Ashford Bin Collection Days: Bank Holidays Are Normal

Ashford Borough Council answers the bin question one date at a time. Type in a postcode and it gives you your next collection. It does not tell you what happens at Christmas, what the brown bin costs, or how long you have to report a bin the crew drove past.

This page gathers the whole cluster in one place. Every figure below was checked on 1 September 2026 against the council’s own pages, which are linked beside each one.

The short answer on bank holidays

Collections run as normal on bank holidays. The council states it plainly: “Bin collections run as normal on bank holidays, except at Christmas and New Year” (Ashford Borough Council, Find My Bin Day).

That is unusual enough to be worth knowing. Plenty of Kent and Home Counties councils slide every round a day at a bank holiday. Ashford does not. The only weeks that move are the two around Christmas and New Year, and those are covered further down.

The four bins, and what goes in each

Every household has three containers as standard, and a fourth if you pay for it.

The green bin takes paper, card, shredded paper, plastic bottles, tubs and containers, tins, cans, kitchen foil, glass bottles and jars, food and drink cartons, aerosols and toothpaste tubes. It does not take soft plastics such as bread bags, carrier bags and cling film, and it does not take textiles, electricals, batteries or polystyrene. Recycling goes in loose. If you must bag it, the council asks for clear sacks only (Recycling).

The grey bin is for what is left: soiled paper and tissues, soft plastic packaging, cling film, nappies, pet waste, small broken glass and toiletries. The lid must close. Anything left beside the bin is side waste and will not be taken (Refuse).

The food caddy takes meat, fish, bones, plate scrapings, peelings, cheese, yoghurt, bread, pasta, rice, teabags, coffee grounds, butter and eggshells. It does not take liquids, oils, packaging of any kind, pet waste or garden waste. Liners have to be compostable. The outdoor caddy is free, including replacements; an indoor kitchen caddy costs £5, and the council says a supermarket one does the same job. Ashford’s food waste goes to anaerobic digestion at Blaise Quarry Farm near Maidstone (Food waste).

Bins have to be out by 6am, next to the public highway (Find My Bin Day).

Finding your own collection day

The council runs a postcode and address lookup, and it also produces two downloadable calendars, one for recycling and refuse and one for garden waste.

• Collection day lookup, by postcode and property
• The recycling, refuse and garden waste calendars are linked from the Find My Bin Day page

There is no borough-wide printed calendar. Rounds differ street by street, so the lookup is the only reliable answer for a given address.

Christmas is the only time the dates move

Christmas is when Ashford’s schedule changes, and it changes a lot. The council published the revised dates for the last festive period on 4 December 2025. The pattern is worth reading now, because the shape repeats each year even though the dates will not.

Over 2025/26 the council pushed collections up to two working days late from Christmas Day onwards, ran three Saturday collections, and did not return to normal until Monday 12 January. Garden waste was suspended entirely from Christmas Day and did not resume until Thursday 8 January (Ashford Borough Council, 4 December 2025, archived).

The revised days it ran were:

Two things follow from that. A Thursday or Friday household loses its collection for a fortnight over Christmas, and a Saturday collection is normal in January even though it is never normal in any other month. The council publishes the new table in its news section in early December, and puts the revised dates on the collection lookup at the same time.

Garden waste costs £64 a year

The brown bin is opt-in. The subscription is £64 a year, and that price includes the bin itself as well as every collection (Garden waste).

The details that catch people out:

• The year is a rolling one. You renew twelve months from the date you paid, not on 1 April and not on 1 January.
• A new bin takes up to 10 working days to arrive, and collections only start once it has been delivered.
• One subscription covers one 240 litre bin. Extra bins are bought separately.
• There are no refunds if you cancel part way through.
• Collections are fortnightly, with a break at Christmas and New Year.

The brown bin takes grass, hedge trimmings, prunings, small branches, weeds, leaves and dead plants. It does not take logs, stumps, turf, soil, plant pots, rubble, pet waste or household rubbish.

Bulky waste: £43.50 for up to four items

Large item collections are booked and paid for. The council’s prices are:

Eight items is the maximum per booking, and you can hold two bookings at a time. Items go out by 6am on the day, at the front boundary of the property and clearly visible. If they are not out in time, there is no refund. Changes and cancellations need at least two working days’ notice (Large item collection).

The council takes furniture, white goods, electrical appliances, mattresses, televisions, wardrobes, desks, chairs, settees, baths, sinks, dismantled sheds, garden furniture and bundled wood. It will not take commercial waste, garden waste, asbestos, anything over two metres, American-style fridges, car parts, tyres, gas bottles, mirrors or mobility scooters. Damaged upholstered seating has to be taped, wrapped or bagged.

A missed bin gives you two working days

If the crew did not empty your bin, report it within two working days of the collection date, then leave the bin out at its usual point (Report a missed bin collection).

The council will not treat it as a missed collection if:

• the wrong waste went in the bin
• the bin was not in the right place
• black sacks were put out instead of the bin
• the bin was too heavy or damaged
• the bin was not out by 6am

The tip is on Cobbs Wood, and you have to book

Ashford’s household waste recycling centre is run by Kent County Council, not the borough, and it sits on the Cobbs Wood Industrial Estate.

• Address: Brunswick Road, Ashford TN23 1EL
• Open: 8am to 4.30pm Monday to Saturday, 9am to 4pm on Sunday
• Booking: compulsory. “Before visiting you must book a slot. Entry without booking is not permitted.”
• Height barrier: 2 metres, which is 6ft 6in
• On foot: not allowed. You cannot carry waste in on foot.
• Non-Kent residents: £10 to visit

Slots can be booked for the same day or up to two weeks ahead, and there is no limit on how many times you visit in a day (Ashford HWRC, booking a slot).

Business waste cannot go there, and some DIY waste and tyres are chargeable.

Also on The Ashford Times

• Parking in Ashford, the tariffs and the free bays
• Ashford council tax bands, what the bin service is part of
• Ashford roadworks and travel, including closures that can delay a round