Garden Bin Subscription

You will need to create a new account for the scheme in our subscription portal. This account is separate to any other account you may already have.

Subscribe now using the button below – it’s quick and easy.

Subscribe to our Garden Waste Recycling Scheme

Garden bin subscription terms and conditions

Payment for the subscription will be taken in full at the point of placing your order.

Once you have a subscription, we will empty your garden bin from January to December.

By paying an annual subscription fee, we will continue to collect your garden bin every 2 weeks on your usual collection day.

There are no garden bin collections between mid-December and mid-January each year.

Your garden waste will be taken away to a facility, in Etwall, where it will be turned into compost for use in agriculture and horticulture.

Subscriptions cost £40 for 2025 and you will need one for each garden bin that you would like us to collect. A discounted rate of £35 is available to those who subscribe prior to 31 January 2025.

You will be able to pay for the service at any time of year. The charge covers you for that collection year and is the same whether you join at the beginning, part way through the year or only need a few collections.

By signing up by January, you can be sure that you will benefit from the full year of collections and get the best value for money out of the service.

Concessionary Rate

Those households in receipt of an income replacement benefit such as the full rate of Universal Credit, ESA Income related or Pension Credit Guarantee, or another income related benefit that is paid due to no earned income, may qualify for a 50% discount on this charge.

To apply for the March 2025 50% rebate after you have subscribed,  please send an email to [email protected] and state “Garden Waste Rebate Application” in the subject line with the following information in the body of the email:

• Full Name
• Address
• Contact number
• National Insurance Number (if not known please provide a date of birth)
• Please indicate the Benefits you are entitled to (e.g. 1., 2., 3., etc)
• You will need to attach to this email proof of entitlement to these benefits.  A scanned image or photograph will be acceptable as long as it can be read.                       

Once eligibility has been confirmed payment will be made direct to your bank account. Please provide:

• Name on the account
• Sort Code 
• Account Number

Please note for applications made between November 2024 & March 2025 payments will not be made until the end of the financial year, March 2025 or shortly after.

The personal information supplied will be retained for the financial year in which the rebate application is made plus 1 year. New information and proof of entitlement will need to be provided with each application.

Paying for a subscription on someone else's behalf

You can buy a subscription for someone else’s address within East Staffordshire, such as a family member. You can do this even if you live outside the borough. You will need to set up a subscription account and add their East Staffordshire address to this.

You can also choose a different billing address.
 

If one bin can meet the needs of you and your neighbour, you are able to share a garden bin. The charge applies per bin, so if you wish to share then one of you will need to be the named subscriber and pay the fee.

If you currently use a communal bin to dispose of your garden waste (for example, you live in a flat), your housing provider or letting agent may need to arrange the garden waste subscription and the management of this unless you can come to an agreement with your neighbours to share the cost.

For operational reasons, not all properties are suitable for us to collect from. If you’re not sure whether you’re eligible, you’ll be able to check during the subscription process.

If your property is shown as ineligible for garden waste collections this is often because of one of the following reasons:

• You are in a flat that is not currently registered as having a garden bin or being able to fit one in at the property without causing a hazard to others
• You are in a narrow street where typically residents don’t have gardens
• You are on a ‘bag’ collection run and unfortunately our composting plant can’t legally accept bags
• Your property may have a planning or legal restriction on being able to present a wheeled garden bin
• You are a trade customer or are on euro bins

If you think we have got this wrong, contact us at [email protected] explaining why you think your property should be eligible for a garden waste collection.

Once you subscribe, we will post a welcome pack to you. This will include a specialist sticker for you to attach to your garden bin so that it can be easily seen by our collection crews.

Place the sticker on the back of your bin (handle side) as soon as you get it – instructions about how to do this will be on the back of your permit.

The stickers are designed to fray and tear when removed from the bins, this prevents them being reused by other residents. Your sticker will have your address and unique reference number on it which allows the waste teams to check that the bin is at the relevant location.

We will post a collection sticker to subscribers each year they subscribe.

Once you subscribe, we will post a welcome pack to you. This will include a specialist sticker for you to attach to your garden bin so that it can be easily seen by our collection crews.

If you have not received your welcome pack

If you have subscribed but not received your welcome pack within 10 working days, then you can request a replacement sticker by emailing [email protected] 

You can put the following garden waste materials in your garden bin:

• leaves and bark
• cut flowers and plants
• prunings
• weeds
• hedge clippings
• grass cuttings
• small branches and bark

You must not put non-garden waste in your garden bin, for example:
rubble or large quantities of soil or turf

• plastic or plastic bags
• vegetable and fruit peelings
• bread
• tea bags and coffee grounds
• egg shells
• paper
• polystyrene
• clothing
• treated wood
• meat, fish and bones
• fruit
• pet waste
• cardboard

This is not an exhaustive list. You can see where to dispose of your waste on our website.

If we find any non-garden or non-food waste items in a garden bin we will not empty the bin. It will be deemed contaminated. You must remove all non-garden waste materials before the next scheduled collection
 

Signing up to the garden waste recycling scheme will not affect your usual collection day. Collections are fortnightly and you can check your collection day on our website.

