tax Reduction rate for the first bin is £28.50. Up to two extra bins can be added.
When should I report a missed bin in North Herts?
Within two days. The bin had to be out before 6.30am, at the boundary, with no sticker saying it was refused. A return can take up to 72 hours. If the form misses your address, call 01462 474000 and choose waste.
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