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Every block and estate has its own household waste collection times - please ask your caretaker or housing office for more information.

What can I recycle?

In most neighbourhoods, Tower Hamlets Council provides residents with clear bags or purple recycling bins in which to recycle waste. Please think about what can be recycled. Food waste, nappies, clothes, and garden waste can not be recycled using the purple bins or clear bags.

Never put recycling in black sacks as it will be classed as rubbish and won’t be recycled.

Clear sacks for recycling can be collected from Idea Stores or Libraries. If you have access to a purple bin recycling in clear sacks and untied carrier bags can be placed in the bin or you can use a reusable bag and empty items into the bin loose

If you have any questions about recycling or would like to order more bags and bins, get in touch with the Council’s recycling team.

Please recycle cans and tins, plastic pots and trays, paper and card, plastic bottles, glass bottles and jars, aerosols.
What to recycle
Don't recycle food waste, clothes, nappies, electrical items and batteries, polystyrene, plastic, film and wrap, general rubbish and black sacks.
What not to recycle

Getting rid of large items

You can have large items like unwanted furniture or kitchen appliances removed for free by contacting the council. For more information visit the council's website

Blowing the whistle on rubbish dumpers

We've introduced a scheme to clean up our neighbourhoods, where residents found to be dumping rubbish are given a yellow card, and a warning. If they do it again, they are given a red card, and a bill for the cost of removing the rubbish. The scheme has been very successful, and resulted in the amount of dumped rubbish dropping across estates. For more details, please contact us.

Useful links

Report a waste or street cleaning query (including graffiti, fly-tips or missed collections)

Report a street problem (including potholes, flooding and broken parking meter or street lights)

Contact us

To report a missing or damaged bin or a bin collection problem

Request a service online

Tel: 020 7364 5015