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Swindon bin collection dates
- Add your dates to Google, Apple or Outlook calendar
- Get an email the evening before
- Print an A4 sheet for the fridge
Bins in Swindon
These are the containers used in Swindon. Which ones a home has depends on its address.
Recycling and food waste
Food bin
Plastic recycling
White plastic recycling bags
Container details
The container pictures and words are Swindon Borough Council's own. This may not be every container it uses.
Greyed-out bin icons are placeholders where the container type or colour is not confirmed.
- Plastic recycling: Communal properties still using the old bag system for plastics; transparent bags are also accepted
Container descriptions checked 18 September 2026; list of collections built from Swindon Borough Council's own service names 22 September 2026.
Order, book and apply
- Order a wheelie bin, recycling container or bagSwindon Borough Council
- Garden waste collectionsSwindon Borough Council
- Food waste collectionsSwindon Borough Council
- Get rid of a bulky itemSwindon Borough Council
- Recycling centres and tipsSwindon Borough Council
- Get help putting your bins outSwindon Borough Council
Links checked 17 September 2026.
Missed bin or a problem
Tell Swindon Borough Council first - it can only fix what it knows about.
- Report a missed binA bin that wasn't emptied on the day.
- Make a complaint to Swindon Borough CouncilIf reporting it didn't fix it.
Complaint didn't work either? Ask your councillors
If you've already reported the problem and used the council's complaints process, your unitary authority councillors can take up a repeated problem or a wider service failure. Find and write to my unitary authority councillors on Swindon Borough Council.
WriteToThem is an independent mySociety service. You'll enter your postcode there before choosing who to contact.
Complaint routes verified 6 September 2026.
How Swindon compares
- Recycled or composted
- 36%of household waste, 2024 to 2025
- Rubbish not recycled
- 542 kgper household a year
- Cost of collections
- £80per household a year. Similar councils: £78
- Value for money
- 3 out of 10 An independently constructed WhenIsBins rating, not an official government rating.
Official figures for England, 2024 to 2025.
Local bins and recycling news
AI-generated summary, reviewed before publication. Checked 18 September 2026.
Swindon Council’s garden-waste page, checked in September 2026, warned that a supply shortage meant bins could not be delivered for new or existing orders. It apologised and said existing orders would take priority when stock arrived.
Separately, rubbish and recycling collection days moved permanently by two working days from Christmas 2025, with the change continuing throughout 2026. This also applied to assisted collections, whose days moved by two working days. Garden-waste and clinical-waste collection days were unchanged. The council said shifting the main rounds was intended to avoid the large Christmas backlog experienced previously.
- Garden Waste Subscription — www.swindon.gov.uk
- FAQs about the changes to your bin collection days — www.swindon.gov.uk