Sign up now to get full year of garden waste collections

It’s a convenient solution which avoids taking garden waste to a Household Waste Recycling Centre yourself, composting it at home or spend time searching for a properly licensed waste carrier to handle it for you instead.

Signing up now means you’ll be ready to enjoy the full year’s service. If you’re a 2023-24 customer it also means you’ll enjoy a seamless continuation of collections following your current subscription.

The annual subscription runs from Monday March 25, 2024 until Friday March 21, 2025 and collections are fortnightly over ten months and then four-weekly through December and January.

During the past year over 35,500 households took up the council’s garden waste service to have their grass and hedge clippings, twigs, leaves, weeds, flowers and more taken away collected from their brown bins; saving themselves the cost and inconvenience of taking their garden material to a household waste centre or appointing a registered person to remove it for them. Customers can also dispose of their real Christmas tree in their brown bin, if chopped up small.

It takes a few moments online to join, or to renew if you’re already an existing customer, atwww.n-kesteven.gov.uk/gardenwaste. You can also call the council’s offices on 01529 414155 to renew or join.

Those households paying by Direct Debit need not do anything unless their details have changed, as their subscription rolls on automatically as part of that service.

For those with an existing brown bin it will cost £45 for collections across 2024/25, slightly increased from the previous year’s cost of £40. It’s the equivalent of paying just 87p per week across the year, or still less than £2 for each of the 24 or 25 garden waste bin collection opportunities through the year. The cost for collections of further existing brown bins are £8 each, up to four bins in total per household, and this remains the same price as last year.

The new £45 charge for emptying an existing brown bin has been carefully calculated to help support the long-term delivery of this high-quality service and meet the increasing operating costs of running it.

Assistant Director of Environment and Public Protection David Steels said: “It’s often inconvenient after a day of gardening to then find yourself with lots of waste and clippings to deal with.

Not everyone can compost at home, or wants to spend the time and effort of taking it to the local Household Waste Recycling Centre. It’s also your responsibility to check that any waste carrier you use instead is legitimate, licensed and will not simply take your money and fly-tip.

“Around two-thirds of households in North Kesteven choose to put their brown bin of garden waste out at the kerbside to have it removed hassle-free instead.

“There are many other cost and convenience benefits in engaging with this good-value service, as well as confidence that your garden waste is being disposed of properly and will be turned into compost through an arrangement managed by the County Council. A wide range of garden waste can be accepted in brown bins which also delivers great value for money.”

Where a brown bin is needed to participate in the service, or you’d like an extra bin at your home, these are charged at £41 each from 1 April 2024. Households may have up to four brown bins emptied.

No material left alongside bins can be taken. Garden waste also cannot be placed in black general waste bins.

To see the full range of things which can go in garden waste bins, and what can go into your other household bins, see the Council’s Right things for the Right Bins leaflet and A-Z of recycling at www.n-kesteven.gov.uk/recycling.

You can also sign up for e-newsletters at any time including waste information and updates at www.n-kesteven.gov.uk/stayconnected.