Brown Bins

Following the Council's annual budget meeting for 2024/25, a decision was made to introduce a charge for the collection of garden waste within the brown bin.

The collection of garden waste is not a statutory service, and with reducing budgets and increasing costs, the Council can no longer afford to operate this type of collection as a free service.

To retain a garden waste collection service, it was therefore necessary to introduce a charge to contribute towards the cost of its provision. There is no obligation to make use of the chargeable service and residents can continue to dispose of garden waste free of charge at the Community Recycling Centres.

Garden Waste permits cost £52.75 per annum for up to two bins per household. This cost is not reduced if a customer purchases a permit beyond 1 June 2025. All permits for the 2025/26 year will end on 31 May 2026.

Food waste can always be placed in the brown bin, free of charge. Once you have a garden waste permit, these items can also go in your brown bin:

• grass cuttings
• leaves and twigs
• branches and twigs (small enough to fit in the bin with the lid closed)
• hedge clippings
• plants

Do not put these items in your brown bin:

• rubble and soil
• pet waste and bedding
• plant pots
• wood and fencing
• timber or logs
• garden furniture
• stones, gravel, or concrete (including DIY waste, such as plasterboard)

There will be no change to the brown bin collection day. Households will continue to receive uplifts on a fortnightly frequency. Brown bins displaying a valid garden waste permit will be emptied by the same crew and vehicle collecting food waste from households not participating in the garden waste collection service.

The £52.75 charge will be valid per household for up to two bins. This provides up to two permits if required to place on your bins to allow collection. 

As per the Waste Service Standards, only two brown bins can be presented per household at any one time. 

The service starts on 1 June 2025.

Collection crews will only empty brown bins containing garden waste if they display a valid garden waste permit.

Service information and permit payment system will be available online from Monday 14 April 2025.

Please be aware that the permit sticker is not designed to be pressure washed or commercially cleaned using strong chemicals, this may cause the permit to be damaged or spoiled.

If your permit is damaged you can request a replacement permit in the replacement permit section above.

Please note, once the payment has been processed, it will take up to 21 days to print the personalised permit for your bin and then post it to your home. If it has been more than 21 days since you ordered your permit and you received the email confirmation, but you have still not received the permit through the post, please request a replacement permit via Brown Bins or telephone the Council's Customer Service Centre on 01506 280000 (Option 3 then Option 1).

Brown bin collections will be suspended over the festive period. Details of changes to the festive uplift schedule will be available on Household Recycling and Waste and you can stay up to date with any daily changes to collections on Bin Collection Daily Updates. 

You can also view, download or print your bin collection calendars at Bin Collection Calendar Dates.