Orange rubbish bags – service change

From 1 April 2020, only residents living in flats above shops continued to receive orange rubbish bags. Around 24,000 households stopped receiving them.

We made this change because providing orange bags costs us hundreds of thousands of pounds a year. By asking residents to use their own black bags, we can invest the money we save into exploring new initiatives to minimise waste.

In the short-term, this will help us save money that in the long-term we can use to fund the services our residents rely on.

We’re making decisions like this because we face a huge financial challenge as a result of funding cuts from central government, increasing demand and rising costs.

Find out more about our financial challenge 

Why will residents living in flats above shops continue to receive orange bags? 

You might still notice orange bags on high streets. That’s because we’re still giving them to residents who live in flats above shops to make it easy for us to distinguish between residents’ bags and those of businesses.

If you don’t live in a flat above a shop and still have some orange bags, please keep using them until you run out – we’ll still be collecting them.

Not sure what type of property you live in and want to check whether you’ll still be receiving orange bags? Call us on 020 3567 8105.

What goes into rubbish bags and what gets recycled?

All of the following can be recycled in clear bags or a recycling bin:

• plastic – including carrier bags, bottles, pots, tubs and cartons
• paper – including newspapers, magazines and letters
• cardboard – including cereal and egg boxes
• metal – including tins, cans, aerosols, aluminium foil and bottle tops
• glass – including bottles and jars

Put anything that cannot be recycled in your rubbish bag.

Find out more about what goes in your recycling and rubbish bags and bins

Will this mean my rubbish and recycling gets collected on a different day?

Collection days and times remain the same. Please continue to tie your bags securely and put them out on your collection day.

Check your collection day