Grey bins are emptied every three weeks across Stratford district, recycling every two, food every week. Garden waste is £50, and no fridges are being taken.
Stratford-on-Avon District Council runs what it calls the 123+ service. Food waste weekly, recycling every two weeks, grey rubbish bin every three. That three-weekly grey bin is the part that catches people out, and it has been the rule since August 2022.
The service is run jointly with Warwick District Council and delivered by Biffa, covering the whole of south Warwickshire. (Stratford-on-Avon District Council, 123+ Waste Collections)
Three things on this page are not on the council’s own bins pages. Fridges and freezers are not being taken anywhere in Warwickshire at the moment. The council publishes revised collection dates for Christmas and New Year only, not for other bank holidays. And of the four recycling centres in this district, three shut on every bank holiday and one does not.
Which bin, and how often
- Grey bin, every three weeks. Household waste that cannot be recycled or composted. Most of it goes to an energy from waste plant in Coventry, with a small amount to landfill at Bubbenhall.
- Blue-lidded bin, every two weeks. Dry recycling, loose, clean and dry. Some properties have a black recycling box instead.
- Food caddy, every week. A small kitchen caddy and a larger outdoor one.
- Green bin, every two weeks. Garden waste, subscription only.
- Clinical waste, where a medical practitioner confirms it is needed.
(Stratford-on-Avon District Council, What We Collect)
If your property cannot take a wheeled bin, you can present two sacks a fortnight instead. The council does not supply the sacks. (Household (non-recyclable) Waste Collection)
Since 14 April 2025 the blue-lidded bin has also taken soft plastics: carrier bags, bread and cereal bags, crisp and snack packets, coffee bags, chocolate and biscuit wrappers, and bubble wrap or cling film in sections up to a metre. Textiles are the opposite case. The kerbside textile collection is suspended, and the council asks you to take clothing to a charity shop or a recycling centre rather than put it in the recycling bin. (Recycling Collection (Blue-Lidded Bin))
Batteries, vapes and small electrical items go in a carrier bag on top of or beside any bin, never inside one.
Two rules that get bins left behind
Bins must be out by 6am, at the boundary of your property, lids down and clearly visible. Not 6.30am, not “before the lorry comes”.
Side waste is not collected. Anything left next to the grey bin stays there. Extra recycling is the exception: you can put it in a rigid container or a cardboard box beside the blue-lidded bin.
Both rules are on the What We Collect page.
Finding your collection day
The council’s address lookup is the only reliable answer, and it is at stratford.gov.uk/waste-recycling/when-we-collect.cfm. There is also a council app that will notify you of revised dates.
Bank holidays and Christmas
This is where the council’s published position is thinner than people expect.
The council issues a revised-dates notice for Christmas and New Year only. The most recent one, published on 5 December 2025, moved every collection between 25 December and 9 January. Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day had no collections at all, Thursday 25 December moved to Saturday 27 December, and normal service resumed on Monday 12 January 2026. (Refuse & Recycling Collections for Christmas and New Year)
For other bank holidays there is no policy page and no standing statement. If a bank holiday falls on your collection day, check the address lookup rather than assume.
Two things do change without a notice:
- Garden waste stops for two weeks over Christmas and New Year every year. Missed collections reported during the suspension are not returned to. (Garden Waste Service)
- Three of the district’s four recycling centres close on every bank holiday. That is in the next section.
Garden waste: £50 for 2026-27
The subscription runs 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 and costs £50 per green bin, up from £48 the year before. The council’s reason is blunt: garden waste is not a statutory service, and it should not be subsidised by households that do not use it.
The details that catch people out:
- The price is fixed whatever month you join. There is no half-year option and no concession.
- A permit takes 48 hours to go live, and longer if you buy after 4pm on a Friday.
- Only bins showing a valid permit are emptied.
- A replacement permit costs £5.
- A 140-litre bin can be swapped for a 240-litre one free of charge on 01789 260628. The £50 is the same either way.
