Our garden waste collection service allows you to have your garden waste emptied from your brown bin every fortnight.
Important: If you are signing up to the service now, please be aware that the current service year ends on 31 March 2025. After that date you will have to pay for a new service year.
We will not be able to accept telephone payments until February 2025.
How to subscribe
To sign up, you need to have a valid email address and your debit or credit card details to hand. This will be used to confirm your order and to communicate with you regarding the service in the future. You can also pay by direct debit.
If you are on the Council Tax reduction scheme you will need your valid benefits number to receive the concession rate.
How the service works
Sign up at any time
You can decide at any time to subscribe to the garden waste collection service. Your request will be processed as soon as possible but it may not be in time to provide a collection on your next scheduled recycling day due to processing your information and if a new bin needs to be delivered. Once you have subscribed to the garden waste service it may take up to two weeks to register your details with our collection crews.
If you decide not to subscribe to the service, you don't need to tell us. The garden waste service is opt-in, which means you only need to act if you do wish to sign up.
Single annual payment
The annual payment covers collections from 1 October 2023 to 31 March 2025. This is a one-off, partly as a way of assisting residents through the current cost of living crisis and also to allow us to align our subscription period with East Herts Council, as we operate a shared waste collection service with them.
Put your brown bin out for collection
The service is fortnightly on your usual recycling day. Find your collection day here.
- Place your brown bin(s) out at your property boundary by 7am
- We recommend putting your house number on to your brown bin
- If your bin is missed please report it to us within 48 hours and if we have genuinely missed it we will return. If the bin has been left due to containing incorrect materials you should remove the incorrect items and we will then empty it on the next scheduled collection day
- If you currently receive an assisted collection for your other waste and recycling services we will apply this assistance to the new service. The bin must still be visible at the front of the property but does not have to be moved to the boundary
Need more than one bin?
You can pay for up to two additional brown bins for garden waste at your property.
Food waste is collected separately
Each home has a 23L brown kerbside caddy for food waste. Food waste from houses is recycled in the kerbside caddy and collected weekly. No food waste should be placed in the brown bin. Flats with a food waste only brown bin service have their food waste collected weekly from a communal brown bin.
Prices for October 2023 to March 2025
| Payment type | Amount you pay per bin |
|---|---|
Single subscription Sign up any time during the specified period to have one bin collected |
£49.00 |
Additional bin collection charge Sign up to have an additional bin collected. Please note this is for the cost of collection only and does not include the supply and delivery price of a bin. |
£49.00 per additional bin |
Bin supply charge For customers new to the service who need a bin to be delivered, or for existing customers who would like additional bins. Bins remain the property of the Council. |
£40 per bin |
Concession rate For residents who are part of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme (with a valid benefit number, which needs to be provided at the point of signing up) |
£24.50 for the first subscription |
What can go in your brown bin
You can place the following in your brown bin:
- garden waste
- grass / hedge cuttings / leaves
- small tree prunings, bark and twigs
- tree branches (up to 3cm in diameter)
- moss, weeds
- flowers
- plants with excess soil removed
- fallen fruit
- real Christmas trees (without decorations and pot)
These items should not be placed in your brown bin:
- food waste - please use your food caddy
- general waste
- nappies
- pet bedding
- cardboard
- paper or other mixed recycling
- soil
- rubble
- invasive plants - including Giant hogweed and Japanese knotweed
If the collection crews find incorrect materials placed in your brown bin, they will not be able to empty it - see our page on common collection problems.
Return an unused brown bin
To have your unused brown bin collected and returned to us, please use the form below:
We will only remove empty brown bins. If your bin contains any waste, it will not be taken.
If you decide to sign up to the garden waste service at a later date, you will have to pay for a new bin to be delivered.
Why garden waste is chargeable
Like many councils we have a reduced budget from central government. The decision to charge for garden waste collections is one of many difficult decisions the Council has faced to help reduce the costs of providing services.
Unlike household waste and recycling, there is no legal requirement to collect garden waste and councils can charge for collections. The income from charging for garden waste collections will make the service self-financing.
More information is available on the frequently asked questions page.