Business waste

Keep us posted

If you are a commercial customer of Aberdeen City Council please keep us informed of any changes to your circumstances which may impact on your waste and/or recycling collections with us.

Please let us know if your circumstances change e.g. if you need to close your business for a period of time. Failure to advise us of any closure in advance may result in continued attempted waste and recycling collections and invoices issued. 

Business waste

As a business or charity organisation you must separate your waste for disposal under the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012. This means separating paper, cardboard, glass, plastic and metals for recycling.

If your business sells, prepares, processes or distributes food, and you produce more than 5kg of food waste each week, then you must recycle this too. 

To show you are complying with the law, your waste contractor should provide you with a waste transfer note. This can be issued on an annual basis as a season ticket.

Visit Dealing with your Business Waste for some advice on your duty of care.

Regular collections

The Council has a range of options for business waste collections. Bins are available to hire or buy and range in size from 140L to 1280L. We currently provide the following collections for businesses:

  • Food waste recycling.
  • Mixed recycling for paper; cardboard; plastic containers; metal tins and cans; and glass bottles and jars.*
  • General waste collection for any waste that cannot be recycled.

* Our collection service doesn't require a separate bin for glass.

If you have an enquiry for the business waste team, you can contact us using the button below for enquiries relating to:

  • Contract enquiry.
  • Missed collection.
  • Payment query.
  • Bioliner requests.
  • Special events collections.

Special collections

Aberdeen City Council provides a special collection (also known as the “bulky uplift”) service from commercial premises. This can work well for example if you have large waste items; are having an office clearance or simply have more waste/recycling than your bin collections can cope with. There is a charge for this service.

For more information or to arrange a collection please contact our corporate call centre on:

  • 03000 200 292 (Option 4 then 1 for Waste)

Please note, we cannot collect hazardous materials or Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) such as computer equipment, heaters, fridges and so on. It is your responsibility to dispose of WEEE correctly in order to comply with regulations.

To find out how you can dispose of WEEE in compliance with the regulations, please visit the SEPA website or download a copy of SEPA's WEEE Disposal Guidance for your business from the Related Documents section below. 

If you would like to find out more about reuse options, please see our reuse facilities map

Missed Collections

We will do our best to return for genuine missed bin collections, however we do not normally return for bins that have not been put out or if they were inaccessible.

Before reporting a missed bin please make sure:

  • Your bin was out by 7am.
  • Your bin was presented on the correct collection day.
  • Your bin lid was closed. We will not normally empty overfilled bins or collect bags of waste left next to bins.
  • Your bin contains only the correct materials. Incorrect materials will need to be removed from the bin before the next collection.
  • You report the missed collection within 24hrs.

If your bin has not been collected for any of these reasons we may not be able to return to pick up your waste until your next scheduled collection day.

To report a missed bin collection, you can make a business waste enquiry using the button below. 

Once reported please keep the bin out until we return to empty it, which may be the following day.

Contact the Business Waste and Recycling team

Contact us
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