Garden Waste 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. 

The cost for one permit for the period 1st April 2025 to 31st March 2026 is £48. Only bins displaying valid permits will be emptied. 

The permit fee for 2025-26 of £48 has increased by two pounds in comparison to the 2024-25 fee which was £46. 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.

When you have paid for your subscription, the details will be sent to our contractor to provide the welcome pack. 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 contact us to request a replacement permit. 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 sticker.

Yes, with the exception of a two week break over the Christmas and New Year period when the service is suspended. There may be occasions when scheduled collections may not be able to take place, for example, during extreme weather conditions. Full details will be provided on our website if there are any interruptions to the service. No refunds will be given for unexpected disruptions to the service.

No, the service is only available to residents who have purchased a permit. If you do not register and make the payment, your green bin will not be collected and there will be 
no charge to you. 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 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 subscription year is fixed from 1st April to 31st March. We do not offer a discounted rate for permits. 

No. Most of the waste from your grey bin is taken to an energy from waste facility which cannot accept garden waste. If there is garden waste in your grey 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.

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

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. 

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 domestic 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.

Your green bin needs to be on the boundary of the property by 6am on the scheduled collection day. If the collection is missed, we will return to empty the bin if it is reported within two working days of the collection day.

During freezing temperatures, garden waste can occasionally freeze inside the bin.  If this happens and the collection crews cannot empty, they will log the issue. In this situation, we will not be able to return to empty the bin until the next scheduled collection day. 

Yes. If you have an assisted waste collection, the garden collections will be treated in the same way as your food, refuse and recycling collections. 

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.

The charge is the same whether the bin is a standard sized (240 litre) bin or a smaller (140 litre) bin. Residents with a smaller bin can contact us to exchange a smaller bin for a larger bin if required.

Yes. All garden waste collections will be fully chargeable from 1st April 2021.

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 annual 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. One permit allows for the emptying of the green bin it is fixed to and only bins showing the official permits will be emptied. Any additional bags of garden waste left next to the bin will not be taken.  

Yes. This will be a private arrangement between residents. The collection crews will only collect green bins displaying a valid permit from the household at which it is registered.

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.

You are responsible for keeping your green bin secure to ensure other people cannot use the bin.

We would encourage subscribers to use a green 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.
Reusable sacks will be available to purchase where a wheeled bin is not practicable. Do not use the online subscription service if you need to use sacks, you will need to contact us on 01789 260628 to pay for the garden waste service.

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.

We have conducted benchmarking with other councils where they charge for the collection of garden waste. This has shown that there is not a significant increase in fly tipping when charges are introduced. Any fly tipping that occurs will be dealt with as per our current arrangements. Fly tipping is a crime, any person found guilty of fly tipping will be dealt with, in line with SDC's Local Environmental Quality Enforcement Policy.

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

No, the price is the same for everyone.