Cherwell runs no Monday bin rounds, so an August bank holiday moves nothing, and Good Friday runs as usual. Garden waste is £59, bulky waste starts at £14.50.
Cherwell District Council does not run any Monday bin rounds. Its crews collect Tuesday to Friday, between 7:00am and 5:00pm, and the council says so on every one of its bin pages.
That single fact answers the question most people are actually asking. Almost every English bank holiday falls on a Monday. There is no Monday round in Banbury or Bicester for a Monday bank holiday to push back, so the week after one runs exactly as normal.
Good Friday is the bank holiday that could disrupt things, because Friday rounds do exist. It does not. The council’s bin collection search page states plainly: “Please note that Good Friday bin collections will take place as usual.”
Christmas and New Year are the only dates that move. More on those below, including the trap that catches people out: one collection went earlier, not later.
Your four bins
Cherwell gives every household four containers, on an alternate-week cycle. The council’s bin pages set them out as:
- green bin: non-recyclable rubbish, every two weeks
- blue bin: mixed recycling, every two weeks
- silver outdoor caddy: food waste, every week
- brown bin: garden waste, every two weeks, only if you have paid
The cycle is simple. One week the green bin goes out with the food caddy. The next week the blue and brown bins go out with the food caddy. The caddy goes out every single week either way.
Bins must be at the kerbside by 7:00am, with the back of the brown bin facing the road so the crew can see the subscription label. If you cannot put bins out because of infirmity or disability, the council runs an assisted collection service on 01295 227003.
You can print the year’s calendar for your half of the district: the north Cherwell calendar covers Banbury, the south Cherwell calendar covers Bicester and Kidlington. Neither one marks a bank holiday, because none of them change anything.
Glass now goes in the blue bin
This changed on 1 January 2026 and it is the most useful recent development. Glass bottles and jars of any colour now go straight into the blue bin. Rinse them, but leave labels and lids on.
Two things to know:
- Do not leave extra glass beside a full blue bin, not even in a cardboard box. The council will not take it, because boxes split and broken glass is a hazard to the crew. Store it until the next collection.
- Bottle banks are going. The council says they “will be removed gradually as kerbside glass collections are rolled out”, with a small number kept temporarily for on-the-go recycling.
What still cannot go in the blue bin is Pyrex and other heatproof glass, drinking glasses and wine glasses, ceramics and crockery, light bulbs and fluorescent tubes, window panes and mirrors, and any broken glass. Broken glass should be wrapped securely and put in the green bin.
The rest of the blue bin list is generous: cans and tins, foil and clean foil trays, aerosols, cartons, cardboard, paper including shredded paper, envelopes with the window still in, plastic bottles, tubs, trays and pots, and empty toothpaste tubes. What ruins a load is carrier bags and black bags, crisp packets and sweet wrappers, cling film, bubble wrap, polystyrene, nappies, blister packs, pet food pouches and textiles.
Recycling must go in loose. A bagged blue bin counts as contaminated and may not be emptied. Extra recycling left beside the bin in a box or a clear bag will be taken.
Small electricals and battery-powered items are collected on your normal collection day, but they must be left beside the bin, never inside it.
Garden waste costs £59 a year
The brown bin is a paid subscription. For 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027 it is £59 per subscription, up from the previous year. Cherwell’s environment portfolio holder called it “a modest increase to £59 per year, to cover rising operational and fuel costs” when subscriptions opened.
The details that catch people out:
- Each extra brown bin is another £59. There is no discount for a second bin.
- If you cannot have a bin at all, 40 garden waste sacks cost £56. That is a one-off purchase, not a subscription.
- Cancel and you get nothing back. The council states you will still be charged for the year you subscribed for.
- A subscription can move with you inside the Cherwell district, but you must tell customer services and take the bin with you.
- Crews will only empty bins showing a valid label or listed as paid in the in-cab system. No side waste is taken.
Food waste must not go in the brown bin. It belongs in the silver caddy, which is collected weekly.
Bulky waste: £14.50 to £35.50
Cherwell’s bulky collection charges for 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 are:
| Booking | Charge |
|---|---|
| One small item | £14.50 |
| One single medium or large item | £21.50 |
| Any three items | £35.50 |
The council will take up to 12 items from one household at a time, but the booking form only accepts three per slot. To clear 12 items you make four separate bookings for the same collection day.
Collections run Tuesday and Friday in the north of the district, which covers Banbury, and Wednesday and Thursday in the south. Items must be outside your property by 7:00am, and crews will not come onto your property to fetch them. A corner sofa made of separate parts counts as one item per part.
Refunds are tight: you only get one if you cancel before 4pm on the day before your confirmed collection.
Fridges and freezers are a separate problem. Cherwell suspended new bulky bookings for them because of a national shortage of specialist recycling capacity. We set out what that means and the routes still open.
Missed collection: report it after 5pm, same day
The council’s missed bin process has two rules worth knowing before you try.
The form will not let you submit it until after 5:00pm on the day your bin was due, because crews work until then. And the collection vehicles carry a live reporting system: if the crew recorded your bin as not presented, you cannot report it as missed at all and no one will return before your next scheduled day.
Where a report is accepted, the council returns within seven working days (Tuesday to Friday), and the bin needs to stay out.
Two exceptions:
- Food waste: the council will not return early. Put the caddy out, with any extra food waste, on your next collection day.
- Brown bins: since 1 March 2022 the council only returns for a missed brown bin if you have a paid subscription.
The tip: Alkerton, and you must book
The nearest household waste recycling centre to Banbury is Alkerton, Stratford Road, Alkerton, OX15 6HZ. For Bicester it is Ardley Fields, Brackley Road, Ardley, OX27 7PH. Both are run by Oxfordshire County Council, not Cherwell.
All Oxfordshire centres are open daily 8am to 5pm, with last vehicle entry at 4:55pm. You must book a slot before every visit. Turning up without one does not work.
Booking is free for Oxfordshire residents and can be done online without an account, though you need an email address. You can book up to two weeks ahead or as late as 30 minutes before you arrive, subject to availability. Household asbestos must be booked at least 48 hours in advance. Non-Oxfordshire residents pay £15 per booking.
Some vans and trailers need a permit, and some vehicle types are barred altogether, so check before loading up. The free allowance for DIY waste can only be claimed once every seven days.
Christmas is the only time your day moves
Over the 2025 festive period Cherwell changed three collection days:
- Thursday 25 December was collected on Monday 22 December
- Friday 26 December was collected on Saturday 27 December
- Thursday 1 January was collected on Saturday 3 January
Note the first one. Christmas Day’s round went three days early, not later. People who put bins out expecting a delay missed it.
Garden waste was suspended entirely from Monday 22 December to Saturday 3 January, to make room for the extra rubbish and recycling. There is no refund for that.
The council does not publish next Christmas’s dates until December. It says it will announce changes “via our website and social media”. Do not assume last year’s pattern repeats. In 2026 Christmas Day falls on a Friday and Boxing Day on a Saturday, so the affected rounds are different ones. Check the council’s page in the first week of December.
Bins, replacements and extras
Your first set of bins is free. After that, an extra blue recycling bin costs £40, with a maximum of two of each type per household. Smaller bins are available if space is tight, larger ones depending on household size.
All bins remain the property of the council, which repairs broken ones free of charge and replaces them if they cannot be fixed.
If you live in a flat, the bin collection search may return nothing for your address, because some flats are collected on different days from neighbouring houses. Ring customer services on 01295 227003 or email customer.service@cherwell-dc.gov.uk.
More Banbury local information: council tax bands, parking, roadworks and travel and planning news.
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