Westminster Bulky Waste Collection: £36 for Six Items

A Westminster bulky waste collection costs £36 for up to six items, with each item after that charged at £6.40. The council aims to complete the collection within three working days of booking. If you receive Housing Benefit or Council Tax Support the collection is free, capped at one collection of up to six items every 90 days.

There is also a free route that almost nobody uses, and it is running this Saturday. The details are further down.

All figures on this page are from the council’s own bulky waste page, last updated 21 August 2026 and checked on 3 September 2026.

What it costs

Six items for £36 works out at £6 an item, so the flat fee is only good value if you actually have six things to get rid of. Two items still cost £36. It is worth waiting until you have a full load, or asking a neighbour whether they have anything to add before you book.

If you are not sure whether you qualify for the free service, our Westminster council tax discounts page covers Council Tax Support, including the fact that Westminster is one of the councils that never cut working-age support below 100%.

What they will take

The council lists:

• fridges
• cookers
• beds, including mattresses and bed frames
• sofas
• tables
• wardrobes
• washing machines
• other large electrical items and furniture
• gas bottles, including nitrous oxide canisters

Fridges are worth calling out. A lot of London councils either refuse fridges and freezers on a standard bulky collection or charge a separate fee for them because of the refrigerant. Westminster lists them in the ordinary service.

The rule that actually decides it

There is no published list of banned items. There is one physical test instead: crews will only remove items that two people are able to lift safely.

That is the sentence to read before you book. A three-seat sofa bed with a steel frame, a cast iron bath, a fitted wardrobe still screwed to the wall, a granite worktop, or a pile of broken-up kitchen units are all things that fail that test even though none of them appears on a prohibited list. Building and renovation waste in general is not what this service is for.

Two other conditions are strict:

• You cannot add or remove items after booking. Get the count right first time. If you realise you have a seventh item the day before, that is a new booking.
• Three missed call-backs and the booking is cancelled, and you have to start again.

How the booking actually works

The booking is online, but it is not finished when you submit it. Veolia runs the collection and the process is a call-back:

1. You book online.
2. For a chargeable booking, the Veolia team aims to call you back within the next working day.
3. For a concession booking, on Housing Benefit or Council Tax Support, they aim to call back within two working days.
4. They then give you the next available slot, and the collection is made within three days.

You are asked to give your availability for a call-back between 9am and 5pm. Three attempts, then the booking dies.

Where to leave the items

Items should go in front gardens, communal reception areas or communal bin stores. On private land where access is awkward, the council’s advice is to put the items out on the street on the day of collection, as long as you are not blocking access to the property or the road.

Do not put them out days early. Bulky items left on a Westminster pavement outside a collection window are fly-tipping, and the council runs an enforcement team specifically for it.

If you are physically unable to move items outside your home, assisted bulky waste collections are available, where the crew comes into the property to collect. Ask for this when you book.

The free alternative most people miss

Westminster runs a Community Mobile Recycling Centre, a one-day pop-up that moves around the city and takes bulky items for nothing.

The published dates and locations are:

• Saturday 5 September 2026, 10am to 4pm, next to the playground on the Tachbrook Estate, SW1V 3RX
• Saturday 26 September 2026, 10am to 4pm, Tollgate Community Centre, Kilburn High Road, NW6 5SG
• Saturday 17 October 2026, 10am to 4pm, Hide Tower, Regency Street, SW1P 4AA

You can bring up to five bulky items: furniture such as seating and tables, white goods such as washing machines and fridges, large electrical items such as televisions, and mattresses. Smaller things are unlimited, including clothes, books, toys, small electricals, saucepans and homeware, bikes, household batteries, lightbulbs and printer cartridges.

If you are bringing large items by car, ring 020 3991 6228 and choose option 4 for bulky waste to book a drop-off slot.

