Find out about changes to our services and Christmas opening times on our Festive information page. To find out when your bin will be collected over the festive period, visit Changes to County Durham bin collections at Christmas.

Due to maintenance, the following systems will be unavailable from 11.45am on Tuesday 24 December until 8.00am on Thursday 2 January: our online Council Tax, business rates and housing benefit services, and our welfare assistance form. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Waste collection policies

We've made a commitment to you to provide waste and recycling services which meet your needs and are good value for money. Our refuse and recycling (bin) collection policy supports this commitment and explains how we carry this out.

Waste collection priorities

Our research shows that your priorities include:

regular and reliable bin collections
streets are left clean afterwards

Waste collection commitment - service standards

The waste collection commitment sets out ten service standards. We will:

Explain clearly what waste collection services residents can expect to receive.
Provide regular bin collections.
Provide a reliable bin collection service.
Consider any special requests that individual households may have.
Design services and carry out bin collections in a way that doesn't produce litter.
Collect as many materials for recycling as we can and explain what happens to them clearly.
Explain what our service rules are and the reasons for them.
Tell residents in good time about changes to services, including temporary changes.
Respond to complaints.
Tell all residents about our commitment to collecting waste.

The waste collection commitment has been developed in conjunction with the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and the Local Government Association.