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Litter bins in South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse

Not all litter bins are owned and managed by the District Council. On-street and town centre litter bins may be the responsibility of any of the following:

  • District Council
  • Parish or Town Council
  • Shopping Centre Management Companies
  • Other private landowners

Our contractor is required to empty litter, dog waste and on-street recycling bins on relevant land as frequently as is required to ensure sufficient capacity is available for use. This means that there is no set timetable for bin emptying. Town centre litter bins are emptied every day and barrow operatives also empty bins in high intensity areas which become full during the day.

Once reported to the contractor as full, a bin must be emptied within set timescales depending on the location of the bin. On average this is two working days from the received report.

District Council litter bins are currently lined with blue bags.

We also have some bins that a multi-chamber with separate sections for paper/card and/or bottles and cans.

To report a full or broken bin, please:

On the go?  Please take your recyclables home!

Up to 70 per cent of the things that are put in public litter bins could be recycled if taken home.  Unfortunately, once recyclables are mixed with food waste and other rubbish in litter bins they can’t be recycled and must be thrown away.

We already provide some street recycling bins in the towns and larger villages.  However, they are often contaminated by food waste, liquids and dog mess bags which means that items cannot be recycled.

Please don’t put these items in public litter bins, take them home and put them in your green recycling bin instead:

  • Empty cans and bottles
  • Plastic food containers – just give them a quick rinse first
  • Newspapers and magazines
An illustration of a woman with headphones, wearing a blue hoodie and jeans, holding a "Dr Peppe" bottle. She stands next to a black litter bin and a green wheelie bin with an open lid. The main text states, "Litter bins = not recycling." The secondary text instructs, "If you want to recycle bottles, cans and plastic, please take them home!"

What can go in public litter bins:

  • sandwich packaging – please ignore the label, these can be messy or include a mix of different materials which may not be recyclable
  • soft plastics, film lids from food packaging, empty crisp packets and chocolate wrappers – you can also take these to supermarkets for recycling
  • fast food packaging
  • disposable coffee cups
  • bagged dog waste

This campaign supports our new Rethinking Waste strategy, which focuses on reducing waste overall, improving recycling and supporting residents to make more sustainable choices.

Request a new bin

Before requesting a new litter bin, please read the information on installing litter bins document. To request a new litter bin complete the litter bin request form and return it to the waste team by emailing waste.team@southandvale.gov.uk

Tackling littering

Our environmental enforcement officers can issue a £500 Fixed Penalty Notices to anyone, over the age of 18, dropping litter on public land or along a highway. 

If someone refuses to pay they can be taken to the local Magistrates Court for the offence and fined up to £2,500.

If you see a person dropping litter and not picking it up, please note down as many details as you can that might help us to identify them. We require the following information to commence an investigation:

  • date and time of incident
  • location of incident
  • description of person dropping litter
  • description of the item of litter
  • name and/or address of person dropping litter

Please email this information to envirocrime@southandvale.gov.uk

More information

Visit southoxon.gov.uk/recycling or whitehorsedc.gov.uk/recycling