Anything left at the end of the day goes to local charity partners for resale or is donated. There are usually repair services running alongside: a free bike check, an electronics repair bench, and a textile mending workshop. Full details are on the council’s Community Mobile Recycling Centre page, which is where the dates are updated.

Five items free, on a Saturday, against £36 for six on a weekday. If your timing works, this is the better deal.

There is no tip in Westminster

Worth knowing before you plan a car trip: the council states plainly that there is no permanent household waste reuse and recycling centre in Westminster.

Westminster residents use the household waste recycling centre at Smugglers Way in Wandsworth. Since March 2021, anyone arriving by car must book a slot in advance. If you go by motorbike, no booking is needed.

Hazardous items go somewhere else entirely

Some things are not bulky waste at all, and putting them out for a bulky collection is the wrong move. Westminster’s hazardous household waste page, last updated 18 August 2026, sets out the routes:

• Household and garden chemicals, motoring and pet care products, asbestos: collected free by the City of London hazardous waste service. Chemicals must be boxed in cardboard, with three free collections a year of up to 50 litres per household.
• Asbestos: sheets individually wrapped in 1000 gauge polythene, rubble bags no heavier than 25kg each, free up to 15 square metres or seven bags a year.
• Paint: small quantities should have the lid taken off, be left to dry out, and go in the ordinary rubbish. Larger quantities go through the same City of London free collection, up to three collections a year of 50 litres.
• Clinical waste and sharps: home collections of sharps containers can be booked on 020 7641 2000, but the council states the average wait is four to eight weeks and you need a minimum of five containers or one five-litre container. Unused medicines go back to a pharmacy.
• Needles or syringes on the street: do not touch them, call the Environment Action Line on 020 7641 2000.

Before you pay for a collection

Two options that cost nothing and are often quicker:

• Freecycle and Freegle. Free to join, non-profit, and for anything still usable this is usually the fastest way to make an item disappear, because the person collecting it comes to you.
• Charities. The British Heart Foundation, the RSPCA and many local shops will collect good-quality furniture and white goods for resale. Ring the shop rather than assuming.

Landlords and businesses cannot use the household service at all and need the council’s commercial bulky waste service instead.

For the rest of the household waste calendar, see our Westminster bin collection days page.

Frequently asked questions

How much is a bulky waste collection in Westminster? £36 for up to six items, then £6.40 for each additional item. It is free if you receive Housing Benefit or Council Tax Support, limited to one collection of up to six items every 90 days. Figures are from the council’s bulky waste page, last updated 21 August 2026.

How long does a Westminster bulky waste collection take to arrive? The council aims to complete collections within three working days. The clock effectively starts after the call-back, which Veolia aims to make within one working day for chargeable bookings and two working days for concession bookings, so allow up to a week in practice.

Will Westminster collect a fridge or a freezer? Yes. Fridges are on the council’s list of items collected in the standard bulky waste service, along with cookers, washing machines and other large electrical items. This is not true of every London borough, several of which handle refrigeration separately.

Can I add another item after I have booked? No. The council states that adding or removing items after booking is not possible. If your count changes you need a new booking, so work out exactly what is going before you submit the form.

What will they refuse to take? There is no published exclusion list. The rule is that crews will only remove items two people can lift safely, which rules out very heavy single items such as cast iron baths and stone worktops, anything still fixed to the building, and building or renovation waste. Hazardous items, asbestos, chemicals, paint in quantity and clinical waste all have separate routes.

Is there a free way to get rid of bulky items in Westminster? Yes, three. The Community Mobile Recycling Centre takes up to five bulky items free on published Saturdays, the next being 5 September, 26 September and 17 October 2026. Freecycle and Freegle will find someone to collect a usable item. Charities such as the British Heart Foundation collect good-quality furniture for resale.

Where is the nearest tip to Westminster? There is no household waste recycling centre inside Westminster. Residents use Smugglers Way in Wandsworth, and since March 2021 anyone arriving by car has to book a slot in advance. Motorbike visits do not need a booking.