Accessibility Statement

1. Our Commitment

Bin and waste information is operational. People need it to live their week — when to put bins out, what can go in which bin, where to take a broken washing machine on a Saturday morning. If our pages are difficult or impossible to read with a screen reader, hard to navigate by keyboard, or unreadable at high zoom, we are failing the people who rely on those tools.

This statement sets out what we have done, what we are doing, and how to tell us when we have not got it right. We treat accessibility issues as priority defects and aim to fix them in days, not weeks.

2. UK Legal Framework

Two pieces of UK law shape the accessibility expectations for websites:

• The Equality Act 2010 places a duty on service providers (including online services) to make reasonable adjustments to avoid disabled people being placed at a substantial disadvantage. This applies broadly across the UK and forms the underlying duty against which our accessibility commitments are judged.
• The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 impose specific WCAG-based standards on UK public sector websites. We are not a public sector body, so the Regulations are not directly binding on us — but the standards they reference are widely accepted as the right benchmark for any site that aspires to broad accessibility, and we follow them as best practice.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission publishes guidance on the Equality Act at equalityhumanrights.com.

3. The WCAG 2.1 AA Standard

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 are the international standard for web accessibility, developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The standard organises requirements under four principles — content should be Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust (“POUR”).

Each guideline has three conformance levels: A (the minimum), AA (the standard expected of public-facing sites), and AAA (the highest level, often only achievable for specialist content). We target Level AA across the site. The full standard is at w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/quickref.

4. What Works on This Site

The following accessibility features are built into every page on bincollectionguide.org/:

5. Assistive Technology Compatibility

We test the site with the assistive technologies commonly used in the UK:

6. Supported Browsers

We test on current versions of the following browsers, which between them cover the overwhelming majority of UK web traffic:

• Google Chrome (current and previous major versions)
• Mozilla Firefox (current and previous major versions)
• Apple Safari (current macOS and iOS versions)
• Microsoft Edge (current version)
• Samsung Internet (current version on Android)

The site is designed to work in older browsers too, but visual presentation may differ slightly. We do not actively test on browsers that have been out of vendor support for more than 12 months.

7. Keyboard Navigation

Every interactive element on the site can be reached and used with a keyboard alone. The standard shortcuts are:

The visible focus indicator (a clear outline on the focused element) makes it easy to see where you are on the page when using a keyboard.

8. Known Limitations

We test the site continuously, but we are honest about what we have not yet fully resolved:

• Older content. Pages published before our current accessibility standards were adopted may not yet meet WCAG 2.1 AA in every respect. We are working through these systematically.
• Embedded maps. Where we embed Google Maps to show the location of a recycling centre, the map widget itself is a third-party control and its accessibility is determined by Google. We provide a postal address alongside every map so the information is available without using the embedded control.
• External PDFs. Where a council publishes a schedule as a PDF, we link to it but we do not control its accessibility. Council PDFs vary widely. Where a PDF is the only practical source, we summarise its content in HTML on our page so the information is available accessibly.
• Auto-generated content from large datasets. Pages generated from data — for example, listings of HWRC opening hours — receive the same accessibility checks as hand-written content, but volume means a small percentage may have edge cases. Reports of issues are prioritised.

9. Third-Party Content

Some content on the site is provided by third parties — display advertising, embedded maps, and outbound links to council websites. We work with vendors that publish their own accessibility information, but we cannot guarantee third-party content meets WCAG 2.1 AA in every detail.

External links to council websites point to pages run by individual local authorities. Public-sector sites are themselves bound by the 2018 Accessibility Regulations and most publish their own accessibility statements. Where you find a council page that is inaccessible, the council is the right place to raise the issue — they have the regulatory duty.

10. Alternative Formats

If you need information from the site in an alternative format — large print, plain text email, or a different structure — please email info@bincollectionguide.org with the subject line “Alternative format request.” Tell us:

• The page URL or topic you need
• The format you would like (plain text email, large print, document with simplified layout, etc.)
• Any specific accessibility need we should bear in mind

We respond to alternative format requests within five working days. Reasonable requests are met as soon as practicable; complex or large-volume requests may take longer and we will tell you the expected timeline up front.

11. How We Test

Accessibility testing happens at multiple points:

• Automated testing. Every page template is checked with automated tools (axe, WAVE, Lighthouse) for the issues those tools can detect — colour contrast, missing alt text, malformed headings, and similar.
• Manual screen-reader testing. New page templates and significant design changes are tested with NVDA on Windows and VoiceOver on macOS before they are rolled out broadly.
• Keyboard-only testing. New templates are walked through with a keyboard alone before sign-off.
• Zoom and reflow testing. Layouts are checked at 200% zoom and at narrow mobile widths.
• Colour and contrast testing. Each new colour palette used in editorial pages is checked for contrast against background colours.
• Reduced-motion testing. Animations are tested with the OS “reduce motion” setting on, to confirm decorative motion is suppressed.
• Quarterly review. A sample of live pages is re-tested every quarter to catch regressions.

Automated tools can only detect a fraction of accessibility issues. Real-user feedback is the most valuable test we have.

12. Reporting an Accessibility Issue

If something on the site does not work for you with a screen reader, keyboard, magnifier, voice control, or any other assistive technology, please tell us. Email info@bincollectionguide.org with the subject line “Accessibility issue.”

Useful information to include:

• The page URL where the issue occurs
• What you were trying to do
• What happened (or didn’t happen) instead
• The assistive technology, browser, and operating system you were using

13. Enforcement and Escalation

If you contact us about an accessibility problem and you are not satisfied with our response, you have several routes:

• Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) — provides advice and information on the Equality Act 2010 to people in England, Scotland, and Wales. Available at equalityadvisoryservice.com.
• Equality Commission for Northern Ireland — equivalent body for Northern Ireland, at equalityni.org.
• Citizens Advice — for general advice on consumer and equality rights, at citizensadvice.org.uk.

The 2018 Accessibility Regulations enforcement route applies to public sector bodies. We are not a public sector body, but we welcome scrutiny against the same WCAG 2.1 AA standard the Regulations apply.

14. Further Information

• WCAG 2.1 reference: w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/quickref
• UK Government accessibility guidance for public sector websites: gov.uk/guidance/accessibility-requirements-for-public-sector-websites-and-apps
• Equality and Human Rights Commission: equalityhumanrights.com
• AbilityNet — practical advice on adapting your computer or device: abilitynet.org.uk

This statement sits alongside our Editorial Policy, Sources & Methodology, and Privacy Policy, which together set out how the site is run.