Brown bin collections move to seven day service

Brown bin collections will now take place seven days a week over a longer working day, as opposed to working 6 days a week at present. They will be collected between 7am and 7pm.

This means that the council has had to amend their routes. In doing so, brown bin collections days are changing for the majority of households and residents should look out for a new bin collection calendar which is being delivered between 17-19 November. 

A small number of households will have a change to their grey/blue collection day and week.

All residents within West Lothian (except those not currently offered any recycling service, so have weekly grey bin collections), will receive a paper copy of the new bin collection calendars by post where any changes will highlighted. A letter will also accompany each calendar to inform residents of service changes.

Residents are advised to check the new calendar carefully for any changes to their collection days.

Executive councillor for the environment, Tom Conn said:

"Many council areas in Scotland have similar arrangements in place which effectively reduces the number of waste collection vehicles but allows us to continue to deliver the same service. Given the scale of the financial challenges we all face, that is important. The changes allow the council to better utilise our vehicles, maintain the overall staffing resources, reduce costs and allow us to deliver the same weekly household collection service for householders."

"Our team has endeavoured to minimise disruption, however it was necessary to change the collection days for a number of households and residents should follow their new calendars."

Scottish Government funding continues to be insufficient to meet increasing costs and demands for services. As a result, West Lothian Council will have to put in place budget reduction measures, that has resulted in changes to some services, of £9 million this year to meet the shortfall in funding and balance the budget - something the council is legally required to do. It is estimated that between April 2007 and March 2023 West Lothian Council will have made budget savings of over £151 million due to prolonged constraints in Scottish Government funding.

A dedicated webpage for the  provides further details for householders. The webpage includes a 'Frequently Asked Questions' section.