Garden Waste Collection

Before getting rid of your garden waste, please consider home composting it.  By home composting your garden waste you can avoid collection costs, get a free supply of peat-free compost and minimise environmental impacts. 

Our composting page gives advice on home composting along with details of special offers for residents to purchase compost bins and garden waste shredders at reduced prices.  Water butts, kitchen caddies and wormeries for dealing with kitchen scraps are also available.

Do it yourself

• Take your garden waste to one of the Household Waste and Recycling Centres (HWRC)
• Smuggler's Way HWRC also takes soil, rubble and wood

We want to help minimise the amount of waste recycling collected and ensure that all garden waste we do collect is composted. This helps to reduce the environmental impacts of garden waste and the cost of dealing with it.

Or have it collected

• We only collect garden waste if you ask us to, and there is a charge for this service
• Garden waste must not be included with other rubbish placed out for the weekly collection service
• If you put garden waste in your black sack rubbish, it may not be picked up.
• Garden waste collections will be made on the same day as your orange recycling sacks and dustbin waste, but by a different vehicle.
• Any garden waste we collect through this service will be composted centrally.  The compost produced is used in major landscaping projects such as the restoration of roadside verges. 

What to include

All compostable garden waste, including:

• Grass cuttings
• Leaves and twigs
• Weeds, plants and flowers
• Hedge trimmings

What not to include

• Anything more than 10cm long or 4cm diameter.
• Japanese knotweed (see below)
• Any other non-compostable waste

Do's and dont's

• Make sure that garden waste put out for collection is placed only in the biodegradable sacks provided by us.
• The biodegradable bags supplied can start to degrade around two weeks after being filled.  Don't fill the sacks more than two weeks before your collection is due.

Booking a collection

• We charge £3.50 for a roll of 20 biodegradable sacks.   
• We charge £17 for a single collection of up to 20 full sacks.
• To order sacks or book a collection, please call 020 8871 8558. 

Japanese Knotweed

On-site treatment is usually the best course of action to kill off Japanese Knotweed. Find out how to tackle it in your garden or visit the Royal Horticultural Society website.

Do not place Japanese Knotweed in garden waste sacks. It is extremely harmful to the environment and difficult to kill.  You can be prosecuted for taking it to centralised composting sites or fly-tipping it.  Get advice from Defra, the Environment Agency or phone 08708 506 506.

If you want to arrange for us to collect it there is likely to be a substantial charge. Phone 020 8871 8558 for a quote.