Garden waste service

You can sign up to have garden waste collected from your property. It’s an annual, chargeable service which runs from April through to March the following year.

Not all households in North Somerset need a garden waste collection, so it’s fairer for everyone if we charge for this separately.

The cost to sign up

The subscription rate for 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 is £65 for each garden waste bin. Households can have a maximum of two garden waste bins.

Once you have signed up, you will then receive collections until 31 March 2026.

If you can't have a bin at your property, you will be supplied with three garden waste bags for the same subscription cost of £65. Households can have a maximum of six bags.

We only collect from garden waste bins or bags that we have supplied.

It will cost £65 whenever you sign up.

Help for the most financially vulnerable households

Who qualifies for a discount

For those in need of financial support, we will reduce the subscription cost by 75 percent to £16.25 per bin or three bags.

You will qualify for this discount if any of the following apply:

  • you receive council tax support
  • you live in a student-only household
  • you receive the severe mental impairment discount
  • you have an armed forces exemption on your council tax

Your discount will be automatically applied when you sign up.

Why you might not be seeing the discount

If you try to sign up before Wednesday 5 March 2025, your eligibility will be based on your council tax status in last year’s tax year. 

If you recently applied for any of the listed discounts and they’re not showing yet, please wait and sign up after Monday 10 March 2025.

Container deliveries

If you already have garden waste bins or bags, please continue to use them. 

When you subscribe, you may be asked some questions about which containers you have at your property. We will use this information to work out whether we need to deliver any containers to you. 

Once you have paid you will receive a confirmation email that will confirm if we will deliver any containers to you. If the information in the letter is incorrect, contact us at gardenwaste@n-somerset.gov.uk 

Please note that deliveries may take up to 28 working days.

Permits

Once you've signed up to the service, you should receive your permit through the post within 15 working days. Instructions will be sent with the permit and crews will only collect from bins and bags with permits attached.

Calendars

You can use the online calendar to check when we will collect your garden waste. It may be collected on a different day from your recycling and non-recyclable waste. 

Collection days

Garden waste is collected fortnightly for most of the year. During December, January and February there is a monthly collection as less garden waste is produced during the winter.

The service does not operate for a period around Christmas. This is so we can support increased festive recycling and waste collections during that time. The frequency of collections can occasionally change due to disruption.

To keep up to date with live information, follow us on social media.

If you move house

If you move house within North Somerset, you can transfer your subscription to your new address at no extra cost.

We will transfer your subscription to your new address within 25 working days.

  • you must take your garden waste containers with you when you move
  • a replacement permit with your new address will be sent in the post

We reserve the right to change your container type to suit your new property, if needed.

We do not offer refunds if you move out of the area or no longer use the service in your new home. More information about refunds can be found in our terms and conditions.

If you don't want to sign up

If you don’t want to sign up to the garden waste service, find out how to compost garden waste at home. Composting is the most environmentally sustainable way to dispose of garden waste and will help us to reduce our carbon emissions.

You can also use one of our three recycling centres. There is no charge to dispose of garden waste at the recycling centres.

Unwanted garden waste bins

If you have a garden waste bin that you don’t need and are not currently receiving collections, you can request for it to be removed through MyAccount.

Unwanted bins should be left in an accessible place for the crew to collect. We will collect the bins within 28 working days.

We don’t collect unwanted garden waste bags. Please reuse them or dispose of them responsibly by taking them to a recycling centre.

Contact us

If you have any questions, you can email gardenwaste@n-somerset.gov.uk. There are other ways to contact us if you don't have access to email.