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Bins & Waste

Garden Waste Collections

The new garden waste subscription service started on 1 April 2024. If you have not paid for the new service, your garden bin will no longer be collected.

For residents that have subscribed, the day and schedule that your garden waste bin is collected will not change. Please have your bin out ready for collection before 6.30am on the day, as collection times may vary with the implementation of the new service.

Your sticker can take up to 2 weeks to arrive as we need to process your subscription, add you to our systems, and send out your subscription pack (includes your sticker). Once payment is received and you are added to our systems, you will be included on the next scheduled collection round.

Changes to Disposal of Food Waste

From 1 April 2024 food waste will no longer be accepted as part of the garden waste collections. By law we cannot charge for the collection of food waste and now that the garden waste service is moving over to a chargeable service, food waste has to be excluded. Any food waste you have will have to be placed in the grey bin. Find out more on the Food Waste page.

Bins & Waste

Garden Waste Subscription Service

On 31 March 2024 the existing free garden bin service came to an end and was replaced with a new fortnightly garden waste subscription service.

Sign up to the garden waste service or ask for your bin to be removed

The cost per year is £57.50 for one garden waste bin and £30 per additional bin (up to a maximum of 3 additional bins).

Please note: Your sticker can take up to 2 weeks to arrive as we need to process your subscription, add you to our systems, and send out your subscription pack (includes your sticker). Once payment is received and you are added to our systems, you will be included on the next scheduled collection round. The collection vehicles have 'in-cab' technology to see which households have subscribed.

If you have ordered additional bin(s) as part of your subscription, stickers for these bins will be sent to you after your bin(s) have been delivered.

We have put together some information about the service, including some FAQs below.

Please complete the online  form to either sign up to the service or ask for your bin to be removed. If you are signing up, you can pay by credit/debit card or Direct Debit

Your sticker can take up to 2 weeks to arrive as we need to process your subscription, add you to our systems, and send out your subscription pack (includes your sticker). Once payment is received and you are added to our systems, you will be included on the next scheduled collection round.

The collection vehicles have ‘in-cab’ technology to see which households have subscribed to the service.

If you have ordered additional bins as part of your subscription, stickers for these bins will be sent to you after your bins have been delivered.

A new sticker will be issued each year upon successful payment of the subscription. If you subscribe to more than one bin, you will receive a sticker for each bin.

If you have already signed up to the garden waste subscription service and want additional bin(s), please complete the Additional Garden Waste Bin(s) form. 

If you subscribe to the service you can put the following in the garden waste bin:

Yes please

√ Weeds

√ Hedge trimmings

√ Small twigs and branches (less than 2.5cm (1") in diameter)

√ Grass cuttings

√ Flowers, plants, and windfall fruit

√ Leaves

√ Shredded paper

√ Small animal bedding (vegetarian only, for example rabbits, guinea pigs, mice and rats

No thank you

X Food waste

X Plastic bags or bin bags

X Flowerpots and trays

X Soil

X Stones or rubble

X Branches or logs (larger than 2.5cm (1") in diameter)

X Any other household rubbish

X Textiles

X Animal waste

X Compost and turf

By law, we cannot charge for the collection of food waste. As there is a charge for the new garden waste service, this means we cannot accept food waste as part of these collections.

If the waste is from a vegetable patch or windfall fruit, it is classed as garden waste and you can put it in your garden bin. If the waste comes from your kitchen, it is classed as food waste and you cannot put it in your garden bin.

We are fully committed to continuing to providing residents with advice to help them minimise the amount of food waste they generate. 

Approximately 70% of the food waste from UK households that is thrown away is edible. By cutting food waste the average UK household can save £500 each year.

We want to encourage residents to reduce the amount of food waste that they are generating which not only helps the environment but saves you money too.

Love food Hate Waste provides tips to assist householders to reduce their food waste, from how to store your food to make it last longer, portion planning to some great recipes to use up your leftovers.

There will always be some food waste and if you have or are thinking about home composting or a wormery, these are an ideal way to create soil conditioner for your garden.

You can also put food waste in your grey refuse bin. The contents of these bins are treated via a Mechanical Biological Treatment plant (MBT).

Currently 37% of grey bin waste is food waste. We do not expect a significant increase in this percentage  based on the analysis of other councils that charge for garden waste collections.

 

Please visit the Garden Waste Initiatives page for more information.

Saturday freighter locations are on our Freighter Locations and Schedule page.

Frequently asked questions