Commercial bin collection, London
Commercial bin collection London: 1100L to 240L bins, several lifts a week
Commercial bin collection London businesses book with Capital Recycle runs 1100L, 660L, 360L and 240L wheelie bins for general waste and dry mixed recycling, lifted daily, several times a week or weekly, from £12 + VAT per lift with no bin rental.
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250+ active customers
4.8 / 5 Trustpilot, verified reviews
98% landfill diversion
Licensed Waste Carrier, CBDU466346
Annual Waste Transfer Note Service
By the numbers
Bins emptied on schedule, paperwork straight.
The numbers from our London accounts. We turn up on the day, keep waste out of landfill, and keep your paperwork straight.
250+
Active customers
24-48h
Typical service start
98%
Landfill diversion rate
4.8 / 5
Trustpilot, verified reviews
Who we collect from
Business and trade waste collection in London
If you are tired of missed collections, surprise overweight charges, or restrictive agreements that are difficult to leave, you are the customer we designed our service for. Terms are fair and clearly documented.
We collect general waste and recycling from London businesses in 240 to 1100-litre wheelie bins, lifted daily, weekly or anything in between, from £12 + VAT a lift with no bin rental. Bins arrive within 24 to 48 hours of your order, and each waste stream is covered by our Annual Waste Transfer Note Service at £65 + VAT a year. These are the trades we collect from most.
Hotels and hospitality
Discreet collection windows, multiple bins, multi-stream where needed. Daily sack work for hotels: see hotel waste collection.
Production and workshops
Heavier loads, 1100L size, often paired with our pallet or Wait and Load service.
Offices and co-working
General Waste plus DMR recycling, scheduled around occupancy patterns.
Restaurants, cafés and takeaways
High-frequency lifts, a predictable schedule, no compromise on Friday emptying.
Retail, convenience, boutiques
Cardboard-heavy DMR plus a general bin, single sites or multi-site groups. Cleaning contractors who arrange the bins at their clients' sites: see waste collection for cleaning companies.
Salons, gyms and studios
Tight bin space, with 360L and 240L options for compact sites.
What we take in a bin
Dry mixed recycling and general waste bins
General Waste
What goes in the General Waste bin
- Food packaging and food-contaminated paper or card
- Soft plastics, polystyrene, cling film
- Mixed non-recyclable waste
- Disposable cups, food containers, takeaway packaging
- Anything that cannot go into recycling
Dry Mixed Recycling
What goes in the DMR bin
- Clean cardboard and paper (no food residue)
- Plastic bottles and containers (rinsed)
- Metal cans (food and drink)
- Aluminium foil and trays (clean)
- Mixed clean recyclables, sorted during sorting, not by you
Glass is a separate stream. Simpler Recycling treats glass as a dry recyclable and asks you to separate materials the way your collector instructs. Ours is to keep glass out of the DMR bin and collect it in a dedicated bin of its own. Drinking glasses, window glass, light bulbs and crockery are not container glass, and broken glass contaminates a whole recycling load. That is our collection arrangement rather than a rule of law. Cafés, bars and takeaways need the dedicated stream as a matter of course. Ask us for a glass quote alongside your bin service.
Sanitary and offensive waste (used hygiene products, nappies, incontinence pads from commercial bathrooms) is a separate licensed stream and must be collected by a dedicated offensive-waste provider in yellow or black sanitary bins. We do not take it in our bins. We can refer you to a specialist partner if you do not have one set up.
Plasterboard, hazardous waste and WEEE must be segregated and are handled via our Construction Waste and Wait and Load services.
DMR contamination above 5% can be re-classified as General Waste during sorting, so keep DMR clean to keep the recycling rate.
Business recycling collection in London
We collect dry mixed recycling, glass, cardboard and food waste from London businesses, each stream in its own bin. You pay per lift, from £12 + VAT, with no bin rental, and 98% of what we collect is diverted from landfill. Under Simpler Recycling, workplaces in England have to keep dry recycling and food waste separate from general waste; businesses with fewer than ten full-time-equivalent staff have until 31 March 2027 (the detail is in our guide to Simpler Recycling). Tell us your postcode and roughly how much of each stream you fill in a week, and we will quote the set-up.
Cardboard recycling collection in London
Clean, flattened cardboard goes in your dry mixed recycling bin at the normal lift price. If boxes alone fill your recycling bin, which is common in shops and stockrooms, we can give you a dedicated 660 or 1100-litre cardboard bin on the same round, quoted on your weekly volume. Cardboard with food on it, like a pizza box, belongs in general waste.
