Elmbridge bin collections: Veolia takes over in June 2027

The company that empties Elmbridge’s bins is changing. Joint Waste Solutions announced on 1 September that an award notice has been issued confirming its intention to hand the new waste and street cleaning contract to Veolia.

Veolia starts on 6 June 2027, replacing Amey LG Limited, whose contract ends that month. The contract covers waste collections and street cleaning in Elmbridge, Mole Valley and Surrey Heath, and waste collections in Woking.

Elmbridge Borough Council published the same announcement on 1 September.

What actually changes for your bins, and when

Nothing changes for nine months. Amey keeps running the service until next June, and Joint Waste Solutions says it will continue to oversee Amey’s day-to-day running of the contract over the next ten months while administering its exit plan.

• 6 June 2027: Veolia takes over. Joint Waste Solutions says residents “will initially see no changes” to the bin collection schedule or services.
• September 2027: Veolia plans “some round changes to optimise efficiency”. Residents are to be notified “well in advance”.

Three new things are promised on top of the existing service:

• a bookable collection service for small electrical items (WEEE), batteries and textiles, accessed through an online booking system
• Mobile Community Household Waste Recycling Centres in each of the four local authority areas
• trials of AI systems on the vehicles to spot contamination in recycling, bin sensors to time collections from street litter bins before they overflow, and bin weighing to target recycling improvements

The mobile tips are the part that matters most here

Elmbridge is the borough in this contract with the most to gain from that second promise, because it has no household waste recycling centre of its own.

Surrey County Council runs the centres, and its list of them names 14 sites: Camberley, Caterham, Cranleigh, Dorking, Earlswood, Epsom, Farnham, Guildford, Leatherhead, Lyne, Shepperton, Warlingham, Witley and Woking. Not one is in Elmbridge. The nearest three, Shepperton, Leatherhead and Epsom, are all in other districts.

Joint Waste Solutions has not said where the mobile centres would go, how often they would run or what they would accept.

Seven years, almost £5m of social value, and no published price

The initial term is seven years. Over that period Veolia has pledged “almost £5m in social value delivery”, which Joint Waste Solutions describes as local employment, apprenticeships, opportunities for the long-term unemployed and for young people not in education, employment or training, work experience placements, a Sustainability Fund and a schools Orchard programme.

Neither announcement gives the value of the contract itself. For a service that reaches every household in four boroughs for seven years, that is the number residents would most want, and it is not in either release.

Veolia was named Preferred Bidder after what Joint Waste Solutions calls “a complex and robust procurement process”, ratified in July by the four councils and by the East and West Surrey Shadow Authorities.

Councillor Ashley Tilling, Chair of the Joint Waste Collection Services Committee, said: “Work now begins on mobilising the new contract for the unitary authorities to ensure a seamless transition next summer.”

Richard Kirkman, Chief Executive Officer of Veolia UK, said the company’s “AI approach, which is central to Veolia’s GreenUp strategy, will unlock data for the local authorities to help increase recycling rates”.

The councils that signed it will not exist when it starts

That reference to “the unitary authorities” is the awkward part, and it is worth spelling out.

Elmbridge Borough Council and Surrey County Council are both abolished on 1 April 2027. Surrey’s 12 councils are replaced by two unitary councils, and Elmbridge goes into East Surrey Council with Epsom and Ewell, Mole Valley, Reigate and Banstead and Tandridge. Guildford, Runnymede, Spelthorne, Surrey Heath, Waverley and Woking form West Surrey Council.

So the contract starts on 6 June 2027, two months and five days after the four councils that procured it cease to exist. And the four boroughs it covers do not end up in the same place: Elmbridge and Mole Valley go to East Surrey, while Surrey Heath and Woking go to West Surrey. A single joint waste contract will be inherited by two different councils. That is why the shadow authorities had to ratify it alongside the boroughs.

What it means for you

Nothing to do now. Your collection days do not change this year, and Joint Waste Solutions has committed to notifying residents well in advance of any round changes. Our Elmbridge bin collection days page has the current arrangements, including the fact that the printed 2026 calendars move no rounds for any bank holiday.

Two things are worth watching:

• Where the mobile recycling centres go. In a borough with no permanent tip, the location and frequency decide whether this is useful or a gesture. Nothing has been published.
• What happens to the September 2027 round changes. By then the contract will be run by East Surrey Council, a body that does not yet exist and that has not consulted anyone in Elmbridge about collection days.

Amey remains your contractor, and the service point, until June 2027. Missed collections and unfinished rounds are still posted, dated and by road, on Joint Waste Solutions’ Elmbridge service updates page.

Sources

• Joint Waste Solutions, Procurement of Joint Waste Service Contract, 1 September 2026, for the award notice, the 6 June 2027 start, the end of the Amey contract, the September round changes, the bookable WEEE, battery and textile service, the mobile recycling centres, the AI and bin sensor trials, the seven year initial term, the almost £5m of social value, and the quotes from Councillor Ashley Tilling and Richard Kirkman.
• Elmbridge Borough Council, Procurement of Joint Waste Service Contract, 1 September 2026, for the council’s publication of the same announcement.
• Surrey County Council, visiting your community recycling centre, for the list of 14 centres, none of which is in Elmbridge.
• Surrey LGR Hub, shadow authorities, for the 1 April 2027 vesting day and for Elmbridge joining East Surrey Council while Surrey Heath and Woking join West Surrey Council.

More Elmbridge local information: bin collection days, council tax bands and roadworks and travel.