Data Quality and Source Policy

My Bin Collection exists to make public waste collection information easier to find. We aggregate public council collection data, normalise it into a consistent format, and link back to the official council source wherever possible.

Exact Collection Dates

We only publish exact postcode-level collection answers when the data is fresh, high-confidence, and internally consistent for that postcode. If verified address records in the same postcode disagree, we do not publish a single postcode-wide answer. The lookup asks for the exact address instead.

Indexing Rules

Pages without fresh verified dates are kept out of search indexing. This prevents stale, generic, or incomplete pages from appearing as direct answers in Google or AI search results.

Sources

Collection schedules come from official council lookup systems, public council pages, and scraper runs recorded in our audit tables. Recycling guidance combines council-specific rules with item-level guidance and is marked as variable where councils differ.

Corrections

Council websites remain the final authority for emergency changes, weather disruption, and special collection notices. When we detect stale or conflicting data, we show a freshness warning, queue a refresh, and direct users to the official council page.

Search Quality Commitments

• No fabricated collection dates.
• No postcode-wide exact answer when the data varies by address.
• No structured data that describes content hidden from users.
• No scaled pages published only for keywords without verified local utility.
• Official council source links wherever we can identify the source URL.

For lookup coverage, start at postcode lookup.