Edinburgh bin collection calendar: find your day, skip the PDF
How to check your bin day for any Edinburgh address, what each bin and the recycling box are for, and why you don't need the PDF calendar.
A lot of people search for "Edinburgh council bin collection calendar 2026 pdf". I understand why - a PDF feels like the official answer. But the City of Edinburgh Council's calendar is per-address, the PDF goes out of date the first time a bank holiday moves things, and nobody opens a PDF on their phone at 10pm. Here's the better way.
Find your collection day
The council's "bin collection days" page lets you look up your address and see your schedule. For kerbside properties the pattern is a rotation of bins over a few weeks, which is why a single calendar for the whole city doesn't exist - your street and the next one over are probably on different days.
Edinburgh Bins uses the council's data for your exact address and puts your next collection front and centre - "Today", "Tomorrow", or the day it's due - with the full five-week calendar underneath. Leith, Portobello, Morningside, Corstorphine, Gorgie, Stockbridge, the Old and New Towns: every address in the city.
What goes in which bin
For houses with their own kerbside bins:
| Container | What goes in |
|---|---|
| Green wheelie bin | Mixed recycling - paper, cardboard, cartons, plastic bottles, pots, tubs, trays, cans, tins, foil |
| Recycling box | Glass bottles and jars; small electricals and batteries on top; textiles in a bag |
| Grey food bin | Food waste, bagged or wrapped - collected weekly |
| Brown wheelie bin | Garden waste - a paid annual permit service |
| Grey wheelie bin | Non-recyclable waste |
No glass in the green bin - it goes in the box. No plastic bags or film in the green bin either. Bins out by 6am, and the council is strict about nothing being left beside them. Tenements and flats with communal bins on the street work differently: those are emptied on a fixed schedule rather than a per-address one.
Garden waste: the brown bin isn't free
Edinburgh charges an annual permit for brown bin collections. If you've just moved and the brown bin isn't being emptied, that's almost certainly why - sign up with the council and the permit sticker goes on the bin.
Reminders, widgets, and the leaderboard
Edinburgh Bins sends a reminder the day before and again on the morning of collection. The home screen widget shows your next bins without opening the app, and there's an Apple Watch app. You can also look up any address in the city, not just your own - useful for a flat you're moving into, a parent's house, or a rental you manage. And because Edinburgh, there's a street leaderboard: mark your bins as out and become Bin King of your street.
About the app
Edinburgh Bins was covered by Edinburgh Live and The Edinburgh Minute when it launched. It's free, it's independent (the data is the City of Edinburgh Council's, the app is mine), and if a date looks wrong you can tell me from inside the app and I'll sort it.
