Leeds Bins

Leeds Bins is an app for iPhone, and Android that tells people who live in Leeds when their Green, Brown, and Black bins are due to be collected. The best way to try it is to download it now, enter your postcode, and pick your address.

Leeds Bins was developed in partnership with the Urban Sustainable Development Lab.

I only want to say four things about what we’ve done,

1. Leeds Bins is a product by imactivate. If you have problems, ask us. If you have suggestions, tell us. There’s a feedback button in the app. We will fix things.
2. This can happen only because this city is open. Its neighbours, its people, and its businesses support places like ODILeeds and the idea of being open with data and open to innovation.
3. This has taken a lot of work. Leeds City Council had to take control of its data, understand legal and technical hurdles, get used to a new way of working. It is a credit to the teams involved that they have done so and taken a big risk on this.
4. The open data is the achievement, not the app. There are already other apps but the real innovation will comes when there are new services that the council could never have created.

Imagine four new services that a city council could not, and could not afford, to create itself.

• “You need to put your bin out tomorrow, and here’s your evening news from the Yorkshire Evening Post”
• “You need to put your bin out today and don’t forget that Leeds are at home to St. Helens this weekend”
• “Google maps says you need to leave early tomorrow because of roadworks, don’t forget to put out your recycling”
• “We expect flooding in your area, please tell your neighbours”.

Open data about an open city is lets better versions of those services exist. I trust the people of Leeds and beyond to build them.

If you have tried the app we would love to hear what you think. Please give us some feedback here.

Usage statistics

These graphs are updated in real-time.