Garden waste collections
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Collections for 2024/25
If you need your household garden waste bin emptied, you can sign up for fortnightly garden waste collections.
Sign up now for the 2024 to 2025 service year starting from early May 2024 for 12 months.
Please make sure you check the terms and conditions (ODT, 19KB) before signing up.
Current garden waste service users
You’ll need to sign up again to continue using the service.
How much it costs
It costs £97 for the fortnightly collection of 1 bin and £69.29 for each additional bin. You will receive a full year of collections if you sign up by 14 April 2024.
Apply for a partial rebate
If you are on income band 1 for Council Tax Support (of working age with no earned income) at the time of signing up, you may be entitled to a £27 rebate for your first bin, and £19.29 for each additional bin.
To apply, you must first sign up for the service. Please check your own records to confirm that you are eligible, then contact gwrebate@barnet.gov.uk with:
- your full name, and
- your home address.
We will not check your eligibility for the rebate until you have signed up for the service, and you have confirmed that you are on income band 1 for Council Tax Support.
By contacting the council at this email address you will be giving your consent for the council to check your council tax records. This is to confirm your eligibility for this discount.
Keeping you up to date
We will email you to keep you up to date about your collections and the service.
How the service works
If you'd like your garden waste bins emptied, you'll need to:
- sign up and pay for the garden waste service
- have a green garden waste bin
The fortnightly service starts in early May 2024 and runs until 27 April 2025.
If you would like garden waste collections for a business, visit the business waste page
Frequency of garden waste collections
Your fortnightly collection will start on a Saturday.
You’ll receive around 23 collections if you sign up by 14 April.
If you sign up part way through the year, you'll receive a reduced number of collections.
There will be a yearly pause to collections (3 fortnightly collections) each year over winter.
Stickers for green garden waste bins
When you sign up for garden waste collections we'll send you bins stickers that will tell our crews you have paid for the service.
You'll get 1 sticker for every green garden waste bin you pay to have collected.
Your sticker will have your address on it and will be valid until the end of the service year.
We'll aim to post your sticker to you within 15 working days of you signing up and paying for the service.
Where to put your bin sticker
Please place your sticker on the centre of your green garden waste bin lid so it can be clearly seen.
Our collection crews will only empty green garden waste bins with a white sticker on the lid.
Removing old stickers
You will need to remove any previous stickers from your bin before the start of a new service and apply the new sticker.
Please remove as much of the old sticker as possible. A scrubbing brush and soapy water may help with more stubborn parts of the sticker.
Make sure the surface is clean and dry before applying your new sticker.
Green garden waste bins
Garden waste will only be collected from a Barnet issued green garden waste bin and will not be accepted in your black refuse or blue recycling bin for collection.
Manage your collection
Request a replacement garden waste sticker or update your contact details
Use these forms when you have already signed up to garden waste collection service and have a lost or damaged sticker, or have changed your contact details
Missed collections
If you have signed up to the service and believe your garden waste bin collection has been missed, you can report it
Renewing your collection
We will email you a reminder to renew your garden waste service each year.
Cancel your collection
You will need to contact us to cancel your collection.
For full details on service cancellations, check our terms and conditions (ODT, 19KB)
Assisted collections
If you have an assisted collection and you sign up to the paid for garden waste collection service, your assisted collections will continue.
If you need and do not currently have an assisted collection you can apply online
Your options if you don't sign up
You can:
- compost your garden waste
- make a booking to take it to Summers Lane Reuse and Recycling Centre
- keep your bin, green garden waste bins cannot be used for recycling and refuse collections
Unwanted green garden waste bin removals
We will remove unwanted green garden waste bins from your property.
Each bin will cost £10 to remove whether it is full of garden waste or empty.
Arrange the removal of your unwanted bin
- complete the online removal form
- we will call you to take payment and arrange a time and date for bin removal
Remove my green garden waste bin
You will need to pay for a new bin if you decide to use the garden waste service in the future.
Success of the garden waste service
We introduced charges for garden waste collections in May 2020.
The service has proved very popular with over 43,500 stickers sold and a similar amount of garden waste being collected as before the service was introduced.
Charging for garden waste collections has allowed us to:
- make improvements to services including the Street Cleansing service
- relieve financial pressures on budgets