Black bins move to every three weeks this autumn and food waste goes weekly. Garden waste is £69, bulky collections are suspended, and your day may change.

The biggest change to bin collections in Cheshire East for years lands this autumn, and most households have not been told their new day yet. From autumn 2026 the council will collect food waste every week and empty black bins every three weeks, and it says your collection day may change with it (Cheshire East: changes to waste and recycling collections).

The council’s own timetable for telling you is specific. The online collection calendar will be updated by mid-October with your new day and the date your food waste collections start, according to the council’s release of 11 September. Until then, keep putting your bins out as usual. Our report on which Macclesfield-area places are still waiting for a caddy has the full list.

Two more dates are already fixed:

  • Outdoor food waste caddies have been going out since 6 July 2026, and the council now says deliveries run into October (food waste caddy deliveries).
  • Collections start in phases over about two weeks, so your neighbours a mile away may begin before you do.

You do not need to sign up, and there is no extra charge.

What changes, and what does not

Cheshire East bins in Macclesfield, and what changes in autumn 2026 Key to the four containers Cheshire East uses. Silver bin for recycling, emptied every two weeks, unchanged. Black bin for non-recyclable rubbish, currently every two weeks, moving to every three weeks in autumn 2026. Green or brown garden bin, every two weeks on a 69 pound annual subscription, no collections between mid-December and mid-January. New 23-litre outdoor food waste caddy, emptied every week from autumn 2026, delivered from 6 July 2026 and free. Source: Cheshire East Council waste pages. Which bin, and how often Cheshire East Council, Macclesfield and district, from autumn 2026 Silver bin All recycling together, loose. Every 2 weeks. No change. Black bin Non-recyclable rubbish. Every 2 weeks now, every 3 weeks from autumn. Green or brown bin Garden waste. Every 2 weeks, £69 a year, none mid-Dec to mid-Jan. Food waste caddy (new) 23 litres, lockable. Every week from autumn 2026. Free. Source: Cheshire East Council waste and recycling pages, August 2026. Graphic by The Macclesfield Times.
Graphic by The Macclesfield Times.

The silver recycling bin and the garden bin keep their fortnightly cycle. Only the black bin and food waste change.

The council is open about why. Weekly food waste collection is required by the government’s Simpler Recycling legislation, Defra funding does not cover the cost, and three-weekly black bins is how Cheshire East proposes to pay for it. It expects the switch to lift recycling rates by more than 4%.

Two exceptions are worth knowing:

  • If you already get bagged waste collections because there is no room for a wheelie bin, your general waste stays on a two-week cycle. You still get a caddy and weekly food collections.
  • Households with five or more permanent residents, or extra waste from medical needs, may qualify for more bin capacity. Delivery charges may apply.

The council is also introducing a borough-wide section 46 notice to back the change. After what it calls education and awareness work, that notice lets it issue fixed penalties to people who keep putting general waste in the silver recycling bin.

Which bin takes what

Cheshire East’s silver bin is more forgiving than most councils’ recycling bins, and that catches people out in both directions (what goes in your silver bin).

Things that do go in the silver bin here, and often do not elsewhere:

  • plastic bags and polythene
  • glass bottles and jars
  • cartons, including juice, food and milk cartons
  • empty, undamaged non-hazardous aerosols
  • clean foil and takeaway containers

Things that look recyclable and are not accepted:

  • polystyrene and hard plastics
  • textiles, clothing, carpets and duvets
  • nappies
  • vapes and lithium-ion batteries, which must never go in any kerbside bin
  • anything in a tied bag; recycling has to go in loose

Food waste is the odd one. Until the new caddies start, where your food scraps go depends on whether you pay for garden waste. Subscribers put food in the garden bin. Everyone else puts it in the black bin or composts at home (food waste collections). Once the caddy service starts, food waste must not go in the black bin at all. If you have a garden subscription you can keep using either container on the weeks the garden bin is emptied, because food and garden waste go to the same composting site at Leighton, near Crewe.

Bank holidays and Christmas

Cheshire East is one of the councils that collects as normal on bank holidays. There are three exceptions: Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, when no collections take place (bin collection days).

The council has not yet published a Christmas 2026 timetable. It says updated information will appear on the collection calendar before those dates. We will add it here when it lands.

One Christmas date is already set: garden bins are not emptied between mid-December and mid-January, whether you subscribe or not.

