Fareham's draft bin policy cuts the missed collection window from three working days to 4pm the next day, and a return visit for resident error now costs £25.
Fareham Borough Council’s draft bin rules would cut the time you have to report a missed collection from three working days to 4pm the following day. Councillors see the public’s response to those rules for the first time tonight.
The results of the consultation on the draft Domestic Waste and Recycling Policy go to the Environment Advisory Panel at 6pm on Thursday 24 September, in the Collingwood Room at the Civic Offices. The panel’s comments then feed into a final policy, which goes to the Executive for a decision in November 2026.
Until that decision, nothing has changed. The council’s current published guidance still gives residents three working days, with a worked example: a bin missed on Monday morning must be reported by 4pm on Wednesday.
What the draft actually changes
The draft policy’s wording on missed collections is much tighter:
If there is no tag or record from our crew to explain why your bin was not emptied, please let us know by 4pm the following day to discuss why your bin was missed, and arrange for a return visit.
And if the miss was your fault, the draft is explicit that coming back costs money: “If you forget to put your bin out and miss your scheduled collection, let us know by 4pm the following day and we can arrange a return visit for a charge.”
That charge is already set. The council’s fees and charges schedule for 2026/27 lists a £25 refuse and recycling additional collection admin fee where the crews have logged the problem as resident error. It is marked as new for this financial year.
What the council would expect of you
The draft policy sets out how bins must be presented:
- out by 6am on your collection day, or the evening before if that is easier
- at the edge of your property, reachable from the pavement, not blocking it
- lids fully closed, nothing overflowing
- only the correct items in each bin
- no bags or extra items on the ground beside the bin
- not so heavy they cannot be moved safely
- taken back onto your property as soon as you can after emptying
There is one exception on the extra-bag rule. The draft allows a single extra refuse bag next to your bin on the collection after Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
Enforcement: the powers, and how often they are used
The draft policy says the council will start with advice and written reminders, then move to a formal notice, then to a Fixed Penalty Notice under Section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, and to prosecution “in more serious cases”.
The behaviours it lists as triggers are ordinary ones: bins not put out at the right time, bins left on the pavement, extra waste beside bins, wrong items in the wrong bin, waste allowed to build up, and household bins used for business waste.
It is worth setting that against what officers told the same panel in June. Asked how many Section 46 notices had been issued, the Director of Streetscene said none in the last two years. The council monitors tipping data and contamination events instead, and the June minutes record that formal notices, fixed penalties and prosecution are “resource-intensive and applied as a last resort”.
The same meeting produced the number that explains why the policy is being rewritten at all. The Director of Streetscene told members that Fareham is approximately 20% below the Simpler Recycling targets set by government, and that under current reforms the funding councils receive for packaging waste is linked to how efficient their systems are judged to be. Weaker recycling performance means less income and higher disposal costs.
What the bins cost here
Fareham is one of the councils where households buy their own bins, and the draft policy does not change that. The charges, from the council’s own order-a-bin page and its 2026/27 fees schedule:
A few details behind those figures:
- £44 buys a new or replacement 240 litre refuse or recycling bin, including delivery. An extra recycling bin is the same price with no application needed.
- £17 is the admin fee for changing bin size.
- £73 is the annual garden waste subscription for a 240 litre bin, on top of £44 for the bin itself. Existing customers with a 140 litre bin pay £62.
- £53 is the published charge for a single bulky item, rising to £218 for a full load. That service has been suspended since July because of vehicle problems.
- Management companies pay £487.50 plus VAT to replace a 1100 litre communal bin.
Food waste bins and kitchen caddies remain free, including replacements.
Extra bins, and moving house
The draft sets a threshold for a second general waste bin. Households with six or more permanent occupants can request one, for a charge. Households with fewer than six may be able to, but the council says it will first look at “whether you are making full use of your recycling services”. Extra bins are reviewed and may be removed if no longer needed, and charges are not refunded.
Move into a home where the previous occupants took the bins and you buy replacements. The draft applies that to private, rented and social housing alike. On new developments the developer is supposed to provide them, but the policy says that where a developer refuses to pay, the householder covers the cost.
The rules people get wrong
Three things in the draft catch residents out regularly:
- Glass does not go in any kerbside bin in Fareham. It goes to a bottle bank.
- Food waste must be wrapped before it goes in the caddy. Plastic bags, compostable liners, bread bags or newspaper all count.
- Garden waste is not collected unless you subscribe, and only in a council-issued brown-lidded bin.
Assisted collections are also narrower than people assume. The draft says they are normally only available where nobody else in the household can move the bins, so if there is anyone aged 18 or over who can, the property will not usually qualify.
What it means for you
If the policy is adopted in November as drafted, the practical change is the deadline. A bin missed on Monday would have to be reported by 4pm on Tuesday rather than 4pm on Wednesday. Until then the published three working day rule still applies, and it is the one the council’s own web page gives.
The £25 charge is not conditional on the policy. It is in the adopted fees schedule for this year already, for return visits where crews have recorded the miss as resident error.
Our Fareham bin collection days page carries the current rules, the bank holiday arrangements and the service disruption checks to run before you report anything.
Sources
- Draft Domestic Waste and Recycling Policy (PDF), Fareham Borough Council, for the presentation rules, the missed collection wording, the extra bin thresholds, the enforcement ladder and the moving-house rules.
- Let’s Talk Waste and Recycling, the council’s consultation page, which gives the dates as 14 July to 28 August 2026. The officer presentation to the panel gives them as 15 July to 28 August.
- Presentation to the Environment Advisory Panel, 24 September 2026 and its agenda pack, for the panel’s role and the November Executive decision. The slides themselves are published with the minutes after the meeting.
- The June figures come from the minutes of the Environment Advisory Panel of 17 June 2026, printed in the same pack.
- Order a bin and Fees and Charges 2026/27 (PDF) for every charge quoted.
- Your bin was not emptied for the current three working day rule.
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