Bins and recycling

Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, there may be changes to your usual recycling and waste collections. Precautions are being put in place to ensure coronavirus is not spread via your waste and recycling.

Protect our workers

Help stop the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) and protect our workers by washing your hands before putting your waste and recycling out, and disinfecting your bin handles before and after collections.

How to get rid of your waste if you are either self-isolating or confirmed to have coronavirus

Any individuals asked to self-isolate, either as a precaution or because they are confirmed to have coronavirus, should follow this advice to get rid of their household waste to ensure the virus is not spread via personal waste.

All personal waste, such as used tissues and disposable cleaning cloths, should be placed securely in a plastic bag or bin liner.
This plastic bag should then be placed in another plastic bag and securely tied.
These bags must be stored separately to other waste for at least 72 hours before being placed in the general rubbish collection.

After 72 hours outside the body the virus is no longer viable and the double-bagged waste can be put in the general rubbish collection as normal. Only waste that is heavily contaminated, such as tissues that have been coughed into and disposable cleaning cloths, need to be treated in this way. Regular household recycling and waste should be treated as normal.

Changes to recycling and waste services

All regular kerbside collection services are currently running as normal. Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and increases in staff absence levels, some recycling and waste services may be impacted. Collection of grey bins, blue-lidded bins and food waste recycling will be prioritised, whilst other services may be suspended at short notice, such as garden waste. Any service changes will be updated on this web page.

Both Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted Recycling Centres are now open for essential visits only. For more information, please visit the Hertfordshire County Council website.

We are working hard to minimise the impact on your recycling and waste collections and we appreciate your understanding if services do change.

Help create less waste

We're urging residents to think about the waste they're creating during their time at home. This may mean putting off having a clear-out until later in the year. Or storing any excess waste from DIY projects, spring cleans or garden waste at home until it can be disposed of safely and legally.

Dispose of PPE responsibly

When washed regularly, reusable face masks are a better choice. However, if you must use disposable masks, always be sure to put them in a litter bin. Alternatively, hold on to them and put them in your grey-lidded bin at home.

Littered PPE endangers the public and wildlife. Before disposing of face masks, please cut the elastic straps to prevent animals getting caught in them. This is important in case any masks make their way into the environment.

Please remember littering of any kind is illegal and you can be issued with a £80 fixed penalty notice. If this is not paid you could be taken to court, which could result in a maximum fine of £2,500.

Electrical and hazardous materials

With more time being spent at home, we ask that residents take extra care in disposing of electrical and hazardous materials. Items such as computers, TVs and batteries should be recycled at your nearest Recycling Centre. Find out which items you can safely dispose of at home on our Which bin do I use? page.

Missed bin collections

Due to access issues and staff resources, we are experiencing higher reports of missed bins.

If your bin has been missed, but your neighbours' bins were emptied, then please report your missed bin collection online in the normal way. Keep your bins on the boundary of your property until they are emptied.
If yours and your neighbours' bins have all been missed, and it is past 3pm on your normal collection day, it is likely that our collection vehicle experienced an issue due to another vehicle blocking access - you do not need to report this on our website. If there are cars on your road that are blocking their way, please try to identify the owner/owners if you can and ask them to park responsibly. Our crews will come back and try again - keep your bins out on your boundary until they are emptied.
If you are still experiencing collection issues despite following the above advice, we may need to ask that you take your bins to an area where they can be more easily accessed. Please email waste@dacorum.gov.uk if you think that this applies to you and your neighbours.
Help to make sure your bin is collected by always putting the right materials in it and putting it out on the boundary of your property by 6.45am on your normal collection day.

Please note: missed bins may also be collected on a Saturday.

Access issues

Our waste collection vehicles have been experiencing issues accessing certain roads, which is affecting bin collections.

This is due to an increase in the number of people staying at home, meaning there are now more cars parked along roads during the day. Our trucks are considerably wider than standard vehicles (2.5 metres wide and 10 metres long) and so need a large amount of space and turning room.

Please help us collect your bins as normal by making sure that you and others on your street park responsibly to allow room for our vehicles to get through (and potentially any emergency vehicles, too).