Waterlooville Bin Collection Days & Recycling Guide

Your bin collection day depends on your street

Waterlooville, Cowplain, Purbrook and Widley all fall inside Havant Borough Council's waste area, and bin days vary street by street rather than following one borough-wide pattern. The quickest way to find yours is the council's online calendar at havant.gov.uk/where-i-live, where entering your postcode brings up your household's waste and recycling schedule under 'waste and recycling'. You can also register for the customer portal at waste.havant.gov.uk to see upcoming collection dates and set up reminders.

Denmead sits just outside the Havant Borough Council boundary in Winchester City Council's area, so if you live there your bin day and rules come from Winchester, not Havant — check winchester.gov.uk instead. Horndean and Clanfield are collected by East Hampshire District Council, so residents there should use easthants.gov.uk for their exact day and bin rules.

How the alternate-week system works

Havant Borough Council runs an alternate weekly collection: your general rubbish (black-lidded bin) goes out one week, and your recycling (blue-lidded bin) the next. This means your collection day of the week stays the same, but which bin goes out swaps fortnightly — it's worth checking your online calendar regularly rather than relying on memory, especially around Christmas and bank holidays when the whole schedule shifts by a day or more.

Whichever bin is due, it needs to be out at the boundary of your property with the lid flat and closed by 7am on collection day. Havant Borough Council is clear that bins not out in time, or not accessible to the crew, will not be collected and will have to wait until your next scheduled date.

What goes in which bin

Your recycling bin (blue lid) takes paper, cardboard, glass bottles and jars, plastic bottles, tubs and trays, and food and drink cans — rinsed where possible, with lids on where you can. If you generate more recycling than fits in the bin in any one fortnight, Havant Borough Council accepts extra recycling in clear plastic sacks or flattened cardboard boxes placed neatly beside the bin.

Your rubbish bin (black lid) is for anything that can't be recycled or composted — general household waste that would otherwise go to landfill or incineration. Excess rubbish left loose beside the bin is not collected under the standard service; it simply waits for the following fortnight, so if you're generating more rubbish than one bin can hold (after a house move or clear-out, for instance), a bulky waste booking or a trip to the household waste recycling centre is the better route rather than leaving bags on the pavement.

Garden waste is a separate paid subscription

Garden waste — grass cuttings, hedge trimmings, leaves and weeds — is not included in the standard rubbish and recycling service. It's an optional fortnightly subscription, and as published on the council's site the 12-month service (1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026) starts from £58, with first-time sign-ups including a brown wheeled bin as part of the price. You can join at any point in the year, and the collected waste is composted rather than landfilled. Sign up or renew through the customer portal at waste.havant.gov.uk. Check the council's current garden waste page directly for the up-to-date 2026/27 price before you subscribe, since charges are reviewed annually.

Bulky waste collection

For larger items that won't fit in a bin — sofas, beds, wardrobes, fridges, and other large furniture or electricals — Havant Borough Council runs a chargeable bulky waste collection service. It doesn't cover glass-panelled furniture, trade or commercial waste, renovation debris, hazardous waste, batteries, paint, rubble, soil, garage doors or fixtures and fittings. Since January 2023, any upholstered item with damaged fabric has to be sealed or wrapped in tape or plastic before collection, so the exposed foam doesn't spread.

To book, call Havant Borough Council's customer services on 023 9244 6019 or 023 9244 6010, or email customer.services@havant.gov.uk. There's a charge for the service, so ask for the current price when you book, and items need to be out and accessible — a front garden, for example — by 7am on the agreed collection day. If your items are still usable, it's worth checking with the British Heart Foundation or the Salvation Army first, as both operate local collection and donation schemes, or take them yourself to a Hampshire County Council household waste recycling centre.

What to do about a missed bin

If your bin was out on time, in the right place, and hasn't been emptied, report it through the online portal at waste.havant.gov.uk rather than waiting for the next scheduled date. Havant Borough Council asks that you report a missed collection by 4pm the working day after your scheduled collection, and the crew will generally aim to return within two working days. Reporting late, or reporting a bin that wasn't out by 7am, is likely to mean waiting until the next normal collection instead.

Checking before a bank holiday

Collections shift around Christmas, New Year and other bank holidays, usually by one day for the rest of that week. Rather than guessing, check your postcode on the online calendar in the days before a bank holiday week to see your revised date — the council publishes an updated calendar covering these changes each year.