Rugby Borough Council collects on 31 August as usual, and its own bin-day tool shows Monday rounds unmoved. The tip is open too, but you have to book.

If your bin day falls on Monday 31 August, put it out. Rugby Borough Council collects on bank holidays, and nothing about the August bank holiday changes that.

The council states the rule plainly on its own waste page: “The collection cycle normally changes at Christmas and New Year, but carries on as usual on all other public and Bank Holidays.”

That single sentence is the answer, and it is buried on a page most people never find. So we checked it against the council’s live data as well.

We tested the council’s own bin-day tool

Rugby’s check your next bin day lookup returns a date for each container at a given address, along with a flag saying whether that date has been changed and why. On 26 August we queried it for 49 properties spread across CV21, CV22 and CV23, from the town centre out to the villages.

Two things came back:

  • Not one collection date was flagged as changed. The tool’s date-changed field read false on every container at every address we checked.
  • Collections are scheduled for Monday 31 August itself. Parkfield Road in Newbold and Southam Road at Kites Hardwick both show a blue-lid recycling collection on the bank holiday, unmoved.

Rugby does run Monday rounds, so this matters. In our sample, 20 of the collection dates returned fell on a Monday. Councils that shift Monday rounds over a bank holiday push the whole week back by a day, and Rugby is not doing that.

Check your own address anyway. Forty-nine properties is a sample, not the whole borough, and the lookup takes about fifteen seconds.

What goes out when

From the council’s waste collection page:

  • Black refuse bin and blue-lid recycling bin: emptied “from most homes on alternate weeks”, so one or the other each week
  • Food caddy: weekly. This changed on 6 July 2026, when the council moved food waste from fortnightly to every week
  • Green garden waste bin: every other week if you subscribe, “with a short break at Christmas and New Year”

Bins must be at the edge of your property, next to the highway, handle facing the street, by 6.00am on the day. The council adds that “during periods of extreme heat we may choose to start waste collections at 5.00am”, so on a hot morning 6.00am is the late end of safe, not the target.

The tip is open, but book first

Hunters Lane recycling centre, Hunters Lane, Rugby CV21 1EA, is run by Warwickshire County Council rather than the borough. Its site page lists no bank holiday closure at all. The only dates it names are Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, when it shuts at 12.30pm, and Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, when it is closed.

The catch is booking. “Booking is now required seven days a week at Hunters Lane Recycling Centre.” That is not the county-wide position: Warwickshire introduced a hybrid system on 20 July 2026 under which booking is needed only at certain sites on certain days, and Hunters Lane is one of the sites where it applies every day. Slots go through Eventbrite, and the council’s advice is to book before travelling “to avoid delays or a wasted journey”.

Summer hours run until 30 September:

Hunters Lane recycling centre summer opening hours Bars showing opening hours at Hunters Lane recycling centre, Rugby, between 1 April and 30 September. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday open 9.30am to 3.15pm. Wednesday opens 9.30am to 6.15pm. Saturday and Sunday open 8.30am to 5.45pm. Booking is required on every day. Wednesday is the long day. The weekend starts an hour earlier. Hunters Lane recycling centre, Rugby CV21 1EA. Summer hours, 1 April to 30 September. A booked slot is required every day. 8am 11am 2pm 5pm 8pm Monday9.30am to 3.15pm Tuesday9.30am to 3.15pm Wednesday9.30am to 6.15pm Thursday9.30am to 3.15pm Friday9.30am to 3.15pm Saturday8.30am to 5.45pm Sunday8.30am to 5.45pm Winter hours from 1 October: weekdays unchanged, Wednesday drops to 3.15pm, weekends close at 4.15pm. Source: Warwickshire County Council, Hunters Lane recycling centre page, checked 26 August 2026. Graphic by Rugby Town News

Three other things the site page sets out, which catch people every bank holiday weekend:

  • Cyclists bringing household waste do not need to book. Everyone else does.
  • Vans, pick-ups, trailers and large 4x4s face restrictions, and a van cannot bring household waste without a voucher. Turn up without one and you will be charged.
  • There is a 1.98m (6ft 6in) height barrier. If your vehicle is taller, report to staff on arrival rather than trying the barrier.

Winter hours take over on 1 October, when Wednesday’s late opening ends and the weekend closing time drops to 4.15pm.

What it means for you

Put the bin out as usual on Monday 31 August, by 6.00am. Nothing shifts, and nothing shifts on the Tuesday either, because Rugby is not moving the week.

If you are clearing the garage over the weekend, book a Hunters Lane slot now rather than driving there on the day. The site takes bookings seven days a week, which also means it turns away people who have not made one, and a bank holiday Monday is the busiest kind of day for it. The council’s own suggestion is to go mid-week instead.

Planning to drive further afield over the weekend? The motorway network around Rugby is unusually clear, and there is engineering work on the railway on Sunday morning: both are in our roadworks and travel page, which we updated today.