Sometimes we need to change the order of collections on the day, so please have your bin out by 6.30am on your scheduled day. 

The garden waste service is a seasonal service and there are no collections between mid-December and mid-January each year.

Missed bin collections

Genuine missed bin collections are rare but we don't refund or partially refund your subscription fee if your bin is missed.

We may be unable to collect your waste on the scheduled collection during extreme weather conditions.

Frozen bins

During very cold weather, the waste inside your garden bin can freeze together.

It means that the waste will not tip out when we try to empty your bin.

If you are able to, try storing your bin in a warmer spot in between collections, such as in a shed or beside your house.

If we are unable to empty your bin because the contents are frozen, we will empty your bin on the next scheduled collection day.

See our missed bins page to report a missed bin collection or find details of when we can't empty bins.

If you have difficulty moving your bins, you can contact us if you would like us to help you put your bins out on 0800 269098 or [email protected] 

If you already have an assisted bin collection and you subscribe to the new garden waste recycling scheme we will continue to help in emptying your bins.

You will need to pay each year to renew your subscription. You will be able to do this on our website. We will send you a reminder before the service starts each year.

You will need to pay for a subscription to the garden waste recycling scheme for each individual garden bin you would like us to empty.

If you have subscribed and your bin is damaged during the collection process – and we can verify this – we will replace your bin free of charge.

You will need to contact us to order a replacement subscription sticker.

If your bin is lost or you think it has been stolen, please check with your neighbours in case they have taken your bin by mistake.

We will replace a lost or stolen bin free of charge, but you will need to request a new subscription sticker.

You can pay to have an additional garden bin collected on the same day as your first garden bin.

For each garden bin you would like to be collected, you will also need to pay for a separate subscription to the Garden Waste Recycling Scheme.

If you would like to order additional garden bins, you can do this during the subscription process.

You can do this by updating how many subscriptions you want per size of bin, and any additional bins will be added to your order.

Bins may take up to four weeks to arrive.

We charge per additional bin, and you can order up to two additional garden bins per property.

If you’ve already set up one or more subscriptions and later want to add an extra one for existing or additional bins – you can go back into the subscription portal and do this.

Your subscriptions will run from January to December, no matter what time of the year you subscribe.

If you already have an additional garden bin/s but do not want them all to be collected from January 2024, you can choose to do this. We will only collect garden bins that have a valid subscription.

If you move within the borough and the property is eligible for the garden waste recycling scheme, you can transfer your subscription to your new address.  Please let us know at [email protected]

Do not take your garden bin with you to your new property. You should remove your subscription sticker before you leave.

You will need to ask for a new subscription sticker for your new address in East Staffordshire. Refunds cannot be provided if you move out of the East Staffordshire area or if the service is not offered at your new property.

A refund is not available if you move to a new property and require fewer bins than you have subscribed for at your previous address.

If there is not a garden bin at your new address, you will need to contact us to arrange delivery.

Place the sticker on the back of your bin (handle side) as soon as you get it – instructions about how to do this will be on the back of your permit.

We will post a collection sticker to subscribers each year they subscribe.

We encourage residents to reduce, reuse and recycle their waste as much as they possibly can so that less waste needs to be disposed of - this includes encouraging people to try home composting.

If home composting isn’t an option, it remains free for residents to dispose of garden waste at the household waste recycling centres.

Not subscribing means your garden bin will not be emptied from January 2025.

You should keep your garden bin at your property as it is assigned to the property and not a person – bins will not be taken away by the council.

You will be able to subscribe to the garden waste recycling scheme at any time throughout the year.

This was a difficult decision for the Council and one where we have listened closely to the feedback from the public consultation. The current service costs £1.1 million each year to deliver and unfortunately, due to reductions in central Government core funding of £6.4 million since 2010/11, pressures remain on the budget.

This funding will allow the Council to drive forward some of its ambitious plans to improve the environment and to tackle climate change.

Residents will only pay for the service if they opt-in to the scheme and it remains free for residents to dispose of their garden waste at the household waste recycling centres.

We remain committed to protecting and enhancing the environment and delivering on the aims and priorities as set out in our corporate plan.

This includes continuing to encourage people to think about the impact of their actions on the environment and to ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ their waste.

The council continues to work with Get Composting to provide home composting products. You can also find lots of information and advice about getting started with home composting.

There is no evidence to suggest that we will see any increase in fly-tipping as a result of a subscription service being introduced.

We have spoken to other councils that have introduced similar schemes and they have not seen an increase. Importantly, fly-tipping is a crime and anyone caught doing it could be prosecuted and face a large fine.

Your Council Tax will not be reduced now that there is a subscription to pay for your garden waste collection. The Council Tax you pay is based on the Valuation Band of your property.

The payments you make are a tax that contributes towards the costs of all council services, rather than a direct payment for an individual service such as garden waste collection.

The contents of the Council Tax bill are prescribed by legislation therefore the charge for the garden waste collection cannot be added to the Council Tax bill.

You can find out more on the Council Tax page.