Garden Waste Collection (Green Bin)

The cost for one permit for the period 1st April 2026 to 31st March 2027 is £50. Only bins displaying valid permits will be emptied. 

The permit fee for 2026-27 of £50 has increased by two pounds in comparison to the 2025-26 fee which was £48. The cost of the permit covers the emptying of one green bin on a fortnightly basis, except during the two-week annual suspension which takes places over the Christmas and New Year period. Garden waste collections are not a statutory service that the Council has to provide to residents. The price increase reflects the costs required to provide the service and means it is not subsidised by Council Tax paying properties who do not subscribe to the service.

Once a licence has been purchased, the system takes 48 hours to process. If you purchase a licence after 4pm, it will not show on our systems until two working days afterwards. For example, if you purchase on a Friday after 4pm, the bin permit will not be active until the following Tuesday. Bins will not be collected if a valid permit is not displaying in our systems. The permit must be stuck onto the bin body when received. 

Yes, you can purchase more than one permit and have more than one green bin. Each bin must display a valid permit in order to receive a collection. 

When you have paid for your garden permit, the details will be sent to our contractor to send the welcome pack by post. This can take up to ten working days. If you haven't received it after this time please contact us and we will look into the issue.

You can request a replacement permit by contacting us.

Please include the address the permit is linked to and the reason why a replacement is needed.

There will be a £5 charge for each replacement and your previous permit will be cancelled. You will be asked to provide evidence of the damaged permit.

Yes, apart from a two week break over the Christmas and New Year period.

There may be occasions when collections need to be suspended. Full details will be provided on the Council website if there are any interruptions to the service.

No refunds will be given for unexpected disruptions to the service.

No. The service will only be available to residents that subscribe to the service. If you do not register and make the payment, your green bin will not be collected and you will not be charged. Therefore, if you do not have a garden or do not want to pay for the collections, you do not need to do anything.

The permit payment is for 12 months and there is not an option for a partial subscription. 

No, we do not offer a concessionary discount. 

There will be a cooling-off period of 14 days in which you can cancel your subscription as long as you return your permit intact to us. After the cooling-off period, no refunds will be issued.

This can be requested online Replacement/Repair Green Bin or by calling 01789 267575.

The green bin will be replaced in line with the Council's Fees and Charges Schedule and a replacement permit will be supplied.

If a resident moves within the district, their subscription can be transferred to their new address.

You will need to contact SDC to arrange for a new permit to be issued.

No refunds, in whole or in part, will be issued if a subscribing resident moves outside of the district during the year.

You can subscribe to the service throughout the year but the price for the subscription is fixed from 1st April to 31st March. This means that you will have to pay full price for the permit no matter when you subscribe as we do not offer a discounted rate for permits. 

No. nearly all household waste is taken to an energy from waste facility which cannot accept garden waste. If there is a large amount of garden waste in your household bin, it will not be emptied. The collections crews will be monitoring bins for hidden garden waste and a thorough check will be made if evidence shows previous contamination.

Your green bin(s) needs to be on the boundary of the property by 6am on the scheduled collection day. If the collection is missed and reported within two working days of the scheduled date, we will return to empty the bin in line with our current arrangements. You can report a missed bin online  Report a missed bin collection

In freezing temperatures garden waste can freeze causing the contents to get stuck inside the bin. In this situation, collection crews will still try to empty the bin but if they can't, this will be noted in our shared system and we will not return to empty until the next scheduled collection day.  

There is a two-week suspension period during Christmas and New Year when collections will not take place. The dates are added to our website and bin tags used to communicate the changes to collections during this time. Missed collections reported during the suspension period will not be returned to.

The most environmentally friendly way to dispose of your garden waste is by home composting. Warwickshire County Council offer discounted home composting bins on 
their website here. 
You can also take your garden waste to a Household Waste Recycling Centre. Please do not mix food waste with garden waste when taking it to these sites. To find your local centre and opening times please click here. 

The collection of garden waste is a discretionary service not a statutory service - i.e. one that the Council is not obliged to provide. We had the choice to charge for the service or 
possibly discontinue it completely. We felt that it would be fairer for residents to have the choice to pay for a service or not, rather than not having a service at all. We are not allowed to charge for the collection of household waste (i.e. grey bin) under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. There are also limits to how much the council tax can be increased and it was felt it would be fairer to charge only those residents that use the service.

The garden waste service is designed to collect garden waste such as grass cuttings, leaves and small branches.

Soil and turf should not be added to your green bin. If your bin contains soil or turf, crews will not be able to empty it. 

 Yes. If you have an assisted waste collection, your garden waste will be collected from the same agreed collection point as your household waste and recycling.

 Food waste is collected weekly in your food waste bin. Please do not use the green bin for food waste. Windfall apples and other compostable garden waste can be put in the green bin but please ensure it is not too heavy for collection. Bins that are overweight may not be emptied.

 The charge is £50 per green bin regardless of size. If you have a smaller 140-litre bin, this can be swapped for a larger 240-litre bin on request and at no extra cost by calling us on 01789 260628.

 Yes. All garden waste collections are fully chargeable (since 1st April 2021) and the same charges apply to use the service.

 No. The recycling in the blue-lidded bin is sorted at a materials recycling facility, they cannot accept garden waste at this plant. If there is garden waste in your blue-lidded bin, it will not be emptied. The collection crews will be monitoring bins for hidden garden waste and a thorough check will be made if evidence shows previous contamination.

 The permit charge is fixed for one year from 1st April to 31st March. The charge must be paid in full and there is no pro-rata rate available.

No. The charge is £50 per green bin and only bins showing the official permits displaying the correct year will be emptied. Residents can have more than one bin if required.

If a bin is too heavy, we may not be able to collect it.

Yes. This would be a private arrangement between residents. The collection crews will only collect green bins displaying a valid permit from the address shown.

 Householders are responsible for keeping your green bin secure to ensure other residents cannot put items inside the garden bin.

We encourage subscribers to use a green wheelie bin where possible. We can provide a green bin free of charge when you sign up to the service if you have room to store the bin away from the public highway between collections.

Reusable sacks will be available to purchase where a wheeled bin is not practicable.

Do not use the online form if you use or need to use garden sacks instead of a bin, call us on 01789 260628 instead.

The permit will have the address printed on it, so it cannot be used at a different property. The collection crews will also have a full list of properties who have paid the subscription. There will be an admin fee of £5 for all replacement permits, you would need to contact us to arrange this.

No. Due to the administrative burden and the costs involved, this option is not currently available

Yes, we can still collect a Christmas tree even if you have not subscribed to the service. To find out how and when please visit our website:

Christmas Recycling and Rubbish Collections