Medway Bin Collection Days: What Goes Where in 2026

Medway bin collection runs on a system that catches out anyone who has moved here from elsewhere in Kent: everything is collected weekly, everything goes out on the same day, and the recycling is split by colour of bag rather than thrown into one bin. Below is how to find your collection day, exactly what belongs in the blue bag, the white bag, the clear sacks and the brown bin, what the garden waste subscription costs, and what happens with bulky items and bank holidays. Every figure and rule here is linked to Medway Council’s own page.

How to find your bin collection day

Medway Council runs a free postcode lookup. Enter your postcode, pick your address, and it returns your collection day and your next collection date.

• Use the council’s check your waste collection day tool.
• You only need to look it up once. Rubbish, recycling and food and garden waste are all collected on the same day every week, in different vehicles, so there is no alternating pattern to keep track of (Sort it right).

Whatever day you are given, everything must be outside your property by 7am. Crews work through until dusk, so a late lorry is normal, but a late bin is not: put it out the night before if your round is early.

What goes in each container in Medway

Most Medway homes get four things: a blue reusable bag, a white reusable bag, a brown wheelie bin, and black sacks you buy yourself. The council does not supply black sacks.

The blue bag: paper and card, nothing else

The blue reusable bag takes magazines and newspapers, envelopes, junk mail, paper, cardboard, and wrapping paper with no foil or glitter on it. The council is firm that it is for paper and card only, because the contents go straight to a paper mill rather than through a sorting line (Sort it right). Putting a glass jar in the blue bag is the single most common Medway recycling mistake.

The white bag: glass, cans and plastic

The white reusable bag takes glass bottles and jars, metal food and drink cans, plastic food packaging, clean metal foil, aerosol cans, and plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays. Glass is collected at the kerbside in Medway, so there is no need to drive bottles to a bring bank.

Replacement blue and white bags are free. You can order recycling bins and bags online, or collect them from any Medway library or community hub.

Clear sacks for the overflow

Clear sacks are for extra recycling that will not fit in the white bag. The council delivers a roll to your door every 13 weeks, and you can pick up more free of charge from a library or community hub. If you have run out, cardboard boxes for paper and card are acceptable, as are shop-bought transparent bags, but they must not be white or opaque or the crew cannot see what is inside.

The brown bin: food and garden waste together

Medway is one of the few councils that still collects garden waste free, and it takes food waste in the same bin. Into the brown wheelie bin go meat and fish, plate scrapings, fruit and vegetable peelings and cores, egg shells, tea bags and coffee grounds, grass and hedge clippings, garden trimmings and weeds, dead plants, and small branches no more than 5cm across.

Caddy liners keep the kitchen caddy clean and cost £2.50 a roll, ordered online for collection from a library or community hub. Some homes cannot take a wheelie bin at all; those get a 23 litre food bin plus two reusable brown sacks instead, ordered by phoning 01634 333 333. Food waste cannot go in the brown sacks.

New for flats. From 6 April 2026 every flat in Medway receives a weekly food waste collection, with a five litre kitchen caddy and 52 liners, plus either a 23 litre outdoor bin or a shared 140 litre communal bin depending on the block. Collection days did not change (council announcement).

Black sacks

Everything that cannot be recycled, including disposable nappies, goes in black sacks that you buy yourself. You can store them in a dustbin on your own property, but on collection day the sacks go out loose on the boundary. Do not leave them inside a dustbin or a wheeled bin, because the crew will not tip them out.

Garden waste: free, unless you have a lot

Since 2 June 2025, Medway collects one brown wheelie bin, or two brown sacks, of garden waste each week for free, and nothing beyond that. Extra bags left beside the bin are not taken.

If you regularly produce more, the garden waste subscription service costs £40 a year per additional bin. From 1 April 2026 you can subscribe for up to three additional brown bins per eligible property, each with its own permit fixed to the bin. The subscription year runs 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 and the £40 is charged in full whichever month you join, so signing up in March buys you a few weeks rather than a year.

The service is limited to streets assessed as suitable for wheeled bins. Flat residents with a private garden they maintain can opt in individually, or a landlord or management agent can subscribe on behalf of a development. Anyone who does not want to pay can compost at home or book a free trip to a recycling centre (council announcement).

Bulky items: one free collection a year

Medway will collect items too bulky for a normal bin and heavier than 25kg, up to three items per booking, at the kerbside only, on the same day as your usual bin collection.

Since 1 April 2024, each household gets one free standard bulky collection a year (up to three items), subject to availability. After that, per the bulky item collections page:

• £30 for a collection on the same day as your usual bin collection.
• £54 for a collection on a different day.

There are 50 standard slots and five express slots a day across the whole of Medway, first come first served, bookable up to eight weeks ahead. Only certain items qualify, and fridges and freezers are currently excluded, so check the items we collect list before you book.

Anything the bulky service will not take can go to one of Medway’s three household waste and recycling centres, at Capstone, Cuxton and Hoath Way. All three are appointment only, and you must book a slot for the specific site and vehicle each time you visit.

Bank holidays and the Christmas break

Medway’s collections are weekly and fall on the same day every week (Sort it right), and the council publishes no standing rule that ordinary bank holidays push the round back a day.

The Christmas and New Year period is the exception, and it is a long one. The council publishes a festive collections page each December setting out which days move and when brown bin and bulky collections pause, and it announces it through the waste and recycling news page. Check the collection day tool in mid December rather than assuming last year’s dates repeat.

If your bin is missed

Report a missed collection no later than 4pm the day after it should have been collected. Anything reported later waits until your next scheduled day.

Before you report it, check none of these applies, because crews are instructed not to collect where:

• waste is in the wrong container
• a brown bin has black sacks in it (take them out and put them at the kerbside on your next collection day)
• the waste went out earlier than the night before, or after 7am on the day

Reports go through the council’s report a missed bin collection form. If your day is Friday, the council returns the following Monday.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find my bin collection day in Medway? Enter your postcode in Medway Council’s check your waste collection day tool. Rubbish, recycling and food and garden waste are all collected on the same day, every week, so there is only one day to remember. Everything must be out by 7am.

Are bin collections weekly or fortnightly in Medway? Weekly, all of it. Black sacks, recycling and the brown food and garden bin are collected on the same day every week, in separate vehicles.

What goes in the blue bag and what goes in the white bag? Blue is paper and card only: newspapers, magazines, envelopes, junk mail, cardboard and non-foil wrapping paper. White is glass bottles and jars, food and drink cans, clean foil, aerosols, and plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays.

How much does garden waste cost in Medway? The first brown bin, or two brown sacks, is free every week. Additional bins cost £40 a year each, for up to three extra bins, under the council’s garden waste subscription service.

Is bulky waste collection free in Medway? One standard collection of up to three items a year is free per household. Additional bookings cost £30 on your normal bin day or £54 on a different day.

Do bin days change on bank holidays in Medway? Not usually. Collections are weekly on a fixed day. The Christmas and New Year period is the exception, when the council publishes revised dates in December.

Sources

• Medway Council, check your waste collection day
• Medway Council, Sort it right
• Medway Council, what goes in my recycling and rubbish bins or bags
• Medway Council, order new recycling bins and bags
• Medway Council, garden waste subscription service
• Medway Council, book a large or bulky item collection
• Medway Council, report a missed bin collection
• Medway Council, household waste and recycling centres
• Medway Council, weekly food waste collections for flats

Once you know your day, the other two things worth having to hand locally are where to park across the Medway towns and what your council tax band costs. More Medway information is on the Medway Live home page.

Last updated August 2026. Charges and rules are those published by Medway Council; check the council’s own pages before you book or subscribe.