Garden waste

New recycling service

If you have received your green recycling box, you are now part of the new recycling service. You will have also received a leaflet telling you about the new service (pdf, 6.7 MB)

There are a few changes to the garden waste service:

• You will now need to phone our customer services centre if you want your garden waste sacks picked up. There is no change for garden waste bins, they will still be collected as before.
  
  
• We ask that you do not put cardboard into your garden waste bins or sacks. Cardboard should now be put in, or next to, your green recycling box.

For more details of the changes, refer to our garden waste - frequently asked questions section

What's in?

• Flowers and plants
• Grass cuttings
• Leaves and bark
• Hedge prunings
• Branches - up to 10cm or 4 inches in thickness
• Straw or sawdust - if bedding material, vegetarian animals only, such as gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs and rabbits.
• Weeds - no Japanese Knotweed
• Leaves
• Twigs
• Plants

What's out?

• Cardboard
  
  
• Japanese Knotweed
• Soil and turf
• Compost
• Stone or rubble
• Treated wood
• Plant pots
• Cat, dog or other pet litter
• Vacuum cleaner contents
• Nappies
• Plastic, metal or glass
• Any other household waste

Existing recycling service

If you have not received your green recycling box, you are still part of the existing recycling service. You will receive your green box between now and June but for now, you should continue to recycle your garden waste as before.

What's in?

• Flowers and plants
• Grass cuttings
• Leaves and bark
• Hedge prunings
• Branches - up to 10cm or 4 inches in thickness
• Straw or sawdust - if bedding material, vegetarian animals only, such as gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs and rabbits.
• Weeds - no Japanese Knotweed
• Leaves
• Twigs
• Plants
• Cardboard

What's out?

• Japanese Knotweed
• Soil and turf
• Compost
• Stone or rubble
• Treated wood
• Plant pots
• Cat, dog or other pet litter
• Vacuum cleaner contents
• Nappies
• Plastic, metal or glass
• Any other household waste

Your garden waste

Garden (and kitchen) waste are the worst types of material to go in the rubbish bin. They produce large amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas, as they break down in landfills. This scheme is designed to keep material like this out of landfills.

Collection of garden waste is an optional service. You can either have a garden waste bin, or use garden waste sacks.

There is a charge for this service.

You can also take your garden waste to one of Bristol's Household Waste Recycling Centres at no charge, or why not try home composting?

Garden waste bin

You can purchase a 240 litre garden waste bin and sign up for a year of weekly garden waste collections for a total of £53 (£21 for your bin and £32 for your collection service a year).

You may be entitled to the following discounts: 

• Direct debit: If you pay for your garden waste bin and collections by direct debit you qualify for a discount of £3, bringing the annual charge down to just £29.
• Benefits: If you are a recipient of income support, pension credits, housing or council tax benefits you are entitled to 50% off the cost of the cost of your garden waste bin and collections.

If you would like to apply for one of these discounts please contact Customer Services Centre on 0117 922 2100.

You own your garden waste bin.

You are responsible for its security, upkeep and any repairs needed to it, unless damage was caused by our collectors. Providing you take care of it, you should have no problems but wear and tear can occur and you should be aware that it might not be possible for us to collect garden waste from a damaged bin.

If you move

• If you move outside of the Bristol boundary, the Garden Waste Service is non-refundable.

• If you move to another part of Bristol having signed up to the garden waste scheme just take your garden waste bin or sacks with you. Let us know your new address, at least two weeks before you move, and you'll continue to receive the service.

Garden waste sacks

For £1 you can buy a 75 litre garden waste sack. This price includes delivery and collection from the kerbside.

New recycling service - you will now need to phone our customer services centre each time you want to book a collection, so we know where there are sacks that need picking up.

Existing recycling service - we will pick up garden sacks with your weekly recycling collection as before.

You can buy your garden waste sacks in the following ways:

• Purchase from a local retailer (pdf, 51 KB)
• Purchase from your local Customer Service Point.
• Contact our Customer Services Centre on 0117 922 2100 (bundles of 25 only).

If you would like to stock garden waste sacks in your store, or you would like to suggest a retailer you would like to see stocking them please email us with all the details.

Garden waste - frequently asked questions about the new service

Will the cost of garden waste collections stay the same on the new service?

Yes for the meantime they will remain as they are: £32 for the annual collection service (or £29 if you pay by direct debit), with a one-off cost for the garden bin of £21. People in receipt of certain benefits are entitled to a 50% reduction in the price.

Alternatively, you can buy paper garden waste sacks for £1 each.

I currently pay the council annually by direct debit for my garden waste collection. Will this carry on as it is or do I need to contact May Gurney?

This will stay the same if you pay for a garden waste bin.

Will my garden waste collections continue every week as they do now?

• Yes, if you have a garden waste bin.

• For those who use garden paper sacks, residents will need to contact the customer service centre on 0117 922 2100 when they want their garden waste sacks collected. This will help to reduce costs and operate a more cost effective system by preventing crews from driving around every street in the city every week, looking for sacks which residents don’t always put out every week.

When will my garden waste be collected?

If you have a garden waste bin, it will be picked up on your collection day. Unlike the previous contract, where it was collected in the same vehicle as food waste and cardboard, it will now be collected in a separate vehicle.

If you put out garden waste in a purchased sack, when you phone the customer service centre you will be given a collection date.

I have garden waste every week. Will I need to phone the customer service centre every week to arrange for collection?

If you have a garden waste bin, the service will continue as it is now and there will be no need to phone the customer service centre.
For those who use the paper sacks, they will need to phone up to arrange collections.

Why have I now got to call for my garden waste sacks to be picked up?

This new service means that the crews only need to go to the homes where there is a garden waste sack to be picked up, rather than driving around each street looking for sacks that are only put out from time to time. This creates a more cost effective operation.