South Cambs bin collection dates for the rest of 2026: all eight Tuesday to Friday rounds to 18 December, plus bin colours and the £52 green bin permit.
Bins in South Cambridgeshire are not run by the district council on its own. They are run by Greater Cambridge Shared Waste, a joint service with Cambridge City Council. That matters, because the rules, the prices and the bin colours are the same on both sides of the city boundary, and they are not the ones you will find on a neighbouring district’s site.
This page covers the whole cluster in one place: the South Cambs bin collection dates for the rest of 2026, which bin takes what, what happens on bank holidays and at Christmas, what a second green bin costs, what a bulky collection costs, and how long you have to report a missed bin. Everything below was checked against the service’s own pages and Cambridgeshire County Council’s on 26 August 2026, and the collection dates and green bin permits were re-checked on 2 October 2026.
South Cambs bin collection dates 2026: October to December
The district runs eight rounds, Tuesday to Friday, and each one alternates a blue and green week with a black week. We re-read the council’s own collection calendar for one address on each round on 2 October 2026. These are the dates it holds for the rest of the year. None is flagged as moved.
| Round | Blue and green bin | Black bin |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday round 1 | 13 Oct, 27 Oct, 10 Nov, 24 Nov, 8 Dec | 6 Oct, 20 Oct, 3 Nov, 17 Nov, 1 Dec, 15 Dec |
| Tuesday round 2 | 6 Oct, 20 Oct, 3 Nov, 17 Nov, 1 Dec, 15 Dec | 13 Oct, 27 Oct, 10 Nov, 24 Nov, 8 Dec |
| Wednesday round 1 | 14 Oct, 28 Oct, 11 Nov, 25 Nov, 9 Dec | 7 Oct, 21 Oct, 4 Nov, 18 Nov, 2 Dec, 16 Dec |
| Wednesday round 2 | 7 Oct, 21 Oct, 4 Nov, 18 Nov, 2 Dec, 16 Dec | 14 Oct, 28 Oct, 11 Nov, 25 Nov, 9 Dec |
| Thursday round 1 | 15 Oct, 29 Oct, 12 Nov, 26 Nov, 10 Dec | 8 Oct, 22 Oct, 5 Nov, 19 Nov, 3 Dec, 17 Dec |
| Thursday round 2 | 8 Oct, 22 Oct, 5 Nov, 19 Nov, 3 Dec, 17 Dec | 15 Oct, 29 Oct, 12 Nov, 26 Nov, 10 Dec |
| Friday round 1 | 2 Oct, 16 Oct, 30 Oct, 13 Nov, 27 Nov, 11 Dec | 9 Oct, 23 Oct, 6 Nov, 20 Nov, 4 Dec, 18 Dec |
| Friday round 2 | 9 Oct, 23 Oct, 6 Nov, 20 Nov, 4 Dec, 18 Dec | 2 Oct, 16 Oct, 30 Oct, 13 Nov, 27 Nov, 11 Dec |
The food caddy goes out every week on your collection day, whichever bin is due.
Which round are you on? Look at what goes out on your street this week. If it is the black bin on a Tuesday, you are on Tuesday round 1; if it is blue and green, you are on round 2. The same rule works for every day. Our village-by-village round list matches 98 villages to their round, so Melbourn is Tuesday round 1, Sawston is Wednesday round 1, Fulbourn is Wednesday round 2, Cambourne is Thursday round 1, Histon is Friday round 1 and Swavesey is Friday round 2.
The calendar stops on Friday 18 December. On 2 October the finder still held no blue, green or black collection anywhere in the district after that date, only the weekly food round. The Christmas timetable has not been loaded yet, and the unrevised feed still shows Friday food collections on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, which are the dates most likely to move. Our Christmas bin collections page will carry the festive dates when the council publishes them.
The three bins, and the caddy
| Bin | What goes in it | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Blue | Paper, card, cartons, cans, foil, glass jars and bottles, plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays | Fortnightly, alternating with the green |
| Black | Everything that cannot be recycled or composted, including nappies, polystyrene and foam | Fortnightly, alternating with the blue |
| Green | Garden waste, untreated wood, and food waste if your caddy has not arrived yet | Fortnightly March to November, monthly December to February |
| Outdoor food caddy | All food waste, including meat, fish, dairy and cooked food | Weekly, once your area has started |
Two things catch people out.