Garden waste: £69, and it runs January to December

Garden waste is a paid subscription in Cheshire East. The current price is £69 for one bin for the year, or £51.75 if you receive qualifying benefits, a 25% reduction (garden waste subscription terms).

The details that cost people money:

  • The subscription year runs January to December no matter when you join. There is no pro-rata discount for signing up late.
  • The charge is per bin. You can subscribe for up to six additional bins.
  • New bins can take up to four weeks to arrive.
  • Qualifying benefits include council tax support, universal credit, housing benefit, guaranteed pension credit and income support. The single person discount does not count.
  • A contaminated bin is not emptied, and you have to clear it before the next scheduled collection.

Neighbours are allowed to share one bin. One of you has to be the named subscriber and pay.

If you would rather not pay, taking garden waste to a recycling centre remains free.

Missed collections: report after 6pm, within two working days

The window is tight and the council enforces it (missed bin collections):

  • Wait until after 6pm on your collection day. Crews may still be working.
  • Report within two working days of the day it should have been collected.
  • One bin per report. Two bins missed on the same day means two reports.
  • You cannot use the form for someone else’s bin, or for repeated misses.

The council will not treat it as a missed collection if the bin was out after 6.30am, the lid would not close, the wrong bin was out, the contents were frozen, or the bin and contents weighed more than 90kg. In those cases it waits for your next scheduled collection.

There is one useful concession. If the crews cannot get back before your next collection day, you may leave up to three standard-sized bags next to your black or silver bin and they will be taken.

The tip: Danes Moss, and when you have to book

Two household waste recycling centres serve this end of the borough (using household waste recycling centres):

  • Macclesfield (Danes Moss), off the A536 Macclesfield to Congleton road at Gawsworth, SK11 9QP, 01625 421290
  • Knutsford, off Mobberley Road (B5085) at Shaw Heath, WA16 8HT, 01565 650944

Both open seven days a week, 8.30am to 6pm from April to September and 8.30am to 4pm from October to March. The council says they are busiest between 11am and 1pm, and at any time on a Monday.

Booking applies at weekends and bank holidays only, through the waste portal (how to book a slot). There is no cap on how many visits you can make, but you cannot book back-to-back slots or a second slot until the first has passed. You will need the vehicle registration you actually turn up in, you should not arrive more than 20 minutes early, and arriving late means you are turned away.

A household waste permit is needed for a van, pickup, commercial 4x4 or a trailer between 1.5 and 3.5 metres of internal length. It is free, arrives by email, lasts six months and covers six visits (household waste permit scheme). Turn up in one of those vehicles without a permit and you will be refused entry. Trailers over 2.5 metres can only use Danes Moss or Pyms Lane in Crewe. Nothing over 3.5 tonnes is allowed on any site.

Bring proof of address. The council says it may ask for a recent utility or council tax bill to stop people travelling in from outside Cheshire East.

The mobile tip nobody mentions

Cheshire East also runs a mobile recycling service that visits three places in this district on a fixed monthly rota (mobile household waste recycling centres):

  • Macclesfield, Duke Street car park, SK11 6UR, first Saturday of the month, afternoon
  • Wilmslow, Oakenclough Family Hub, SK9 2PZ, second Saturday of the month, morning
  • Poynton, Anson Road, SK12 1TD, second Saturday of the month, afternoon

You have to book, and you can only arrive in a car. It takes bagged black bin waste, mattresses, fridges, small electricals, garden waste and the usual recycling. It will not take rubble, plasterboard, soil, paint, tyres, oil, gas canisters or furniture containing glass.

Bulky collections are suspended right now

This is the live one. As of the council’s page last reviewed on 19 August 2026, bulky waste collections are temporarily suspended, with the service due to restart later in September. Bookings already made will be honoured (bulky household waste collection).

When it runs, the prices are:

  • 1 to 3 items: £50.84
  • 4 to 6 items: £101.68

Payment is taken in advance and is non-refundable, even if you later put out fewer items. The council counts by piece, not by load: a table and four chairs is five items, and a bed base and mattress is two.

The collections are made by the council’s charity partner, the St Paul’s Centre, which texts you a date and comes within 15 working days of payment. There is no annual limit on requests.

It will not take rubble or DIY waste, bathroom suites, sheds, glass, pianos, car parts, soiled mattresses, gas canisters, paint, or anything presented in a black sack.

Also on The Macclesfield Times

Correction, 15 September 2026: this page previously said the collection calendar would be updated and every household would have a caddy by mid-September. The council now gives mid-October for the calendar and says deliveries run into October.