Never Forget to Put the Bins Out Again with Home Assistant

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Do you keep forgetting to put your bins out in time? With two Home Assistant integrations — Waste Collection Schedule and Card-Mod — you’ll get a prominent alert sent straight to your smartphone and displayed on your dashboard. Once the job is done, you can confirm the alert so it disappears from the dashboard. I’ll show you how to get this working in three simple steps.

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The whole setup comes down to three simple steps:

Install HACS and the integrations: We install HACS and set up the required integrations.
Configure Waste Collection Schedule: I’ll show you how to automatically capture your bin collection dates.
Set up the dashboard alert: You’ll learn how to add a prominent warning to your dashboard and make it disappear once the bins are out.

At the end, I’ll share a bonus tip — a small hidden feature of the integration. Let’s get started!

Installing Everything

HACS

I’ll quickly walk through installing HACS in case you haven’t done it yet. If you’re already familiar with it, feel free to skip to the next section — it only takes a moment, because HACS is really quick to set up.

If you haven’t installed HACS yet, you’ll find all the details at hacs.xyz. If you want to get it done fast, just run this command on your system:

`1`	`wget -O - https://get.hacs.xyz \| bash -`

Afterwards, restart Home Assistant and you can set up HACS via “Add Integration”. This requires authentication via GitHub. You’ll be guided through the process almost automatically. Once everything is done, you’ll see a new HACS entry in the Home Assistant sidebar on the right.

Waste Collection Schedule & Card-Mod

Now we need two integrations, both available through HACS:

Waste Collection Schedule (for parsing bin collection dates)
Card-Mod (for a visually prominent display on your dashboard)

Steps:

In Home Assistant, go to HACS in the sidebar.
Search for “card-mod” and “waste collection”.
Download both integrations by clicking the menu on the right and confirming “Download” twice.
A restart of Home Assistant may be required after installation.

Setting Up Waste Collection Schedule (WCS)

Waste Collection Schedule (WCS) supports a wide range of providers. If your provider isn’t listed but offers calendar files in ICAL format, you can easily add them via “Generic”.

In a spot check of various districts in Germany, I didn’t find a single one that wasn’t already in the list.

Setting up your provider in WCS:

Go to: Settings > Integrations > Add Integration and select “Waste Collection Schedule”.
Select your country, e.g. Germany.
Search for your source: Look up your city or district.

Adding the URL:

Copy the URL from your waste management provider’s website.
Paste it into the setup dialog under “URL”.

Creating Sensors

Give each sensor a descriptive name, for example “Green Bin”.
In the “Value Template Preset” field, select “Numeric Days To”.
At the bottom under “Types”: Choose the correct label, e.g. “Organic Waste”.

Automations & Dashboard

There are several ways to use this information through automations or dashboard visualizations. I’ll show you two options:

Option 1: Notification via Automation

Go to: Settings > Automations and create a new automation.
Give it a name, for example “Bin Reminders”.
Set the trigger: Click “Add Trigger” > “Time & Location” > “Time” > “Fixed Time”.
- Choose a time when you’d like to be notified, e.g. late afternoon the day before collection.
Define conditions: Add a “Choose” block to distinguish between different bin types.
- For example: if the state of the green bin sensor is “1” (meaning collection is scheduled for the next day), you want to be notified the afternoon before.
Set actions:
- Choose “Send Notification” and enter a message, e.g. “Put the green bin out”.
Add a separate option for each additional bin type and define the corresponding conditions and actions.

This automation ensures you reliably receive reminders whenever it’s time to put your bins out.

Option 2: Display on the Home Assistant Dashboard

I know the problem all too well: you get a notification, you register it, and then forget about it anyway. In the worst case, you accidentally swipe it away.

That’s why I’ve found it far more effective to display the reminder on the Home Assistant dashboard — in a way that only disappears once you actively confirm it.

You can easily extend the automation you just created to handle this.

Preparation: Create a Helper

Go to: Settings > Devices & Services > “Helpers” tab.
Create a new helper: Select “Toggle”.
Name the toggle something like “Put green bin out”.
This toggle will be used to display and manage the bin collection status on your dashboard.

Extending the Automation

Go back to the automation you created and open the configuration for “Option 1”.
Add an additional action:
- Alongside the notification, add another action:
- “Input Helper” > “Turn on” > select your helper “Put green bin out”.

Setting Up the Dashboard Display

Add a tile to your dashboard that displays the “Put green bin out” helper.
Configure visibility:
- Set a condition so that this tile is only shown when the helper is turned on.

Your automation will now activate the helper the day before collection and display it on your dashboard. Once you’ve put the bin out, you tap the tile, which sets the toggle back to “Off” — and the tile disappears.

The whole cycle repeats in one or two weeks, and you’re guaranteed never to forget to put your bins out on time again. Unless you’re on holiday and can’t see the dashboard from there.

Fun Fact

Thanks to the Waste Collection Schedule integration, you can also display your collection dates in Home Assistant’s calendar view. So if you ever want to see your entire bin collection schedule at a glance, that’s easily possible.

And that’s it! Your Home Assistant will now reliably remind you to put the bins out on time.

Bin Collection on Smart Home? Sure — But Secure!

Never Forget to Put the Bins Out Again with Home Assistant

Installing Everything

HACS

Waste Collection Schedule & Card-Mod

Setting Up Waste Collection Schedule (WCS)

Creating Sensors

Automations & Dashboard

Option 1: Notification via Automation

Option 2: Display on the Home Assistant Dashboard

Preparation: Create a Helper

Extending the Automation

Setting Up the Dashboard Display

Fun Fact