- Black plastic cannot be recycled here, and neither can metallic wrappers such as crisp packets. Both go in the black bin.
- Shredded paper must be bagged in a paper or clean plastic bag before it goes in the blue bin.
The full item-by-item list is on the service’s what goes in which bin search.
Finding your day, and the Monday quirk
Put your postcode into the service’s bin day finder. It returns your dates about fifteen months ahead, and it flags any collection that has been moved.
The useful thing nobody publishes is the shape of the rounds. We checked 92 addresses across 43 villages on that finder on 26 August 2026. It returned 339 collection dates between 17 August and 20 September. Not one fell on a Monday. South Cambridgeshire’s household rounds run Tuesday to Friday only.
That has a direct consequence. An English bank holiday Monday cannot push your collection back, because there is no Monday round to push. Most councils in England move the whole week; here nothing moves. That was true again for Monday 31 August 2026, when none of the dates we checked was flagged as slipped.
Our check is a sample, not the register. A large village can be split across more than one round, so confirm your own address on the finder.
Christmas is the exception
Christmas is the one point in the year when dates genuinely move, because the bank holidays fall midweek. Over the 2025 festive period the council changed three collections:
- collections due Thursday 25 December were brought forward three days, to Monday 22 December
- collections due Friday 26 December ran three days late, on Monday 29 December
- collections due Thursday 1 and Friday 2 January each ran a day late, with Friday’s moving to Saturday 3 January
Green bins also switched from fortnightly to monthly between 23 December and 2 March. That is the standard winter pattern, not a one-off.
The 2026 dates had not been published when this page was checked. They normally appear in the middle of December, and the finder shows them for your own address before the announcement does.
Garden waste is free, unless you want a second bin
This is where South Cambridgeshire is unusual. Most English councils now charge an annual subscription for garden waste. Here the first green bin is emptied at no charge, and there is nothing to sign up for.
You only pay if you want more capacity. From the service’s additional green bins page:
- an extra green bin permit costs £52 for 2026/27
- permits run 1 October to 30 September, and the price is the same whenever you buy
- there are no concessions and no part-year rate
- you can have three extra bins, four green bins in total
- each extra bin needs its sticker displayed before it will be emptied
The new permit year started on 1 October 2026, and the page was taking 2026/27 orders again when we checked on 2 October. A permit bought now still costs the full £52 and runs to 30 September 2027. Stickers can take up to 14 days to arrive, and an extra bin without one is not emptied.
What a bin itself costs
From the request a bin page:
| Situation | Charge |
|---|---|
| Third or fourth blue bin | £31.50 each |
| First and second blue bin | Free |
| Green bin delivery | Free |
| Additional black bin, at the service’s discretion | £31.50 |
| Additional black bin on medical need | Free |
| Replacing a bin you have lost | £31.50 |
| Replacing a bin the crew damaged or lost | Free |
Bins come in two sizes, 240 litres and 140 litres, and the service decides which you get. You must be able to store it off the street.
Bulky waste: £40 buys three items
Booked through the bulky waste form:
- up to three items cost £40, and that is the minimum charge whether you put out one item or three
- items four to nine cost £6.50 each
- nine items is the maximum per booking, and that includes up to three 80-litre bags of garden or general waste
- large goods count as more than one item, so a three-seater sofa is three items and fills the £40
- large electricals are a separate hazardous collection at £32.50 per item
Everything collected this way is disposed of as waste, not reused. If the item still works, Emmaus, Cambridge Re-Use and the British Heart Foundation all collect from the house for free.
Missed collection: you have until 3:30pm the next weekday
The reporting window is narrow and the service is strict about it. From its missed collection page:
- you cannot report a miss before 3:30pm on your collection day, because crews may be running late
- you then have until 3:30pm the next weekday to report it
- the crew returns within three working days, so leave the bin out
- miss the window and your waste waits for the next scheduled collection
They will only come back if the bin was out by 6am, access was clear, the bin was used correctly and the crew logged no problem with it. Outdoor food caddies are never returned for, although reporting one still counts.
