Garden Waste: still time to sign up for brown bin collection

Don’t miss your chance to renew your garden waste permit or sign up for one. Registration closes at 2pm on Wednesday 7 August.

The garden waste service is a £25-per-year bin collection service, offering fortnightly collections throughout the year, with a short break over Christmas to help manage higher tonnages of household recycling and residual waste at that time of year. The annual fee works out at just under 50p per week.

Residents who subscribed to the first year’s service, which began in October 2018 and runs until 6 October 2019, as well as anyone keen to sign up as a new participant, have until 2pm on Wednesday 7 August to apply.

Councillor Lesley Macinnes said: “We don’t want anyone who’s keen to have their garden waste picked up fortnightly from October to miss out, which is why it’s really important to make sure you get signed up as soon as possible.

“I’m aware that our recent discussions at Committee about the future of the service have led to claims from some quarters that we’re discontinuing the paid-for collections – please note that this isn’t the case. If you’d like us to collect your garden waste from October 2019 to October 2020, you must sign up by 2pm on 7 August.

“The fact more than 41,500 residents have already signed up for almost 46,000* permits (some households have more than one brown bin) shows people value the garden waste service and want to keep using it. (* at 23rd July)

“Since we started the service in October 2018, Edinburgh residents have helped us turn more than 9,000 tonnes of garden waste into compost, which is used on farms, gardens and green spaces.

“We’ve held the subscription fee at £25, which is one of the lowest annual fees in Scotland among local authorities operating a similar service. This works out at just under 50 pence a week. Brown bins will be collected every fortnight, with a break over the Christmas period to help manage higher tonnages of household waste and recycling over the festive season.”

About the Garden Waste service

• Permits cost £25 per brown bin
• The next service year will run from 7 October 2019 – 4 October 2020
• Brown bins will be emptied once every two weeks, except over the festive period when there will be no collections between 16 December and 14 January
• There will only be one more opportunity to sign up to the new service year (in January 2020) but the payment will remain at £25 and permits will be valid until 4 October 2020

For residents who receive Council Tax Reduction (formerly called Council Tax Benefit) the service will continue to be free, but they do still need to register for the service. Other council tax discounts, such as single occupancy discount or garden aid, do not qualify for this reduction.

Information for residents

• The deadline to register is 2pm on 7 August and the quickest and easiest way to do this is on our website.
• Register for the service at www.edinburgh.gov.uk/gardenwaste (you need to register for an online mygov.scot account first).
• A one-off payment of £25 will be taken by debit or credit card, unless you’re exempt from paying because you receive Council Tax Reduction.
• Once we’ve received your payment, we’ll send you a new garden waste calendar and a permit sticker in late September to put on your brown bin before the new service year starts. We can only empty bins with valid permit stickers.
• Other ways to pay
• You can pay by debit/credit card or cash at our Customer Hub (High Street) or South West (West Side Plaza) locality offices only.
• If you don’t have access to the internet you can use the self-service kiosks at one of our five local offices (you’ll need to have registered for an online mygov.scot account first or have access to email on a mobile). Your local library also offers free internet access

• North East Office, 101 Niddrie Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH16 4DS

• North West Office, 8 West Pilton Gardens, Edinburgh, EH4 4DP

• South East Office, 40 Captain’s Road, Edinburgh, EH17 8QF

• South West Office, 10 Westside Plaza, Edinburgh, EH14 2ST

• Customer Hub, 249 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1YJ

• You can register and pay over the phone by calling 0131 608 1100 (press option 1, then option 9, then option 1). Please note we expect phone lines to be busy and there may be long waiting times. Phone lines are open Monday – Thursday, 8.30am – 5pm and Friday 8.30am – 3.40pm.
• We don’t accept cheques.

More information about the garden waste service, terms and conditions and what to do with your garden waste if you choose not to sign up to the service is available at www.edinburgh.gov.uk/gardenwaste.