Farnham Bin Collection Days: Bank Holidays Are Normal

The question people ask most about bins is whether a bank holiday moves the collection. In Waverley the answer for 2026 is no. The council’s own printed calendars shade Good Friday, Easter Monday, the two May bank holidays and the August bank holiday exactly like any other working day. The only period marked as subject to change is the fortnight around Christmas and New Year.

That is the short version. Below is your collection day, which bin goes out when, what garden waste and bulky collections cost this year, and the opening hours of the Farnham tip, which is closed two days a week and turns vans away.

Waverley Borough Council collects the bins in Farnham. Surrey County Council runs the tips. That split explains why the links on this page point at two different websites.

The quick answer

• Rubbish (black bin) and recycling (blue bin): fortnightly, alternating, so something goes out every week.
• Food waste: weekly, every week.
• Garden waste (brown bin): fortnightly, by paid subscription. £87.60 a year, plus £49.10 once if you need a bin.
• Bank holidays: collections run as normal in 2026, apart from Christmas and New Year.
• Missed bin: report it within three working days.
• Find your day: Waverley’s bin day checker. Enter your postcode only, then pick your address.

How to find your collection day

There is one official lookup and it is free. Enter your postcode at Waverley’s bin collection checker, choose your address from the list, and it returns the next dates for rubbish, recycling, food waste and, if you subscribe, garden waste. The council’s instruction is to enter the postcode on its own, without the house number (check your bin collection day).

Every property is on either a week one or a week two cycle. Once the checker has told you which bin is due next, you can download the matching printed calendar and keep it:

• Rubbish and recycling, week one
• Rubbish and recycling, week two
• Garden waste, week one
• Garden waste, week two

Whatever day you are given, one rule applies to all of it. Your bin must be at the boundary of your property by 6am, with the lid fully closed.

Which bin goes out when

Source: Waverley bins, garden waste and recycling and the garden waste service page.

There is a fifth bin most people never see. Communal blocks of flats get a pink bin for small electrical items, emptied weekly on a fixed day by postcode area. In GU9 and GU10, which is Farnham, that day is Friday. Godalming’s GU7 and GU8 are Tuesday, Haslemere’s GU27 is Wednesday, and Cranleigh’s GU6 is Thursday (check your bin collection day).

Bank holidays and Christmas

This is the part the council’s web pages do not answer directly, but its calendars do. Both the week one and week two calendars for 2026 shade every bank holiday as an ordinary collection day:

• Good Friday, 3 April: normal collection
• Easter Monday, 6 April: normal collection
• Early May bank holiday, Monday 4 May: normal collection
• Spring bank holiday, Monday 25 May: normal collection
• Summer bank holiday, Monday 31 August: normal collection

The calendars black out only two stretches, both with the note that dates are subject to change and should be checked online: 21 December to 1 January, and the first working week of January.

Garden waste is different, and the calendar says so in plain words: no garden waste collections between 21 December and 1 January. The subscription terms describe this as a two-week break over Christmas and the New Year.

Garden waste: what it costs in 2026

Waverley’s garden waste service is a paid subscription, not a standard collection. The charges are:

• Annual service charge: £87.60
• Bin loan fee, one off, if you need a bin: £49.10
• Total for a first bin: £136.70

You get a 240 litre brown bin and 25 collections across the year. Each extra bin needs its own separate subscription. Delivery takes up to four weeks from payment, and collections start about four weeks after you pay. You can pay once a year or by direct debit, though the council warns that its provider cannot set up direct debits on Starling accounts or some Barclays accounts (garden waste collection service).

Grass, leaves, hedge trimmings, small branches, flowers and fallen fruit are accepted. Soil, turf, stones, rubble, food waste, plastic bags and large logs are not.

What goes in each bin

The full item-by-item list is on Waverley’s what goes where page. The points that catch people out:

• Glass bottles and jars go in the blue bin, with the lids taken off. Plastic bottle lids stay on.
• Tetra Pak cartons are accepted in the blue bin.
• Nothing goes in the blue bin inside a bag. Loose only, rinsed, cardboard flattened.
• Greasy cardboard is rubbish, not recycling. An oily pizza box goes in the black bin.
• All cooked and uncooked food goes in the caddy, including meat, fish, bones, tea bags and coffee grounds. Liquids such as milk and cooking oil do not.

