Uxbridge Bin Collection Days: What Moves on 31 August

Hillingdon does not use wheelie bins for household rubbish, does not collect recycling in a wheeled container either, and charges £77 a year to take your garden waste. If you have moved here from almost anywhere else in outer London, the system will not be what you expect. This page sets out how it actually works in Uxbridge and across the borough, what the bank holiday does to your collection day, and what each of the paid services costs this year.

Your own collection day comes from the council’s postcode lookup on its collection day page. We do not duplicate that: it is the one part the council does well.

The 31 August bank holiday pushes everything back a day

This is the change worth knowing now. Monday 31 August is a bank holiday, and every collection that week moves one working day later, with crews working the Saturday to catch up.

The council’s words are that “to minimise disruption to rubbish and recycling collections, our crews will be working on Saturday 5 September”. (Bank holiday collections, Hillingdon Council)

Christmas and New Year dates are not published yet. As of 15 August 2026 the bank holiday collections page carries the August dates and nothing further ahead, so there is no December schedule to report and we are not going to guess one. The same page is where it will appear.

What goes in what

Nothing here is wheeled. The council collects general waste, clear recycling bags, garden waste and food waste on the same day as each other.

Household rubbish goes in tied black sacks that you buy yourself. The council is explicit that “residents must supply their own sacks for general waste, preferably black, not white, as these may be confused with recycling sacks”. To stop foxes opening them, it recommends storing rubbish before collection day in a standard domestic dustbin of up to 90 litres, and says specifically not a wheeled bin. Ceramics, nappies, pet waste, polystyrene, sanitary products and hard plastics such as plant pots all belong here. (Rubbish collections, Hillingdon Council)

Recycling goes in one clear bag, mixed together: cans, aerosols, foil, books, cardboard, glass bottles and jars, plastic bottles, tetra packs and yoghurt pots, all clean, dry and empty. What the council will not take in it catches people out: no crisp packets, no bubble wrap, no polystyrene, no disposable takeaway cups, no light bulbs, no textiles, no hard plastics and no flower pots. (Dry mixed recycling, Hillingdon Council)

Food waste goes in a kitchen caddy, put out at the front of the property. Flats use a 140 litre communal food bin or a green outdoor food bin depending on the block. Cooked and raw meat and fish including bones, dairy, eggshells, tea bags, coffee grounds, bread, pet food and paper kitchen towel are all accepted. (Food waste recycling, Hillingdon Council)

Clear recycling bags and food caddy liners are free, but they arrive once a year rather than on request. Hillingdon zones deliveries by ward and delivers to each ward once annually, which it says cuts more than 150,000 deliveries a year. You need to be registered at least one month ahead of your ward’s delivery month, and you can request an ad hoc delivery if you run out before then. (Automatic recycling bag delivery scheme, Hillingdon Council)

Put it out before 6am, and not the night before

Collections run Monday to Friday starting at 6am, and everything is taken from the front of your property. Keep sacks inside the boundary until collection day. If you have no front garden the council allows tied bags on the pavement the evening before, but no earlier than 5.30pm. (Collection days, Hillingdon Council)

In hot weather that deadline can move. On Friday 14 August the council brought collections forward and asked residents to present waste before 5am rather than 6am, to keep crews off the round during the afternoon peak. We covered that in Hillingdon bins: put waste out before 5am on Friday. Residents who can’t move their own waste to the boundary and have nobody to help can ask for an assisted collection from the front door.

Garden waste: £77 for the year, and the tags are orange now

Garden waste is a subscription. The 2026/27 service runs from Wednesday 1 April 2026 to Wednesday 31 March 2027 and costs £77, paid by card or annual direct debit. Collections are weekly from March to November and fortnightly from December to February. (Garden waste subscription service, Hillingdon Council)

You get three reusable 90 litre sacks as standard and can request up to three more, to a maximum of six per property. Only one subscription per property is allowed. The tags matter more than the sacks: this year’s are orange, last year’s were green, and a sack presented without a current tag is not collected. Tags are single use, so once fastened they cannot be moved to another sack.

Miss a garden waste collection and the reporting window is narrow. You cannot report it until after 1.30pm on your collection day, and you must report within 72 hours. The council then returns within two working days.

Bulky waste: £53, or £39 if you are over 65

A bulky collection is booked through My Account and costs £53 for residents, £39 for over-65s and £94 for landlords. Households can book one collection slot per day. (Bulky waste, Hillingdon Council)

One booking covers up to six items, which can include beds, mattresses, chests of drawers, armchairs, sofas, wardrobes and washing machines. In place of one bulky item the crew will take three black bags of smaller things. Fridges and freezers are not being collected at all at the moment, and the council’s list of permanent refusals is long: boilers, doors, radiators, kitchen and bathroom units, sheds, fence posts, tiles, rubble, soil, tyres, pianos, mobility scooters, duvets and pillows.

Two rules cost money. Items must be out at the front of the property, at ground level, before 6am, and no longer than five feet, with mattresses and fridges the only exceptions. If you are not ready on the day you still pay the full fee and have to book again. And a cancellation inside 24 hours of the collection day gets no refund.

Missed collections: after 1.30pm, within 72 hours

The window is the same for rubbish, recycling, food and garden waste. Report after 1.30pm on your collection day, and within 72 hours of the miss, and Hillingdon will make another collection within two working days. Report earlier than 1.30pm and the system will not accept it, because the round may still be running. (Missed rubbish collection, Hillingdon Council)

The tip at Harefield, and the free one at West Drayton

The borough’s main site is Harefield Civic Amenity Site, New Years Green Lane, Harefield UB9 6LX, open 8am to 4pm seven days a week. Last entry for residents is 3.45pm, and you are asked not to arrive before 7.45am. It closes on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. (Harefield Civic Amenity Site, Hillingdon Council)

Three things the council buries and you need before you set off:

• You cannot walk in. The site is vehicle only, and residents arriving by car need a HillingdonFirst card. It is free to apply for if you are 18 or over and live in the borough, or 17 and driving.
• Vans need paperwork and are rationed. Two forms of ID, a photo ID and a household bill dated within three months, and a maximum of 12 van visits per resident per calendar year.
• Non-residents pay. A car from outside Hillingdon is charged £11 per visit through the van and trade entrance at the weighbridge.

On queues, the council’s own advice is worth taking: at busy times the wait averages around an hour and a half, so avoid 11am to midday and the last half hour, and Wednesdays and Thursdays are quieter. There is also a reuse centre just inside the barriers, with no fixed prices and donations going to the Mayor’s charities, though it cannot take textiles or electricals.

The second site is easy to miss because it only exists at weekends. West Drayton, Tavistock Road UB7 7QT, opens 9am to 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays and is closed on bank holidays. It is free, it takes all domestic waste except asbestos including plasterboard, mattresses, fridges and rubble, and there is strictly no access for vans or commercial vehicles. (West Drayton waste weekends, Hillingdon Council)

Both sites check proof of address in the queue, so bring the card or a driving licence and a household bill.

Also on Uxbridge News

Parking in Uxbridge covers the Cedars and Grainges tariffs and the HillingdonFirst discount that also gets you into the tip. Hillingdon council tax bands has the full A to H table for this year, and roadworks and travel tracks what is closed this month.