Dorset bin collection days: no bank holiday changes

Dorset Council collects on bank holidays. Easter Monday, both May bank holidays and the August bank holiday all appear as ordinary collection days on the council’s own 2026 calendars. Monday 31 August is a normal collection day. Put your bin out as usual.

The only dates that move are Christmas and New Year, and this page gives them below.

Everything here was checked on 24 August 2026 against Dorset Council’s own pages and its printed collection calendars.

Which bin, and how often

Dorset uses five containers, plus a battery bag. The council lists them on its which bin do I use page.

Rubbish and recycling alternate fortnightly. Food waste is collected every week, on both the rubbish week and the recycling week.

Three rules from the council’s printed calendar catch people out:

• Containers must be out by 6am, not by the time the lorry usually comes.
• Glass does not go in the recycling bin. It goes in the separate box.
• Nothing goes in the recycling bin inside a plastic bag. Items go in loose.

Plastics should be rinsed and squashed. Foil should be wiped and scrunched into a ball. Cardboard boxes and cartons should be flattened. Aerosols must be empty and must not be pierced.

Find your own day and download your calendar through the council’s My local information lookup. Note that on 24 August the council was displaying a fault warning on that page. If it will not load, calendars are also published as PDFs at dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/recycle, and the council no longer posts paper copies to households.

Bank holidays and Christmas

Dorset does not shift collections for bank holidays. That is not stated on any of the council’s web pages, but it is provable from the calendars themselves.

Take the Monday rounds. On the council’s Monday 1 and Monday 2 calendars for 2026, all four bank holiday Mondays appear as ordinary collection dates:

• Monday 6 April, Easter Monday
• Monday 4 May
• Monday 25 May
• Monday 31 August

The note printed at the top of every calendar says the same thing in the council’s own words: your collection day is your usual day “except on or after Christmas and New Year where stated”.

Christmas 2026 and New Year 2027 do move. Collections return to normal in the week beginning Monday 11 January 2027. The two published Monday rounds and the Wednesday round shift like this:

Check your own round’s calendar nearer the time. The pattern is a one-day slip for the two collections that fall in that fortnight, not a wholesale change.

Weymouth, Portland and Chickerell: rounds changed in April

If your collection day moved earlier this year and you are still not sure why, this is the reason. Dorset Council redesigned the rounds run from its Weymouth depot from 13 April 2026.

Around 32,000 households in Weymouth, Portland, Chickerell and Osmington were affected. Every household whose day changed was sent a letter. Households that did not get a letter kept the same day.

Garden waste: £74, and it is not included

Garden waste is a paid subscription in Dorset. It is not part of your council tax. The council supplies a 240-litre brown-lidded bin and collects it fortnightly.

The price depends on the month you start, because you get fewer collections. These are the 2026/27 prices:

Three practical points:

• Applications must reach the council at least 31 days before the month you want to start.
• Renewals run 1 January to 31 March. A new direct debit has to be in by 28 February to be taken on 1 April.
• If wheelie bins cannot be used at your property you may get compostable sacks instead. The allowance is 50 sacks a year, two out per collection, and they can only be ordered between 1 November and 28 February.

Garden waste is free at any of the ten recycling centres, so the subscription is only worth it if you would otherwise drive.

Bulky items: the council does not collect them

Dorset Council does not run a bulky waste collection. It points residents to Dorset Reclaim, a reuse charity.

If your items are good enough to be resold, Dorset Reclaim will take them free. If they are not, it runs a paid disposal service. Its published rates are:

• £40 for the first item, £10 for each item after that in the Dorset Council area
• £45 for the first item in Bournemouth, Christchurch and the New Forest
• more for pianos, range cookers and large American-style fridge freezers

You pay on collection, by cash, card or cheque, not in advance. Crews will collect from inside the house, from upstairs rooms where they can get to them, and from garages and porches.

They will not take soil, rubble, asbestos, plasterboard, clinical or hazardous waste, bags of garden or household waste, or builders’ waste such as double glazing units and sanitary ware.

Missed collection: after 4pm, then five working days

The reporting rule is stricter than most councils’. From the council’s missed collection page:

• You must have had the correct container out by 6am.
• You cannot report it until your street is marked as completed, or after 4pm on your collection day, whichever comes first.
• The council aims to empty the bin within five working days.
• Leave the bin out until they come back.

There is a separate rule for business waste: do not report before 3pm, and collections stop entirely if you have an overdue bill.

The ten recycling centres, and which need booking

All ten Dorset Council household recycling centres are open daily, 9am to 5pm.

Four of them require a booking for everything you bring:

• Dorchester (Louds Mill)
• Shaftesbury
• Sherborne
• Wimborne

At those four, you need a slot even if you arrive on foot or by bike. Turning up without one does not work.

At the other six, Blandford, Bridport (Broomhills), Portland, Swanage, Wareham and Weymouth (Lodmoor), you only need a booking if you are bringing DIY waste. Asbestos also has to be booked, and only Blandford, Wareham and Weymouth take it. Book through the council’s recycling centre bookings page, or by phone on 01305 221037 if you cannot book online.

Blandford’s site is being replaced. The new Blandford Waste Management Centre is due for completion by December 2026. The council describes the existing site at Blandford Heights as an adapted grain store in poor condition that holds just 14 vehicles at a time and closes when containers are being emptied.

DIY waste: 16 bags free, then you pay

This is the part the council’s front-line pages do not make obvious. Household DIY waste is free only up to an allowance, set out on the recycling centre charges page:

• 16 bags across a maximum of four visits in any four-week period.
• One bag means a standard 25-litre rubble bag.
• A ceramic sink, pedestal, toilet or cistern counts as one bag each.
• A bath or glass shower panel counts as four bags, and must be no bigger than 2000mm by 750mm by 700mm.

Anything from commercial activity, including work a builder or tradesperson did for you, is refused outright. The council says it will not be accepted “at all regardless of whether you are prepared to pay for it”.

Beyond the free allowance, the charges are:

Bicycle and wheelbarrow tyres are free. Brewery, diving, welding and medical cylinders cannot be accepted at all. Site staff work out the charge before you unload, and their decision is final. Card and contactless are preferred, but not American Express.

If you live outside the Dorset Council area you pay a £8.50 non-refundable booking fee plus the disposal cost, and you cannot use the free DIY allowance at all.

Where else to check

• Dorset roadworks and travel, for closures that can hold up a collection round
• Dorset council tax bands, including what the garden waste subscription is not paying for
• Parking in Dorset