A flat above a shop or business

What we collect

We collect the following: 

• mixed recycling 
• rubbish 

We also provide posters and leaflets about recycling properly for anyone living or staying in Islington, such as in rented accommodation.

When we collect it 

If you live in a flat above a shop you will receive daily time-banded recycling and rubbish collections. This means you must put your recycling and rubbish out for collection at specific times of the day to keep our main roads clear of rubbish. 

Daily collection times

What we provide 

Residents who live above shops can collect recycling bags from libraries and other collection points. Find out where you can collect recycling bags from.

Food waste recycling pilot for flats above shops

We want to help all our residents to recycle food waste and are trialling a food waste recycling service for a section of Holloway Road between Holloway Road and Highbury and Islington tube stations. As part of the trial we have placed communal food waste bins at intervals along Holloway Road, with residents provided with food waste caddies and liners. If you live in a flat above a shop or business in this area and would like a kitchen waste caddy to recycle your food waste, please email recycling@islington.gov.uk.

Flats above shops recycling pilot on Upper Street and Seven Sisters Road

We are working with ReLondon, a partnership between the Mayor and London boroughs to improve recycling and refuse collections for residents living in flats above shops on Upper Street and Seven Sisters Road. New, designated collection points for residential refuse and recycling sacks will be created. This will help us keep these busy roads cleaner, more organised and make it clearer for residents to know where to place their waste and recycling. 

Upper Street 

There will be 17 ‘grit’ style bins installed on Upper Street between Highbury Corner and Cross Street. The new smaller bins are intended for residential use only and will have signage stating: 'Upper Street Residents Recycling Sacks Only’. Near the new recycling bins, lamp post signage will be updated, and floor stickers will also be placed to indicate where residents should leave their refuse sacks for daily collections.  

Seven Sisters Road

There will be 33 new collection locations for residential refuse and recycling bags across the whole of Seven Sisters Road. These new locations will have floor stickers indicating where residents should leave refuse and recycling sacks for daily collections. Lamp post signage will also be updated. 

Getting started 

Before the start of the pilot, we will deliver flat packed recycling sacks and stickers to each property participating in the scheme. The stickers can be used if you run out of recycling sacks, please place them on any carrier bag until you can collect more sacks. Along with the recycling bags and stickers, you will also receive yellow tokens for additional sacks. Please bring a yellow token to your local library to collect more sacks. 

This scheme is for flats above shops only. If you see a business using the new bins, please email us at recycling@islington.gov.uk.

Do I need a yellow token to collect recycling bags? 

No, you can let the library know you live on Seven Sisters Road or Upper Street to collect the new smaller sacks. However, we would like to collect the yellow tokens for monitoring purposes, so please bring them with you. 

How often will the bins be emptied? 

The new bins on Upper Street will be emptied and refuse sacks will be collected daily between 6pm-7pm or 12am-1am. 

On Seven Sisters Road  refuse and recycling sacks will be collected daily between 7.30-8.30am or 7-8pm. 

Collecting sacks from your local library 

If you live in a flat above a shop on Upper Street (between Highbury Corner and Cross Street) or Seven Sisters Road, you can collect recycling sacks from the following libraries:

• North Library
• Cat and Mouse Library
• Central Library
• South Library

You can also email us at recycling@islington.gov.uk to request recycling sacks. Please include the subject line: "Flats above shops recycling/Upper Street or Seven Sisters Road".

Contact us

If you have any questions, email us at recycling@islington.gov.uk with the subject line "Flats above shops recycling/Upper Street or Seven Sisters Road".