South Gloucestershire Council

Published: 20/02/2014

From 31 March, the council’s green bin service moves to a subscription-only basis and residents who wish to continue to receive the service after this date can subscribe now via the council’s website.

The optional service costs £36 per year and includes fortnightly collections.

Residents who do not wish to subscribe to the service have a number of other options to dispose of their garden waste.

These include the free and environmentally-friendly option of composting, which ensures that garden waste and uncooked kitchen waste can be returned to the garden as a free soil improver.

Residents can order home compost bins at competitive rates from the council’s partner www.getcomposting.com and as part of the drive to increase composting, residents moving into new-build homes in the district will also be offered a voucher for a new free home compost bin from April 2014.

For residents who require only occasional garden waste collection, ad hoc waste collection sacks will be available from 14 March from council libraries and County Stores, High Street, Marshfield. Sacks cost £2 each and users can book a collection date via the council’s website.

Residents can also continue to dispose of garden waste free of charge at their local Sort It!* centre. As part of the changes being introduced from the summer, Sort It!* centres will have new traffic management measures as well as traffic cameras to allow residents to check how busy their local centre is before setting out.

The changes form part of the council’s revised waste strategy for 2013-19, which was approved by councillors in 2013 following consultation with residents.

The strategy will also see kerbside recycling extended to include mixed plastics, drinks cartons and small electrical items from 31 March.

South Gloucestershire already has one of the highest recycling rates of all unitary authorities and the changes aim to build on this success by extending the recycling service to include more types of waste.

They will also help the council to balance its income against the cost of delivering services at a time when all local authorities are receiving less money from government.

Further information on garden waste options, including online booking for the green waste service and ad hoc sack collection, are available on the council’s website at www.southglos.gov.uk/gardenwasteservice