• Kerbside Recycling
• Flat Recycling
• Bring Recycling
• Waste Minimisation
• Other Services
• Contact Information and Links

The service information presented for the London Borough of the City of Westminster was last updated in March 2009. Information was verified by borough contacts. The authors of this website are not responsible for any errors or omissions. Data relating to targets and performance is taken from Defra's Environment statistics.

Dry Recycling

A weekly door-to-door recycling collection service is available for 95, 933 households. Most residents are provided with a blue box for putting out recyclable materials.  Blue recycling bags and black recycling baskets are also available for residents with doorways opening directly on to the footpath, communal entrances or restricted access entrances. The following materials are collected co-mingled:

• aerosols
• cardboard
• glass bottles and jars
• mixed cans
• paper
• plastic bottles
• yellow pages

Organics

A green waste collection service operates to 3,200 households in selected streets in St. John's Wood and Maida Vale along with some private garden squares. Collections are made on alternate fortnights.  A reusable garden waste bag is used for prunings, twigs and leaves, old flowers and house plants, weeds, grass cuttings, and thin logs and branches. Currently there is no household food waste collection available.

Dry Recycling

18,000 households on 46 purpose-built blocks of flats and small estates have been issued with polypropylene bags with handles, which are used to empty materials into recycling bins at 340 sites located near to the entrance of the block or near the bin store. The following materials are collected co-mingled in Euro bins:

• aerosols
• cardboard
• glass bottles and jars
• mixed cans
• paper
• plastic bottles
• yellow pages

A further 1,700 households are served by a weekly door to door recycling collection. Residents are supplied with baskets or reusable bags. The following materials are collected co-mingled from the door step and stored in 360 litre wheelie bins in the bin store before being collected:

• aerosols
• cardboard
• glass bottles and jars
• mixed cans
• paper
• plastic bottles
• yellow pages

Organics

Food waste, including meat, is collected from 605 flats. Residents have been supplied with 5 litre kitchen caddies and bio-bags, which can be emptied into nearby bins for organic waste. The community partner, Vital Regeneration, is then responsible for the transfer of the organic waste to the in-vessel composting facility located within the estate.  

Flats Above Shops

Westminster offers its flats above shops a kerbside collection of black refuse sacks and blue recycling sacks (sometimes baskets).  Recycling is collected weekly and refuse is collected from twice a week to thrice daily depending on the area.  Communal recycling Euro bins are offered to 40% of flats and 125 on street bring sites is also available.  Recycling is collected between 7am/8am and 2pm. In the West End a 2 hour collection time band exists.  Residents are asked to set out by 7:30am on the scheduled day for collection between 8 and 10am.  Depending on the area, refuse is collection in one, two or four hour time bands.

Accepted recyclable materials include:

• aerosols
• cardboard
• glass bottles and jars
• mixed cans  
• paper
• plastic bottles
• yellow pages

Unfortunately not all flats above shops have access to the service at present. Services will be introduced to all properties during the next two years.

Household Reuse and Recycling Centre

There are no Reuse and Recycling Centres (RRC) in Westminster. Residents can use Western Riverside Waste Authority's RRC's located in Wandsworth:

Western Riverside Reuse and Recycling Centre
Smugglers Way
Wandsworth
SW18 1JS

Cringle Dock Reuse and Recycling Centre
Cringle St
Battersea
SW8 5BX

Click here for a list of materials accepted at the RRCs.

Bring Banks

There are 143 micro recycling centres located throughout Westminster collecting the following materials:

• aerosols
• cardboard
• drinks cartons (13 sites)
• glass bottles and jars
• household batteries (libraries only)
• mixed cans
• paper
• plastic bottles

Textile bins are provided at 27 of these sites, residents can also dispose of shoes, videos, DVD’s and CD’s in these bins. 

Home Composting

Westminster has been offering residents subsidised composters since 2004, to date 655 have been sold. The cost is £10 for a 220 litre bin and £13 for a 330 litre bin.  Home compost bins can be ordered at www.getcomposting.com/westminster/

A community composting scheme has been available to Westminster residents since summer 2008, with a micro in vessel composter, in partnership with Vital Regeneration.

Nappy Waste

Westminster offers parents in the borough £40 towards the first month of using a nappy washing service. For a rebate send a receipt to:

Westminster Recycling Team
City Hall
64 Victoria Street
London
SW1E 6QP

Junk Mail Reduction

Westminster supports the Mailing Preference Service (MPS), a service that householders can register with to reduce the amount of junk mail they receive. For more information or to register with the Mailing Preference Service please call 0845 070 0707 or visit www.mpsonline.org.uk.

Waste Exchange

The Council promotes the use of websites such as eBay and www.freecycle.org to residents, and also organises regular ‘Give or Take’ days around the borough.

 Material aware shopping

Westminster promotes green shopping and can provide residents with reusable shopping bags.

Bulky Waste

Westminster offers a collection service of bulky waste, with the first 3 collections being free.

All white goods collected by the City Council are sent for recycling. Fridges and freezers also have the CFC’s removed from the liquid refrigerant and foam insulation. Contact the Environment Action Line on 020 7641 2000 to arrange a collection.

Since October 2005 reusable furniture has been collected from estate bulk stores, in the north of the borough, by Furnish. This service is provided at low cost or free to social housing residents. Residents are encouraged to donate good quality furniture to local charities and the community sector.

Alternatively residents can call the Environment Action Line on 020 7641 2000 to arrange a collection from the council. The first two items are free and for each item after that there is charge of £15

Litter

On- street envirobanks are located in 82 sites across the borough. 146 bins are located outside the stations in the gardens and by busy footpaths. Bins are purposed to dispose of newspapers and other paper waste.  

Residual Waste

Residual household waste is collected either daily or twice weekly from the kerbside.  Residents provide thier own refuse sacks.

Commercial Recycling

Westminster serves about 370 businesses with a commercial waste recycling service.  Baleing machines are provided to recycling businesses to help with recycling of cardboard and paper. The following materials are collected using sacks or bins at a varying frequency:

• cardboard
• glass bottles and jars
• mixed cans
• paper
• yellow pages

Find out more about recycling in your area Visit Recycle for London
Compare Westminster's recycling services with the rest of London	View the Borough Service Summary Tables
Find out more about the City of Westminster

Contact Westminster   Address Environmental Services City Hall 64 Victoria Street London SW1E 6QP  Tel: 020 7641 2000   Email: recycling@westminster.gov.uk Recycling Team: Phil Robson (Recycling Manager)

Click here to view the summary report on the state of the environment in the City of Westminster prepared by the Environment Agency.