Bin
Garden waste

Garden waste service

Service update

Garden waste customers will receive a collection once every four weeks until December. This is when collections usually revert to that frequency under normal circumstances. See our changes to the garden waste service page for more information.

Please download the latest garden waste collection calendar for your address as your collections date will have changed.

Crews are doing their best to get to all properties on their scheduled collection days however they are still under pressure and may need to catch up on subsequent days.

If your garden waste is not collected on your scheduled day, please take the following steps:

  • Check the service report as the crew may already be aware that you have been missed. If your road is listed, you don’t need to take any action and a crew will be back to collect your bin. You can see the revised collection date on the report.
  • If your road is not listed, log a missed collection within 24 hours of your scheduled collection day.

From Monday 24 May, only garden waste bins which are signed up to the new garden waste service will be collected. 

Please be aware that it can take up to 10 working days from sign up for your garden waste permit to be sent out and your property to be set up to receive collections.

Why we introduced an annual charge

Council finances are under pressure, even more so this year, but it has not been an easy decision. The income generated from charging for garden waste collections will make the service self-financing and free up resources to protect essential services. 

We are also encouraging and supporting more home composting. Composting is the most environmentally sustainable way to dispose of garden waste and will make a positive contribution to our carbon emissions target.

The cost of the annual garden waste service

The new garden waste service costs £50 per bin (up to a maximum of two bins per property) for collections between 1 April and 31 March each year.

The 2021-2022 service runs for a one-year period from Thursday 1 April 2021 to Thursday 31 March 2022.

You can sign up at any point during the year. However, it will still cost £50 for the remainder of the year until 31 March 2022.

Collection days

Garden waste is collected fortnightly for most of the year and monthly during the December, January and February when less garden waste is produced.

Your collection day will not change when you sign up to the new service.

When you’ve signed up and paid for the garden waste service, you will be sent a letter with one permit sticker per bin, or one tag per three bags.

All bins which have been paid for should have the permit displayed for the crew to easily identify and collect it.

Bins and waste sacks

You can pay for a maximum of two garden waste bins per property.

If your household is signing up to the garden waste service for the first time or you're ordering an extra bin, we'll deliver a 240L bin to your address.

If your household was registered for the old garden waste service you should continue to use the bins or sacks you already have.

You can make a request to exchange your smaller bin for the larger size, but if possible you should continue to use your existing bin.

Garden waste bags - three sacks are equivalent to one bin - are still available to properties that are on a sack service for general rubbish.

When you’ve signed up and paid for the garden waste service you will be sent a letter with a permit sticker for your bin, or a tag for bags. All bins which have been paid for should have the permit displayed for the crew to easily identify and collect it.

The crew will also have the addresses of the households who have paid for the service in the vehicle and will only be collecting from those properties.

From Monday 24 May, only addresses which have signed up to the new service will have their garden waste collected.

If you have not signed up but continue to put garden waste out for collection, the crew will leave the bin unemptied.

Crews will be looking for permits to collect bins. They will also have an electronic record of addresses which are signed up.

If you do not have a permit and your address is not on the records, your bin or sacks will not be emptied.

Some people may get a discount

If you receive a discount on your Council Tax you will also qualify for a reduced-price garden waste collection service this year.

The percentage of discount applied will be the same as you receive for Council Tax and will be calculated automatically based on your address when you sign up.

If you don't want to pay for your collections

If you don’t want to pay, garden waste can be composted at home which is the cheapest, most environmental-friendly and sustainable way to manage garden waste.

Alternatively, you can take garden waste to one of the three recycling centres in North Somerset free of charge.

If you have an unwanted garden waste bin

The terms and conditions of the previous garden waste service state the £25 one-off registration fee was for the administration of the service and customers are not purchasing a bin.

All bins remain the property of North Somerset Council.

We’re not currently collecting unwanted garden waste bins. We’ll let people know how we’re doing this later in the year. For now, please keep this stored in your garden.

If you move home

The garden waste bin is registered to one address only. If you move, the new residents will benefit from the remainder of the collections for the year.

Please do not take the bin with you as it will not be collected from your new address.

If you don’t have a collection at your new address but you would like one, then please sign up and pay again.