Free doorstep collection you probably do not know about

Waverley collects small electricals, textiles and household batteries from your doorstep, free, for any resident. The collection is made by Biffa, the council’s waste contractor, on a date it confirms after you book.

• Small electricals: anything with a plug, cable or battery compartment. Kettles, toasters, hairdryers, remote controls, phones, chargers.
• Textiles: clean and dry clothing, paired shoes, bed linen, towels, curtains, hats, scarves, belts.
• Batteries: household batteries, bagged separately from everything else.

Bag each of the three categories separately, in ordinary carrier bags, and leave them next to your food waste caddy by 6am. Fridges, washing machines, light bulbs, fluorescent tubes, carpets, rugs and duvets are refused. Book online or call 01252 724157 (small electricals, batteries and textiles collection).

Bulky waste: Waverley does not run it

Sofas, mattresses, fridges, freezers, washing machines and garden furniture are collected by Furniture Helpline, a charity, not by the council. You book direct with them. Prices for 2026:

Source: Waverley bulky waste collections.

Three things to know before you book:

• Upholstered furniture carries an extra £10 an item under the fire safety rules on waste sofas and armchairs.
• The discounted rate is for people on certain benefits. You confirm eligibility at the point of booking.
• Book online for one to nine items. For ten or more you have to email Furniture Helpline for a quote.

The council’s two pages disagree on the deadline. The bulky waste page says items must be outside by 7am; the order and request bins page says 6am. Put them out by 6am and you are covered either way.

Hazardous waste, asbestos, paint, sheds, pianos, large glass panels, tyres, car batteries and loose black bags are all refused.

If your bin is missed

You have three working days from your collection date to report it, and the council says most reports are cleared within three working days. Before you report, it will check that your bin was out by 6am and that the lid was closed, because a lid that will not shut is a legitimate reason for a crew to leave it (report waste issues).

Report through the same bin checker system you use to look up your day.

New, replacement and larger bins

You pay for new bins, and delivery is currently running at four to six weeks. Prices from Waverley’s bin ordering page:

Two ways to avoid paying:

• Swapping down is free. If you hand back an undamaged 240 litre rubbish bin for a 140 or 180 litre one, there is no charge.
• If a Waverley crew damaged your garden waste bin and you subscribe, the replacement is free. Wear and tear is chargeable.

The 360 litre rubbish bin is not on general sale. You need six or more people living at the property, you have to be recycling everything you reasonably can, and the council may inspect your bins and ask for proof of who lives there.

If nobody in the household can move the bins safely, apply for an assisted collection. Crews then take the bin from an agreed point inside your boundary and bring it back.

Farnham tip: Bourne Mill

Farnham Community Recycling Centre is at Bourne Mill, Farnham, GU9 9PS, and it is run by Surrey County Council, not Waverley. Its restrictions are stricter than most people expect.

Source: Surrey County Council, Farnham Community Recycling Centre, reviewed 24 June 2026.

On bank holidays the site keeps its usual hours, including over Easter. It closes at 2pm on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, and is shut on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. The site can also close for up to half an hour during the day while containers are swapped.

Two Farnham-specific catches:

• If you drive a van or tow a trailer, Bourne Mill is not your tip. Check Surrey’s van, pickup and trailer permit rules and use a site that accepts them.
• Gas canisters are not a Farnham item either. Waverley directs them to the recycling centres at Witley or Cranleigh.

Bourne Mill does take bottle tops, Tetra Pak cartons and upholstered seating on top of Surrey’s standard accepted list.

More Farnham local information

• Parking in Farnham: car park tariffs, permits and the Blue Badge change
• Farnham council tax bands: every band, and who takes what
• Farnham roadworks and travel: what is closed in the town centre now
• Farnham house prices