Nothing is collected on Monday 31 August and every Dacorum round that week shifts a day later. Garden waste £60, bulky waste £57, missed bins cost £53.

There are no bin collections anywhere in Dacorum on Monday 31 August 2026. Every round that week runs one day later than usual, so a Friday collection becomes a Saturday one. Normal days resume from Monday 7 September (Dacorum Borough Council).

Dacorum splits this service across seven separate pages. This one puts it in a single place:

  • which bin takes what, and what the crews will refuse
  • what garden waste and bulky collections cost this year
  • the deadline for reporting a missed bin
  • which of the two nearest recycling centres is open on the day you want to go

Every figure here was checked against the council’s own pages on 26 August 2026.

The four containers

Dacorum gives every house one grey bin, one blue-lidded bin, one green-lidded bin, a five-litre kitchen caddy and a 23-litre kerbside caddy (Dacorum Borough Council).

Which bin takes what in Dacorum, and which one costs money

  • Grey bin, 240 litres, fortnightly. Household waste that cannot be recycled. No garden waste, no recycling, no food waste, no textiles, no electricals, no DIY waste (grey bin).
  • Blue-lidded bin, 240 litres, fortnightly. Dry recycling. Put it in loose, not in a bag: Dacorum will not accept recycling left in plastic bags. Aerosols, foil and foil trays are wanted, scrunched to about the size of a tennis ball. Crisp and sweet wrappers, paint tins and laminated food pouches are not (blue-lidded bin).
  • Green-lidded bin, fortnightly, March to November. Garden waste only, and only if you have paid the subscription. Compostable corn starch bags are the only liners allowed, sold at the council’s offices at £6 for a roll of 25 (green-lidded bin).
  • Food caddies, weekly. Bones, plate scrapings, out-of-date food, tea bags, egg shells and solid fats all go in. Liquids do not, and neither do cut flowers or house plants, which belong in the green-lidded bin (food waste caddies).

Food waste and grey bin waste travel in the same vehicle, kept separate on board. Flats get a kitchen caddy plus either their own kerbside caddy or a shared brown-lidded wheeled bin. Flats on the high streets have no food waste collection at all yet, and are told to keep using the grey-lidded bin or purple sacks.

Whichever container it is, it has to be at the boundary of your property by 6.45am.

Finding your collection day

Dacorum’s postcode checker is at webapps.dacorum.gov.uk/bincollections. It gives your day and a downloadable calendar.

Two groups cannot use it. If you live in a flat, or on a High Street, the checker does not cover your property. The council asks you to submit an online request or call 01442 228000 and ask for Waste Services instead. The checker also does not show changes caused by severe weather.

If you would rather be told than have to look, MyDacorum sends a free email or text the night before your collection saying which bins to put out.

Bank holidays and Christmas

The August rule is the one that matters this week. No collections on Monday 31 August, everything a day later for the rest of that week, back to normal on Monday 7 September.

Christmas 2026 dates have not been published. The collection calendars currently on the council’s site run from November 2025 to October 2026, so they stop short of the festive period. Dacorum’s Christmas service page from last year has been taken down. We will add the dates here when the council issues them. Do not assume the pattern will match August, because Christmas changes usually run to more than a one-day shift.

The two recycling centres are open on all bank holidays except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

Garden waste: £60 for the 2026 season

The green-lidded bin is opt-in and paid.

What Cost
Annual subscription, per green-lidded bin £60
If you receive Council Tax Support £40
One-off delivery of an extra green-lidded bin £40, plus a subscription for that bin

The season runs from the beginning of March to the end of November, collected fortnightly. The fee does not fall if you join late, and there are no refunds if you cancel part way through, including if you move out of the borough. Single Person Discount does not qualify you for the £40 rate: it has to be Council Tax Support (garden waste subscription service).

Write your house number or name on the bin. The crews’ in-cab system knows which properties have subscribed, but they still have to match the bin to the address.

Bulky collections: £57 for three items

Collection Standard Dacorum Card
Up to three household items £57 £45
Up to six household items £87 £60
Up to three white goods, electrical or metal items £57 £45
Up to six white goods, electrical or metal items £87 £60
Up to three items containing POPs £57 £45
Up to six items containing POPs £87 £60
American-style fridge or freezer £87 each £87 each

Three separate rules catch people out (bulky items collection):

  • Three categories, three different days. Ordinary household items, white goods and metals, and upholstered furniture containing persistent organic pollutants are each collected on their own day and each carry their own charge. A sofa and a wardrobe on the same booking will not arrive on the same visit.
  • Upholstered furniture cannot go in the grey bin. Sofas, sofa beds, armchairs, dining and office chairs, stools, futons, bean bags and floor cushions all count as POPs items, including any part made of leather, synthetic leather, fabric or foam. Putting them in the grey bin is treated as contamination.
  • Two fridges maximum per collection, and nothing that is part of the fabric of the house: no rubble, no kitchen units, no car parts.

Collections happen from your boundary between 6.45am and 4.15pm. To get a refund you must cancel by midday the day before, and by midday on Friday for a Monday slot. Book on 01442 228000, asking for Waste Services.

The Dacorum Card is free to residents on a means-tested benefit, and takes £12 to £27 off each of those bulky prices.

A missed bin: the deadline is 5pm the next working day

Report it through the council’s missed collection form, and report it by 5pm on the next working day after your collection was due. Miss that window and there is nothing to claim.

Dacorum will only treat it as missed if the bin was out by 6.45am, at the boundary, not overweight and not contaminated. The collection vehicles record the reason a bin was left, and the crew leaves a hanger on it. If the reason was weight or the wrong contents, a return trip costs £53, and you have to fix the problem before they will come. A genuine miss is collected within five working days, free.

The two recycling centres, and the days they are shut

Both sites are run by Hertfordshire County Council, not Dacorum, and their closed days do not overlap.

Centre Address Open Closed
Hemel Hempstead Eastman Way, HP2 7DU 10am to 5.30pm Tuesday and Wednesday
Berkhamsted Northbridge Road, HP4 1EF 8.30am to 4pm Thursday and Friday

So on a Tuesday or Wednesday, Berkhamsted is the one that is open; on a Thursday or Friday, Hemel Hempstead is (Hemel Hempstead recycling centre, Berkhamsted recycling centre).

You now need an ePass to get in. The county introduced the scheme this year and it applies to cars, not just vans. It is free, instant and needs no booking, and ANPR cameras read your registration at the gate. A household can hold up to three ePasses, either three cars or two cars and one van and trailer. Turn up without one and staff will register you there and then if you have proof of address with you. Without proof of address you will be turned away (Hertfordshire County Council).

Business waste is refused at both sites, DIY and home improvement waste is capped, and bulky household items and garden waste are free to drop off.

There are also 23 neighbourhood recycling sites across the borough for textiles and dry mixed recycling, listed on the council’s recycling centres page. Leaving anything outside the containers there counts as fly-tipping.

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