Broadland Bin Collection Days: 31 Aug Moves to 1 Sep

Nothing is collected in Broadland on Monday 31 August. The summer bank holiday pushes the whole week back by a day, and Friday’s round lands on the Saturday.

That is the change worth knowing this week, and the council does not put it on a news page. It is buried inside the round calendars and the bin app. We read the calendars, then checked four real addresses on the council’s own address lookup to make sure the printed dates match what the system is actually holding.

The summer bank holiday: every round is a day later

The bank holiday is Monday 31 August 2026. For that week only, collections in Broadland move as follows.

That applies to rubbish, recycling, food waste and garden waste alike. It comes from Broadland’s own round calendars, which carry the footnote “Collection changes due to public holidays” (Broadland rubbish, recycling and food waste calendar, week one Monday; garden waste calendar, week two Monday).

We then put four Broadland addresses through the council’s My Area lookup on 26 August 2026. Every one of them agreed:

• Thorpe St Andrew (NR7 0UD): recycling and food waste on Tuesday 1 September.
• Brundall (NR13 5LX): recycling and food waste on Tuesday 1 September.
• Aylsham (NR11 6JJ): rubbish on Friday 4 September, not Thursday 3 September.
• Taverham (NR8 6RQ): recycling and garden waste on Saturday 5 September, not Friday 4 September.

Bins have to be out by 6:30am on the revised day. Collections can happen any time up to 4pm, so putting the bin out the night before is the safer move.

What Broadland collects, and how often

Broadland runs a different service to most of Norfolk, because food waste is collected separately every week.

Flats and other properties on communal bins get a red wheelie bin in the bin store for food waste, emptied weekly, with a caddy for each household (Broadland food waste collections).

To find your own day, use the council’s bin collection day finder or the free Broadland District Council app, which sends push notifications when a collection moves.

The free kerbside service most residents do not know about

Broadland collects small electricals, batteries and textiles from the kerb, free, every week, on your rubbish or recycling day. South Norfolk does not get this. The rules are strict:

• Put items out in a tied, weatherproof standard carrier bag or smaller, next to your bin by 6:30am.
• Keep the types apart. Electricals in one bag, batteries in another, textiles in a third. They go to different places.
• Bin liners, black sacks and charity bags will not be collected.
• Nothing bigger than a carrier bag. No TVs, monitors, microwaves, white goods, lightbulbs, or vapes.
• Remove batteries from electrical items and bag them separately.

The crews carry a small cage. Once it is full they stop, so items are sometimes left. Put them out again the following week, and report it if they are still there after a fortnight. Collected electricals go to Wiser Recycling in Thetford (electricals, batteries and textiles).

Side waste: Broadland takes none

This is the sharpest difference between the two halves of the shared council. South Norfolk crews will sometimes take up to two extra bags of rubbish. Broadland does not take rubbish side waste under any circumstances, and the council says so in those words.

Extra recycling is different. Crews will take it if they can, provided it is clean, dry, loose and in a clear sack or a cardboard box small enough to fit inside the bin. Glass and anything breakable has to go in the bin itself. Wet cardboard will not be taken. If the lorry is near capacity the crew will leave side waste to make sure every bin on the round gets emptied, and that decision is final (bin collection issues).

Missed collection: you have until the end of the next day

Report a missed bin on the day of the collection or the day after. The council will not return for anything reported later than that.

Before reporting, check none of these applies, because the crews log them and the council will not come back:

• the bin was not out by 6:30am, even by mistake
• the bin was not on the edge of the public highway and visible from the road
• the lid was not fully closed
• the bin was contaminated with the wrong material
• the bin was too heavy to be moved safely by one person
• the bin was not supplied by Broadland District Council

If a tag has been left on the bin, that almost always means the wrong items were inside. Take them out and the bin will be emptied on the next scheduled day (missed bins).

Garden waste costs £73 a year

The brown bin is a paid subscription. £73 a year per bin, paid by card, with these conditions:

• Join part way through the financial year and the price is pro rata.
• Set up a Direct Debit and the renewal price is lower, though the council does not publish the reduced figure.
• You can order as many brown bins as you like for one property.
• Only what fits inside the standard 240 litre bin is taken. Anything left beside it stays.
• The bin belongs to the council and is removed if the invoice is not paid.
• Collections stop for two weeks over Christmas and the New Year.