Batteries go on the lid, never inside
This is the local rule most people get wrong. Batteries must not go in any bin. Put small household batteries, including AA, AAA, button, C and D cells, in a small tied plastic bag and leave it loose on top of your blue, green or black bin lid.
The reason is specific. The service records seven fires in 2024 in its lorries and at the local sorting facility, caused mainly by e-bike batteries put into bins. Larger batteries from e-bikes, e-scooters, mobility scooters and cars have to go to a recycling centre.
If you share large bins at a block of flats, do not leave batteries on them. Use a supermarket or electrical shop collection point instead.
The two tips, and the bank holiday catch
Cambridgeshire County Council runs the recycling centres, not the waste service. Two serve this district.
| Milton | Thriplow | |
|---|---|---|
| Address | Butt Lane, Milton, CB24 6DQ | Gravel Pit Hill, Thriplow, SG8 7HZ |
| April to September | Mon to Fri 9am to 8pm, Sat and Sun 9am to 6pm | 8am to 5pm, seven days |
| October to March | 9am to 4pm, seven days | 8am to 4pm, seven days |
| Bank holidays | Sunday hours, so it shuts at 6pm | No change |
Booking is not required at either. Gates shut ten minutes before the published closing time, and both sites may close at dusk if that comes first. Christmas Eve closes at 1pm, New Year’s Eve at 4pm, and both are shut on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. Those hours come from the county’s own Milton and Thriplow directory entries.
The bank holiday difference is worth noting. Milton loses two hours on a bank holiday Monday because it drops to Sunday hours. Thriplow already opens the same hours every day, so it does not change.
If you drive a van or tow a trailer
You need a free e-permit for a van, crew cab, combi, pick-up, or any trailer over 1.5m long or 570 litres. The terms:
- free, and issued only to Cambridgeshire residents
- 12 visits in 12 months, one permit per household
- vehicles over 5.5m long or 2.3m high are refused
- horse boxes, agricultural machinery and trailers over 2.5m are banned outright
The county’s own advice is to avoid 11am to 2pm, weekends and bank holidays.
Food waste: the caddies are still arriving
Weekly food waste collection is being rolled out across Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire through 2026, because Simpler Recycling makes it compulsory in England. The council said in August that the third wave took the service past 60,500 homes across both districts, and that every household should have it by the end of 2026.
Until your outdoor caddy arrives, food waste still goes in the green bin, wrapped in paper or newspaper. Compostable plastic liners are not accepted in the green bin. Once the caddy is in use, put the outdoor one out and keep the kitchen caddy indoors, because the small one is not emptied.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I find my South Cambs bin collection dates for 2026?
Put your postcode into the Greater Cambridge Shared Waste bin day finder. The table above gives every date to 18 December 2026 for all eight rounds, taken from that finder on 2 October 2026.
Are South Cambs bin collections on a Monday?
No. Every household round runs Tuesday to Friday, so a bank holiday Monday does not move any collection.
When are the South Cambs Christmas 2026 bin dates published?
Not yet. Last year’s changes were announced on 16 December 2025. Christmas Day and New Year’s Day both fall on a Friday this time, so the Friday rounds are the ones to watch.
How much is a second green bin in South Cambridgeshire?
£52 a year for 2026/27, running 1 October to 30 September, with no part-year rate. The first green bin is emptied free.
More local information
- Parking in South Cambridgeshire, including the park and ride charge that starts after 18 hours
- South Cambridgeshire council tax bands for 2026/27
- Roadworks and travel for what is shut this week
Sources
- Greater Cambridge Shared Waste for bin colours, contents, frequencies, permit and bin charges, bulky waste prices and the missed collection rules.
- What are your bins for? for the accepted and refused item lists and the battery rule.
- Additional green bins and permits for the £52 permit, the October to September year and the suspension.
- Changes to bin collections this Christmas, South Cambridgeshire District Council, 16 December 2025 for the festive dates and the winter green bin frequency.
- Household Recycling Centre locations and opening hours, Cambridgeshire County Council, plus the county’s Milton and Thriplow directory entries, for addresses, hours and the bank holiday rule.
- Household Recycling Centre e-permit scheme for the vehicle rules and the 12-visit limit.
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