Food waste collection for London businesses
Food waste goes in sealed 110-litre bins, bagged inside rather than loose, and is collected through a specialist partner for anaerobic digestion. There is no minimum. Workplaces in England have had to separate food waste since 31 March 2025; businesses with fewer than ten full-time-equivalent staff have until 31 March 2027, and that headcount is across the whole business rather than one site. Staff food waste in an office counts. Tell us your weekly volume and we will quote it with your bin service.
Recycling for construction projects
Construction and refurbishment waste goes in our wait and load cage: the vehicle arrives, the waste is loaded and it leaves on the same visit, so there is no skip on the road and no permit to apply for. Mixed site waste is priced by the load. Single-stream loads, such as timber, metal or cardboard, are priced separately because they recycle more cleanly, and plasterboard always goes on its own. Prices and load sizes are on our construction waste page, and the method is explained on wait and load.
Sizes, limits and how we price
Pick the right bin for your weekly volume.
Published weight limits and fair excess charges. If your bin is consistently over the limit, we will discuss either upsizing the bin (for example 660L to 1100L) or increasing collection frequency, agreed in writing before any change to your invoice.
1100 L70 kg max
About 15 bin bags
Best for: high-volume hospitality, multi-floor office, supermarket, production site
660 L40 kg max
About 10 bin bags
Best for: restaurant, larger café, mid-size office, mid-volume retail
360 L30 kg max
About 5 bin bags
Best for: café, takeaway, retail unit, low-volume office
240 L20 kg max
About 3 bin bags
Best for: single low-volume site, salon, studio
110 LFood waste
Sealed food bin, specialist partner
Best for: kitchens and offices separating food waste under Simpler Recycling; quoted with your bin service
How our pricing works
Per-lift from £12 + VAT. Monthly billing, no bin rental.
- Priced per lift (one lift is one bin emptied once), from £12 + VAT, paid by fixed monthly Direct Debit. We take your weekly lift cost, multiply by 52 weeks and divide by 12, so your Direct Debit is the same amount every month of the year. Your exact rate depends on bin size, lift frequency and postcode. Tell us your setup and we will price it for you.
- No bin rental fees while you are an active customer. Bins are delivered free and included in the service.
- Two contract terms. A 12-month standard contract at the published per-lift rate (auto-renews unless cancelled with 60 days notice before the renewal date), or a 1-month rolling option at +10% per lift. Plain English, documented in your contract.
- Excess weight may be charged separately if a bin is consistently over its limit, with no silent surcharges. We will discuss upsizing or extra lifts first.
- Volume discounts apply on multi-bin and 3+ lifts-per-week schedules.
Recurring or one-off, both work
Scheduled weekly service or a single ad-hoc lift, same number, same response.
Recurring scheduled
For most customers
- Weekly, twice-weekly, or daily lifts
- Same time window every collection day
- Locked per-lift rate for the term of your agreement
- Free bin delivery
- Fixed monthly Direct Debit (weekly lift cost × 52 ÷ 12)
- 24 to 48 hour typical service start
- Annual Waste Transfer Note Service: £65 + VAT a year for each waste stream, invoiced separately from your lifts
Ad-hoc one-off
Events, overflow, post-refurb
- Single bin lift at short notice
- Same-day possible in most London postcodes if booked before 12:00
- Pre-paid via Stripe link before collection
- Useful for events, temporary sites, overflow weeks, fit-out finishes
- Quoted by bin size, postcode and access window
- Single-collection Waste Transfer Note provided
1
Quote
Share postcode, bin size and frequency. Quote back same day, often within hours.
2
Onboard
Bin delivered free within 24 to 48 hours of order confirmation.
3
Collect
Scheduled lift days, same window each week. SMS confirmation on collection.
4
Pay
Fixed monthly Direct Debit. Stripe link for one-offs.
Why London businesses choose us
We compete on reliability and clarity, not on cheap headline pricing.
National waste chains can advertise lower headline rates. They typically secure customers with long agreements, lengthy notice periods, and excess-weight charges that are not visible until the bill arrives. Our approach is different: clear terms in plain English, published weight limits, and a service team you can actually reach.
01
A team you reach directly
Routes run seven days a week, the schedule scales with your volume, and the people who plan your round answer the phone. Call 0207 101 4003.
02
Reliable collections
Customers stay because we turn up on schedule. Our track record is verifiable on Trustpilot and Google, with a 4.8 / 5 rating from verified reviews.