- Soil and turf are not accepted, and a bin containing them will not be emptied.
- There is a 14-day cooling-off period, and no refunds after it.
Collected garden waste goes to an in-vessel composter at Ufton, near Southam, which turns it into a soil conditioner in about two weeks. (Garden Waste Service)
Bulky waste: £51, and no fridges
The council’s chargeable collection is:
- 1 to 3 items: £51.00
- 4 to 5 items: £62.00
- More than five items will not be collected at all. The council suggests a house clearance firm instead.
Items must be liftable by two people, placed outside the property boundary by 6am, and must match the booking exactly. The crew can refuse anything that was not listed. Bookings cannot be amended online; you have to call 01789 260616 to cancel and rebook.
Builders’ waste, DIY waste, fitted kitchen units, sheds, baths, sinks, toilets, gas bottles, roofing materials and pianos are all excluded.
Fridges and freezers cannot be booked at all right now. Warwickshire County Council suspended fridge and freezer recycling with immediate effect on 5 August 2026, blaming “a national crisis in fridge and freezer recycling capacity and insufficient suitable space to temporarily store the number of fridges and freezers being discarded”. It applies to residents and businesses alike. The county’s advice is to use a retailer take-back scheme when buying a replacement, repair the appliance, pass it on through Freegle or Facebook Marketplace, or store it until capacity returns. (Warwickshire County Council, 5 August 2026 · Collection of unwanted items)
Missed collection: you have two working days
Report it online within two working days of the scheduled date and the council will arrange for the crew to return. Leave the bins at the normal collection point while you wait.
Reported later than that, and it waits for the next scheduled collection. The same two-day window applies to green bins. (Report a Missed Bin)
The council also lists what will stop a collection: not out by 6am, wrong place, overloaded, blocked access, severe weather, or the wrong items inside. If it is the last of these, the crew leaves a tag on the bin.
The four recycling centres, and how they differ
All four are run by Warwickshire County Council, not the district, and they do not behave the same way.
| Centre | Where | Open | Booking | Bank holidays |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burton Farm | Bishopton, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 0RW | 7 days. Mon to Fri 9.30am to 3.15pm, weekends 8.30am to 5.45pm in summer, 4.15pm in winter. Wednesdays to 6.15pm in summer | Not needed | No closure listed |
| Wellesbourne | Loxley Road, CV35 9QZ | Monday and weekends only. Closed Tue to Fri | Required at weekends | Closed on all |
| Shipston | Brailes Road (B4035), CV36 5BE | 7 days, but weekends only until 12.15pm | Not needed | Closed on all |
| Stockton | Rugby Road, CV47 8LA | Weekends only | Required at weekends | Closed on all |
Weekend booking at Wellesbourne and Stockton is done through Eventbrite, part of what the county calls a hybrid booking system.
Other traps worth knowing:
- Wellesbourne and Shipston will not take sofas, armchairs or other upholstered seating. Burton Farm does.
- Trailers are not accepted at Wellesbourne, Shipston or Stockton. Burton Farm has restrictions rather than a ban.
- Vans cannot bring household waste anywhere without a voucher, or they are charged.
- Burton Farm is reached over a railway bridge with traffic light controls, so allow for a queue.
- Cyclists bringing household waste are welcome at Burton Farm and Stockton and do not need to book.
Sources: Burton Farm, Wellesbourne, Shipston and Stockton.
The district recycles more than anywhere else in England
Stratford-on-Avon District recorded a 63.9% household recycling rate in 2024/25, which the council says is the highest in England. It was 61% and third highest the year before. (123+ Waste Collections)
The contamination figures behind that are less flattering. Across 2025 the council put roughly 10,588 tonnes of genuinely recyclable material through the blue-lidded bins, alongside about 1,662 tonnes of non-recyclable waste and around 42 tonnes of food waste that should have gone in the caddy. Removing contamination costs the council about £300,000 a year. (Your Guide to Council Tax 2026/27, page 9)
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