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Tower Hamlets 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 Tower Hamlets
These are the containers used in Tower Hamlets. Which ones a home has depends on its address.
or or Mixed recycling
Purple communal bins, or purple wheelie bin, or clear recycling sacks
Container details
The container pictures and words are Tower Hamlets 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.
- Mixed recycling: Blocks of flats with purple communal bins
- Mixed recycling: Houses and converted flats with space for a purple wheelie bin
- Mixed recycling: Not Properties using clear sacks instead
- Mixed recycling: Properties on the recycling sack service
- Mixed recycling: Not Do not infer a purple bin at these properties
Container descriptions checked 19 September 2026; list of collections built from Tower Hamlets Borough Council's own service names 22 September 2026.
Order, book and apply
- Getting recycling bins and sacks for your property typeTower Hamlets Borough Council
- When and where to put your bins outTower Hamlets Borough Council
- Garden waste collectionsTower Hamlets Borough Council
- Food waste collectionsTower Hamlets Borough Council
- Get rid of a bulky itemTower Hamlets Borough Council
Links checked 19 September 2026.
Missed bin or a problem
Tell Tower Hamlets Borough Council first - it can only fix what it knows about.
- Report a missed binA bin that wasn't emptied on the day.
- Report another bin collection problemAnything else about the collection or your bins.
- Make a complaint to Tower Hamlets 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 borough councillors can take up a repeated problem or a wider service failure. Find and write to my borough councillors on Tower Hamlets 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 Tower Hamlets compares
- Recycled or composted
- 17%of household waste, 2024 to 2025
- Rubbish not recycled
- 513 kgper household a year
- Cost of collections
- £124per household a year. Similar councils: £78
- Value for money
- 1 out of 10 Limited confidence. 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.
Tower Hamlets residents described confusing recycling rules and missing food-waste facilities in some flats in a February 2026 BBC report. The council acknowledged concerns, saying high-rise housing made collections difficult: 88% of borough homes are flats. It pointed to pilot food-waste collections in some blocks and plans to extend them borough-wide before April 2027. The council also reported recycling improving from 19.9% in July–September 2025 to 20.8% in October–December. Earlier work included upgrading communal facilities across 1,950 blocks, delivering recycling sacks on trial routes and working with schools and community groups to explain recycling.
- The London borough with England's lowest recycling rate — www.bbc.com
- Targeted action on recycling leads to significant improvements in ... — www.towerhamlets.gov.uk