03
No bin rental, published limits
Bins are part of the service while you are an active customer. Excess weight may be charged separately if a bin is over its limit, never a silent surcharge.
04
Two terms, your call
A 12-month standard commercial waste contract at the locked rate, auto-renews unless cancelled with 60 days notice before the renewal date, or a 1-month rolling option at +10% per lift. Plain-English notice terms, documented before you sign.
Customer story
From one-off pallet job to multi-stream anchor account.
Borough Broth came to us via an emergency one-off pallet pickup at their Greenford production site. Their bin contractor at the time had missed three collections in a fortnight. Andrea, the operations lead, had given notice but could not switch until the contract notice period expired.
After the pallet job, we offered a single-bin trial, one 1100L bin, three lifts a week, no upfront commitment beyond the trial period. The brief was simple: do not miss a collection.
Six months later, we run three 1100L bins three times a week for Borough Broth, all on the back of one trial that proved the schedule holds.
The lesson is straightforward. Every customer who comes to us after a difficult experience elsewhere wants the same thing: a service that does what it says, on the day it is scheduled, without the small print working against them. That is what we deliver.
★★★★★
Google Business Profile, 5.0 stars
“We started to work with Capital Recycle 18 months ago. As a medium-size company we are very satisfied with their services, availability and prices.”
Andrea M., Borough Broth
Where we collect
Collection routes across central and Greater London.
We run commercial collection routes across central and Greater London, and we cover Watford and the WD postcodes. Weekly, multi-weekly and daily schedules are available; we confirm the day and frequency for your postcode when you enquire. If your postcode is in the grid, we already pass you on a route, so adding your bin is near-zero marginal cost. That lets us hold tight pricing without cutting corners on reliability. If your postcode is not shown, ask anyway; we are always looking to fill route capacity in adjacent areas.
Fully licensed, fully insured
Compliant, accountable, fully documented.
We are a registered Upper Tier Waste Carrier with full commercial insurance in place. Every recurring customer is on our Annual Waste Transfer Note Service. It is charged per waste stream, £65 + VAT a year each, and invoiced separately from your collections. A General Waste bin and a Dry Mixed Recycling bin means two. Ad-hoc collections receive a single-collection Waste Transfer Note on the day.
Upper Tier Waste Carrier
CBDU466346. Verifiable on the Environment Agency Public Register.
Public Liability £5m
Full commercial liability cover for all collection activities.
Annual Waste Transfer Note Service
£65 + VAT a year per waste stream, charged separately. Satisfies your Duty of Care under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Documented service terms
A plain-English contract schedule, available before you sign.
Common questions
What businesses ask before they sign up.
If your question is not here, call 0207 101 4003 and we will answer it on the phone in plain English.
Do I need to sign a long-term contract?
Two options. A 12-month standard contract at the published per-lift rate, auto-renews for another 12 months unless you give 60 days notice before the renewal date. You can exit earlier with notice; an early-termination fee applies, set out in your contract. We send a reminder 90 days before each renewal so you do not miss the window. Or a 1-month rolling option at +10% per lift. Both are plain English and documented before you sign.
Do you charge bin rental?
No bin rental fees. Bins are provided free as part of the service while you are an active customer. We deliver them free at the start. End-of-service handling terms are documented in your contract schedule.
What is the minimum collection frequency for recurring service?
Weekly is the smallest scheduled lift for recurring service. If you need less than weekly, treat it as ad-hoc and book individual lifts as you need them via our quick quote. Daily is the maximum standard frequency; bespoke twice-daily routes are available for very high-volume sites.
What does a typical bin collection cost?
Lift price depends on bin size, lift frequency and your postcode, from £12 + VAT per lift. Billing is monthly with no bin rental. Send your details and we will quote within hours.
What size bin do I need for my business?
Rough sizing by waste volume per collection: 1100L for high-volume hospitality, a supermarket or a multi-tenant office (about 70kg / 15 bin bags). 660L for a restaurant or busy retail (about 40kg / 10 bags). 360L for a medium café or shop (about 30kg / 5 bags). 240L for a low-volume office or café (about 20kg / 3 bags). We undersize then upsize rather than the other way round, because it is cheaper and easier to add a lift than downsize a bin you do not need.
What is the difference between weekly, twice-weekly and daily collection?
