Camden Bin Collection Days: 12 Streets on Time Bands

Camden runs mostly on bags, not wheelie bins. Recycling goes out in clear bags, rubbish in black bags you buy yourself, and food waste in a brown outdoor caddy. On twelve streets you cannot put any of it out when you like: there is a fixed window, sometimes as short as half an hour, and missing it earns a fine rather than a collection.

That is the part the council’s collection day checker does not tell you. This page covers the rules that apply borough-wide, the prices for the paid services, and the Regis Road tip, all read from Camden’s own pages on 30 August 2026.

Which container takes what

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The council’s what goes in my bin page puts plastic, paper, cardboard, metal and glass all in the same clear bag or recycling bin. There is no separate paper stream in Camden. Lids come off glass jars and stay on plastic bottles.

Rubbish bags take what recycling cannot: clingfilm, cellophane, crisp packets, polystyrene, sanitary products, dog and cat waste, nappies, and broken glass wrapped so it is safe to lift. Camden will not take DIY rubbish such as rubble or plasterboard in any household collection.

Orange rubbish bags are the odd one out. Camden stopped delivering them to around 24,000 households on 1 April 2020 and now supplies them only to flats above shops, so that crews can tell a resident’s bag from a business’s. That is set out on the council’s orange bags page.

The 12 streets with fixed collection times

Time-banded collection means you may only put recycling and rubbish out inside a stated window, seven days a week. The council introduced the current set on 28 April 2025 and added Fortess Road on 8 September 2025. These are the published windows:

Source: the council’s time banded collections page. Queen’s Crescent has the tightest rule in the borough, a single 30-minute slot in the afternoon.

When to put everything else out

If you live in a house or a house divided into flats, containers go out by 7am on your collection day, at street level, within one metre of your front entrance. Crews will not lift bins from basements or up steps.

Until 4 September that deadline is 6am, not 7am. Camden brought collections forward for the summer from 22 June and says the earlier start runs to 4 September. It is on the collection day page and on the food waste, garden waste and flats-above-shops pages, but not on the collection day checker itself.

Your own day comes from the council’s property search. Since the 2025 route changes, garden waste is usually collected on a different day from recycling, food and rubbish.

Bank holidays: Camden publishes no bank holiday change notice for waste anywhere on its website. It publishes a detailed one for parking, and a summer timing notice for bins, but nothing that says collections shift or stop. We are not going to state a rule the council has not stated. Check the property search for your address, and if a collection is missed you have two working days to report it.

Missed collections

Report a missed recycling, rubbish, food waste or garden waste collection within two working days of your collection day. Camden’s own page currently warns of delays from driver shortages and says a missed collection will be picked up the following day.

Recycling that is contaminated will be left behind. If you live in a house, crews leave a note or sticker asking you to take the wrong items out before the next collection.

Garden waste: £75 a year

Garden waste is a paid subscription in Camden, open to houses and houses divided into flats, and you can share a collection with neighbours. The garden waste page gives two prices:

• £75 for a 12-month subscription
• £60 for a 9-month subscription

Subscribers can ask for three reusable white bags or one brown bin. Residents aged 65 or over, and anyone on 100% Council Tax Support, can call Veolia on 020 3567 8105 for a discounted price, which the council does not publish. Collections are weekly, and from 22 June to 4 September bags must be out by 6am.

Grass, weeds, dead flowers, prunings, leaves and bark are accepted. Soil, rubble, stones, plant pots and large tree cuttings are not.

Bulky waste: £25 for up to five items

Large item collections are booked with Veolia on 020 3567 8105, and the charges are:

Residents over 65, and anyone on 100% Council Tax Support, get two free collections a year. Veolia collects Monday to Friday, from street level outside your home only.

There is a free route for the big electrical items. AnyJunk, working with the North London Waste Authority, collects up to four large appliances free of charge, and Camden’s collection day for that service is Tuesday. Cookers, dishwashers, fridges, freezers, tumble dryers, washing machines and large TVs qualify.

Regis Road: open every bank holiday, 9am to 4pm

Camden’s only tip is Regis Road Reuse and Recycling Centre, Kentish Town, NW5 3EW. The council and the North London Waste Authority both publish the same terms:

• open 9am to 4pm every day, bank holidays included, and closed only on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day
• no booking for cars, bicycles or people on foot
• vans, trailers and vehicles with no rear seats must book in advance, and there is a 1.85 metre height barrier
• north London residents only
• DIY waste is capped: two 50-litre bags, four times in any four-week period, per household
• clothes, shoes and textiles are not being accepted at present
• asbestos, household and garden chemicals, tyres, solvent-based paint and trade waste are never accepted

Sources: the council’s reuse and recycling centre page and the NLWA’s Regis Road listing. Arrive with time to unload. The NLWA warns that people turning up 15 minutes before closing with a full load may be turned away.

Things the council buries

• Compostable caddy liners are free from libraries and leisure centres. Camden stopped delivering them. If you cannot get to one for health reasons, call Veolia.
• A used nappy recycling trial is running in Primrose Hill, Camden Town, Regent’s Park, Kentish Town South, Camden Square, Somers Town and King’s Cross. Eligible households order pink bags from Veolia, and the trial’s collection day is Friday. Details are on the nappy recycling page.
• Parents and foster carers can claim a £70 voucher towards reusable nappies.
• Veolia will put your bins out for you if you live in a house, have your waste collected at street level, and are disabled, pregnant, recently gave birth, are unwell or live alone and need support.
• Camden’s Christmas tree recycling points are closed, and the City of London is no longer collecting trees on Hampstead Heath. Trees go to Regis Road, into a garden waste subscription if they fit, or into a paid bulky collection. Leaving one on the street is fly-tipping, and the council’s page states a £1,000 fine.

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