Garden waste collections
Check what your council collects, whether you need a subscription and when the service runs.
Find your council for its own garden-waste guidance. Look up your address to check available collection dates.
Does a collection date mean I am subscribed?
No. A date describes a collection round. It does not prove your household has paid, registered or received the required permit. Check your council account, confirmation or bin sticker before putting garden waste out.
Before you subscribe or renew
- Check that your address and type of property are eligible.
- Check the current price, number of bins covered, start date and any wait for a permit.
- Check whether renewal is automatic or needs another payment, and whether the subscription follows you when you move.
- Check winter pauses and the final collection before a break.
Councils use different arrangements. For example, Liverpool asks existing subscribers to renew 12 months after their last payment. Basingstoke and Deane also describes a 12-month subscription, with a two-week Christmas break. Check the current council terms before paying.
What can go in?
Use your council’s accepted-materials list. Food, compostable packaging, soil and pet waste can have different rules from grass or hedge cuttings. A bin’s colour does not tell you what is accepted.
For example, Leeds’ standard garden-waste guidance excludes food and plastic bags. Some households are on a separate combined food-and-garden trial; follow the instructions for your address.
What if the service stops in winter?
Check its published season and your address’s last and next dates. A pause in garden waste does not mean rubbish or recycling also stops. Use our Christmas collection guide for notices we have checked.
If your garden bin is missed
Check the collection was due, your subscription is active and the bin follows the council’s rules. Then check how and when to report it.
Help with your bins
Guide reviewed 30 September 2026. Published by Public Digital, which runs WhenIsBins independently of councils. About our information and how to suggest a correction.