Weekly suits low-volume businesses (1 bin, about a 5-day production cycle). Twice-weekly is the workhorse for hospitality and busy retail; it covers peak days (Friday and Saturday) without storing waste over weekends. Daily is for high-traffic restaurants, kitchens and concept stores producing 60kg or more daily. Each frequency level adds about £20 per week per bin in lift cost, offset by less storage hassle.
What happens if my bin is consistently overweight?
Excess weight may be charged separately if a bin is consistently over its limit. We will discuss either upsizing the bin (for example 660L to 1100L) or increasing collection frequency, agreed with you in writing before any invoice change. No silent surcharges.
Can I have General Waste and Dry Mixed Recycling on the same site?
Yes; most of our multi-stream customers run both. A two-bin or two-stream setup is scheduled together so it is one collection visit. Each waste stream gets its own Annual Waste Transfer Note Service at £65 + VAT a year, invoiced separately from the lifts. Two streams means two. DMR per-lift is typically about 10% lower than General Waste because recyclables have value.
How quickly can you start service?
24 to 48 hours from order confirmation is typical. Same-day starts are possible in most London postcodes if you order before 12:00; call 0207 101 4003 if you need same-day delivery. Bins come from our held stock of 660L and 1100L wheelies; smaller sizes are next-day delivery from supplier.
Do you collect food waste?
Yes. Food waste is collected as a separate stream through a specialist partner, in sealed containers on your schedule, and goes to anaerobic digestion. Under Simpler Recycling, workplaces in England have had to separate food waste since 31 March 2025 whatever the quantity; businesses with fewer than ten full-time-equivalent staff have until 31 March 2027, and that headcount is across the business rather than per site. Tell us your weekly volume and we will quote it with the bin service. The full stream list is on our commercial waste collection in London page.
Do you take cardboard, plasterboard, hazardous waste or WEEE?
Cardboard, yes, in DMR or via our cardboard collection service. Plasterboard, segregated, handled via our Construction Waste service. Hazardous waste, WEEE, fridges and mattresses are separate streams with separate rates; ask for a quote. Sanitary, clinical, hazardous and chemical waste are not our direct service, but as an Upper Tier Waste Carrier we can refer your enquiry to a specialist partner and stay involved as your single point of contact.
Do my bins need to be closed and not overfilled on collection day?
Yes. Bin lids must be fully closed and waste must be inside the bin (not stacked above the rim or piled around it). Overfilled bins risk being refused on health-and-safety grounds, and a closed lid reduces the chance of waste escaping in transit. If you are consistently overfilling, we will suggest upsizing or extra lifts.
Where should bins be placed for collection?
Bins must be on a flat surface with safe vehicle access on the scheduled collection day. They should not be left on the public highway or pavement except in agreed presentation windows. If access changes (gate codes, key holders, restricted hours), let us know in writing so we can adjust the route.
Can I have bins inside my premises, not on the street?
Yes; most central London customers do. Bins stored inside or in a designated waste room get rolled out into the agreed presentation window for collection day, then returned. Tell us where the waste room is on enquiry; if it is a basement with stairs or a corridor with tight clearance, we will arrange a fixed crew slot so the same driver knows the route through your space.
What happens if you miss a scheduled collection?
Report any missed collection in writing within 24 hours. We will rearrange and aim to take any excess waste on the next scheduled collection at no extra charge. London traffic, weather and vehicle issues happen; when they do, you reach the people running the round, not a call centre. Most rearrangements happen within 24 hours.
Do you cover central London ULEZ and Congestion Charge zones?
Yes. Our vehicles are ULEZ-compliant and we run collection routes across central and Greater London. Congestion Charge cost is included in our quoted rates; you will not see surprise zone surcharges on the invoice.
Can I switch to you before my current contract ends?
Yes; it happens often. We can hold a start date until your existing notice period ends, or run alongside your incumbent during a transition. Send us a copy of your current agreement (or describe the terms) and we will advise on the cleanest exit window. Standard advice: serve written notice as soon as the notice clock allows.
How do I pay and what is the invoicing schedule?
Recurring service is billed as a fixed monthly Direct Debit: your weekly lift cost times 52 weeks, divided into 12 equal monthly payments. Direct Debit is the lowest-fee payment method. One-off ad-hoc lifts are pre-paid via a Stripe payment link before bin collection. All invoices show VAT separately. Late payments incur a £50 admin charge plus statutory interest if not settled.
Ready to switch? We will quote in hours, deliver bins in days.
Most quotes go out within hours of enquiry. New bins delivered and live within 24 to 48 hours. There is no upfront commitment to send us your details; if our terms do not suit, you walk away with a useful comparison number.