Waste and Recycling
Domestic Waste
Domestic waste is collected weekly Monday to Friday between
7am and 6pm. The only time we would change your day of collection
is at Christmas and New Year, other than this we will collect your
waste on the same day of the week throughout the year. We cannot
guarantee to collect your waste at the same time each week as this
depends on the amount of waste to collect and road conditions.
We do not run a 'wheelie bin' service - refuse can only be
collected from residential properties in black sacks or dustbins.
Wheelie bins are designed to be mechanically emptied by special
equipment on the refuse vehicle. As we do not provide a
'wheelie bin' service this type of equipment is not on the majority
of vehicles used in the borough and refuse operatives are
no longer allowed to try and empty these bins manually due to
Health and Safety rules.
The majority of the borough's domestic waste is taken to a
'waste to energy' power station, in Allington. This means we can no
longer collect bulky items as part of the domestic waste service,
which you may have put out with your refuse sacks in the
past.
Sadly a large percentage of what residents of Ashford throw away
is food. In a recent investigation 30% of the domestic waste
surveyed was food waste. If we looked at what food we bought
and only purchased what we had a need for, not only would we reduce
the amount of waste we produced, but we would save money on our
shopping.
In addition 12% of what we throw away would be recycled if it
was put in your Blue Box.
We operate a seperate collection service for Bulky Items, but
there is a charge for this service, or you can take it to the
County Council's Household
Waste Recycling Centre in Brunswick Road, Ashford.
Look up Your Refuse Collection Day
Select your road:
We cannot collect waste Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years
Day Bank Holidays.
Recycling
There are recycling sites at all of the major supermarkets and
the majority of village halls. Facilities are available for glass,
paper and cans at most sites, with some having textile and shoe
banks. View our Recycling Sites webpage for more information.
For plastics, view our Plastics Recycling webpage.
We also provide kerbside collection services
- for some dry recyclable waste and green waste. More
information is available on our Blue Box Recycling
webpage and our Green Waste webpage. You can also view our
Frequently Asked Questions
section.
Bulk Refuse
We can collect bulk items from domestic premises that are
not collected on the normal weekly refuse service.
View our Bulky Item Collection webpage for more
information.
Unsolicited Mail
Much of the refuse we throw away is unsolicited mail. To
have your details removed from direct mail lists,
please visit the Mail Preferencing Service
website.
The Small Print
Ashford Borough Council is responsible for
the collection of waste from all domestic properties in the Borough
of Ashford.
Any person who has a property from where a
commercial or industrial business is run should make arrangements
for waste from the business to be collected under the provisions of
Section 34 of The Environmental Protection Act 1990; failure to do
so is a criminal offence. Ashford Borough Council does not provide
a collection service for commercial or industrial waste.
In the majority of cases, domestic residents
place their waste sensibly on their property adjacent to the
highway maintained at public expense.
There are situations, however, where it may be
necessary for the Council to carry out an investigation into the
origin of the waste. This would entail opening waste
receptacles in order to obtain evidence. This will be used to
prevent future abuse of the service and for the Council to consider
taking legal action against offenders.
Kent Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy
This strategy sets policy and overall targets for the
collection and recycling of household waste in Kent. It has been
developed by the Kent Waste Forum, which is made up of the County
Council, all the Districts, the Kent Association of Parish Councils
and the Environment Agency. The Strategy is available on the
Kent County Council website.
This webpage was updated on
12/18/2009