Broadland residents can also put windfall fruit and vegetable waste from the garden, such as potato tops, in the brown bin. South Norfolk residents cannot. Kitchen waste, soil, turf, rubble, pots, trays and compostable bags are all refused, as are Yew, Japanese Knotweed, Rhododendron, Ragwort, Hemlock and Himalayan Balsam, and grass treated with Clopyralid or Aminopyralid (garden waste collection service).

Bulky waste: £49 for up to three items

Broadland charges by the item, and caps a booking at six.

Each extra item beyond the first three adds £12. The council and its contractor Veolia work with the homelessness charity Emmaus to reuse what they can, and recycle or dispose of the rest (bulky waste, Broadland).

The two recycling centres in Broadland, and the one that will not take your sofa

Norfolk County Council runs the tips, not Broadland. Two of them are inside the district, and they are not interchangeable.

Strumpshaw Recycling Centre, Stone Road, Strumpshaw NR13 4HR. Take the road east out of Brundall towards Strumpshaw, under the railway bridge, then the next right and about a mile on. It has a reuse shop. It does not accept fridges, freezers, upholstered seating, tyres, plasterboard or trade waste (Strumpshaw Recycling Centre).

Norwich North Recycling Centre, Morse Road, Horsham St Faith NR10 3JX, off the A140 and A1270 Broadland Northway junction. This one takes the lot, including fridges, freezers, plasterboard, tyres and upholstered seating, and it has a reuse shop. There is construction traffic on Morse Road, and the council asks people not to park on the road or in the junctions (Norwich North Recycling Centre).

Both sites share the same rules:

• Open 9am to 4pm daily except Wednesdays, when they are shut.
• Open on bank holidays, including Monday 31 August, apart from Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
• You must book to bring waste. Booking is free and opens a week ahead. You need the registration of the vehicle you are bringing.
• Arriving on foot still needs a booking. There is a pedestrian option on the form.
• No booking is needed to visit, buy from or donate to the reuse shop.
• Trade waste at Norwich North is Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday only, never on a bank holiday, and you need your waste carrier’s licence number.

Both sell compost at £4.75 for a 40 litre bag, 220 litre compost bins at £15 with a second at half price, garden waste sacks at £4, and 26kg bags of winter gritting salt at £7 (Norfolk recycling centre bookings).

Christmas and Easter, for when they come round

The council publishes festive dates each December and they are not out yet for 2026. The pattern is well established, and both of the last two sets followed it.

Over Christmas 2025, collections ran early before the holiday and late after. Monday 22 December went back to Saturday 20 December, two days early. Everything from Friday 26 December onwards ran between one and three days late, and rounds stayed a day late until Saturday 10 January. Garden waste stopped entirely between 22 December and 2 January (Broadland collections move forward before Christmas, 16 December 2025).

Easter works the same way in reverse order. In 2026 the week running up to Good Friday went early: Monday 30 March was collected on Saturday 28 March, and Tuesday to Friday all moved one day earlier. The week after Easter Monday ran one day late throughout. The early May and spring bank holidays each pushed their whole week back by a day, with the Friday round landing on the Saturday, exactly as August is about to.

A few things worth knowing

• New build homes are charged for their first set of bins. The developer is asked to pay. If they decline, the first occupants have to, and there are no concessions for low income. Bins are not delivered until payment is made, and waste is not collected until the bins arrive.
• Larger recycling bins are free. Larger rubbish bins are not automatic and you have to meet the criteria. The council stocks nothing smaller than 240 litres.
• Frozen bins are not a missed collection. In cold weather crews will try, tag the bin if the contents are stuck, and come back on the next scheduled day. Do not pour hot water on the lid, which can make it worse.
• Food waste liners are now plastic, not compostable. The council switched because compostable liners do not break down in anaerobic digestion and were being stripped out before processing. Tie a spare liner to the caddy handle to ask for a new roll.

Also on Broads News

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• Parking in Broadland, and why all eight council car parks are still free
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