Bin night roster
A bin roster, so the bins go out on bin night
Twelve units, a row of wheelie bins and a truck at 6 am on Wednesday. FairTurns works out whose turn it is to wheel them out and back in, and puts it on one link the whole block can check.
Free, with no limit on people or dates. No card.
Bin night is the job everyone forgets
In a block of units, bin night has a way of becoming one person’s job. The retiree in unit 1 notices at 9 pm on Tuesday that the bins haven’t gone out and drags all six down the driveway. Two years later she says so at the body corporate meeting. Everyone agrees there should be a roster, somebody prints one, and it disappears from the letterbox noticeboard by March.
Bins suit a roster perfectly: the same night every week, recycling and green waste every second week, and a missed night means a fortnight of overflowing lids. FairTurns sets the pattern once, gives each week to whoever has had the fewest turns, and keeps the roster on a link every unit can open on a phone, with no app and no account.
It works just as well in a share house where the bins are the one job anyone fights about. For something to pin up straight away, try the roster template, or make a quick list with the rota maker.
How FairTurns runs bin night
The council’s pattern
General waste every Tuesday, recycling every second Tuesday, green waste on the other weeks. Set each once and it repeats by itself.
Out and back in
Make Bins out and Bins back in two separate teams, each with its own day and time, so whoever takes them out at night isn’t also stuck with the morning.
Units added by name
Add each household as “Yuki, unit 3”. Nobody needs an email address or an account to be on the roster.
Whose turn, worked out
Fill gives each week to the household with the fewest turns, and the turns chart shows the count to the whole block.
Away on holidays
Residents who sign in mark the weeks they’re away. For households added by name, whoever runs the roster can mark them away.
On the noticeboard and the phone
Print the list for the letterbox noticeboard and share the public link in the residents’ chat.
Set it up
- 01
Create the block
Create an organisation for the building or house.
- 02
Add the jobs
Add a team for Bins out on bin night, one for Recycling out and one for Bins back in the next morning.
- 03
Add the households
Paste the list of units or housemates, one per line.
- 04
Set bin night
Click the next bin night and choose “Every week on Tuesday”, then the recycling team’s first night as “Every second Tuesday”.
- 05
Fill and post
Press Fill for six months, print it for the noticeboard and share the link.
When you want it to run itself
Pro emails a reminder before bin night to every resident who has accepted an invitation, and the reminder is usually what makes a bin roster stick. If someone is going away and forgot to say, they reply “I can’t make it” from the email and the next household is asked. Pro is A$12 a year for the whole block, a dollar a unit in a block of twelve.
A$1 a month per organisation, paid 1 to 5 years at a time. See Pro and pricing
Good to know
- Check your council’s collection calendar and put each date on the night before. If a public holiday moves collection day, cancel that one date and add a single date on the new night.
- Households don’t pick their own weeks; the roster shares them out, and anyone can be moved by hand.
- Households added by name only get no emails. Invite at least one person per unit if you want Pro reminders.
- Anyone with the public link can see the names on it, so use first names and unit numbers rather than surnames.
Questions
Can recycling be every second week?
Yes. Click the first recycling night and choose Every second Tuesday, or whichever day yours is. Green waste can be its own team, every second week on the other weeks.
Does every unit need an account?
Each household can be added by name only, with no email, and sees the roster on the shared link. Residents who want reminders or to mark their own away weeks can accept an invitation.
What about an owner who doesn’t live there?
Leave them off the team; only the households on the bin teams get turns. When tenants change, Redistribute shares the roster out again and shows who gains and loses a week before anything changes.
Can it go on the noticeboard as well?
Yes. Open the roster in list view and print it. The link stays up to date when the paper doesn’t, so print the link’s address on the sheet too.
What does it cost?
The bin roster is free, with no limit on households or weeks. Pro adds the reminder emails for A$1 a month for the whole building, paid a year or more at a time.
Free templates and guides
Free rota maker
A rota maker for the UK: names in, a fair rota out, ready to print or open in Excel.
Roster template
A blank roster with date, time, job and name columns. Print it, or open it in Excel or Sheets.
Repeating dates
Every Saturday, every second Tuesday, the last Sunday of the month: set it once, kept ahead.
Similar rosters
Flatmate cleaning rota
Kitchen, bathroom, bins and hoovering shared out between flatmates, on a rota the whole flat can see.
Household chores
The whole family’s chores on one shared roster, with whose turn it is on everyone’s phone.
Community garden roster
Summer watering, compost turning and working bees for a community garden, shared between members.