Garden Waste Collection Service - terms and conditions and privacy notice

Garden Waste Service terms and conditions and privacy notice for June 2025 to May 2026. 

1. Service description

The Garden Waste Collection Service (‘the service’) is available to residents (‘you’) of the West Suffolk Council (the council). The service is available on payment for collections between the months of June 2025 and May 2026. Subject to the terms of this agreement, the council will provide a 240-litre brown bin (or suitable alternative, subject to specific conditions) which will be emptied on an allocated day once in every two week period. This service is for residential customers only.

The sum payable for the 12-month period commencing in June is £53 for each bin you sign up. The council reserves the right to review this sum annually to take effect from the beginning of June each year.

You can register to receive the service until the end of February of the current year’s scheme.

The council reserves the right to suspend new subscriptions for a period between 1 March and 30 April inclusive. The exact time period will be decided at the council’s discretion.

2. Payments

Subscriptions starting after June will be charged the full 12-month rate, but the service will only be delivered up to 31 May 2026.

A single direct debit payment of £53 for each bin will be taken on, or shortly after, 1 June each year. We will contact you shortly before the end of your current subscription to confirm the amount and when the payment will be taken.

• If you pay by direct debit and need to change your bank details, please use our online Garden Waste - Change to existing direct debit form
• If you pay by debit or credit card, you must pay the subscription in full before the service will start.

You will need to sign up to the service by 26 May 2025 if you want the service to start from 1 June 2025.

3. The waste containers

A brown, 240-litre, wheeled bin (‘brown bin’) is provided for your use but remains the property of the council at all times. Compostable sacks (‘sacks’) may be supplied as an alternative at the discretion of the council. The bins or sacks must only be used for the disposal of garden waste. Only bins or sacks supplied by the council will be emptied as part of the service.

You must add your house number or name to the bin. If your bin collection point is on a different road, please make sure the street name is also labelled on the bin. Failure to do so may result in your waste not being collected.

You are responsible for the general condition and cleaning of the bin whilst in your possession. The council does not provide a bin cleaning service.

Additional bins, up to a maximum of four, can be ordered and should be delivered within 20 working days of the payment being processed. Each additional bin will require a separate full subscription of £53.

The council reserves the right to remove all bins that are not used for the garden waste collection service, or if there is evidence of damage or misuse, without refund. Where payment is not received for any subsequent year, or the service is cancelled by you, the council will discontinue the collection service and could remove the bin.

The council accepts no liability for injury incurred either directly or indirectly from the use of the brown bin or sacks.

4. Collection days

Garden waste will be collected every two weeks on a nominated collection day. The council reserves the right to alter the collection day and will endeavour to give as much notice as possible of any changes. Changes will be made to collection days around bank holidays. Please visit When are my bins emptied? for more information.

The council reserves the right to suspend collections in exceptional circumstances, such as a pandemic, adverse weather conditions, for safety or any other operational reasons.

5. Putting your garden waste out for collection

You must put the brown bin(s) or sacks out for collection by 6.15am on the day of collection, at your usual bin collection point, which is the same location your black and blue bins are collected from. The council does not guarantee a specific time of collection during the day. Bins or sacks should not be presented for collection before 6pm on the day before collection.

It is your responsibility to remove the bin(s) from the public highway (including associated pavements, footways, or verges) to within the boundary of your property as soon as possible after collection and on the same day as the collection.

If your garden waste is collected in sacks, a maximum of four sacks will be collected for each subscription you have paid for, every two weeks. If you put more that four sacks out for collection, the additional will not be taken. 

6. Bins that are not emptied

If the council is unable to collect bins due to factors outside of our control, we will endeavour to return and collect them within three working days. More information can be found at: My bin hasn’t been emptied

If bins were put out by 6.15am on the day of collection and are not contaminated, overweight or in adverse weather, and have not been collected by 4.15pm you should report them as not collected using our online form within two working days: Report a bin that has not been emptied. The council will endeavour to return and collect them at its earliest opportunity. 

If the bin lid or contents are frozen, sacks will be left but the council will not return to empty.

We will not return to empty your bin if it was not presented by 6.15am on the collection day. More information can be found at: My bin hasn’t been emptied

We will not return to empty your bin if it is not numbered or named or is not presented at the same agreed collection point as your black and blue bins.

7. Moving house

You can transfer the service to a new address within the West Suffolk council area. You must inform the council of the change of address online using the West Suffolk Council enquiry form or in writing by email to customer.services@westsuffolk.gov.uk, within 14 days of your moving date to enable the service to transfer seamlessly to your new property.

If you move outside of the council area, you must cancel the service and leave the bin at the house as this remains the council’s property.

8. Unacceptable material, contamination, and overweight bins

Only garden waste can be put in the bin. The following items are not permitted in the garden waste bin:

• bagged waste
• cardboard, newspaper, shredded paper
• kitchen waste, food and plate scrapings Food Savvy has information on recycling your food waste
• soil, stones, or rubble
• pet or animal waste and bedding
• sawdust contaminated with pet waste
• plastic flowerpots, trays, or bags
• tea bags and coffee grounds
• treated wood
• invasive weeds such as Japanese knotweed must not be put in your garden waste bin.

Bins that are contaminated (that is, they contain incorrect materials), are overflowing and/or overweight will not be collected. The refuse crew will leave a notice on your bin to advise you of the problem. If bins are contaminated it is your responsibility to remove the contamination from the bin before their next scheduled collection. No extra collections will be offered.

Overweight bins cannot be lifted by the machinery on the back of the council’s collection vehicles, and health and safety dictates that it would be putting the refuse collectors at risk too.

If your bin has not been collected because it is overweight, the refuse crew will leave a notice on your bin to advise you of the problem, as well as compostable sacks into which you can put some of the waste from the bin. These should be presented next to your brown bin on your next scheduled collection day.

If the bin is repeatedly misused the council reserves the right to remove the bin.

No side waste will be collected (that is, extra waste outside the bin) unless in the West Suffolk council-supplied sacks.

9. Acceptable material

Acceptable garden waste includes:

• dead plants and flowers
• grass, leaves and weeds
• hedge clippings
• prunings and twigs
• clean sawdust (not containing pet waste)
• small branches (not more than 6cm thick)
• vegetable waste from the garden (not kitchen waste)

10. New build properties

Residents moving into new properties can subscribe to the scheme in the same way as all other residents.

Residents will be delivered a brown bin from the council’s existing stock, which will be clean, but may be pre-used.

11. Cancellation of the service

You can cancel your service at any point during the year however, there are no refunds or part refunds for cancellation of service. You can either cancel your direct debit direct with your bank or you can use the Garden Waste Subscription Cancellation form

The council reserves the right to cancel the collection in the circumstances outlined in section 4. above and in such instances no refunds will be given.

If you cancel your direct debit prior to payment being taken your service will be cancelled immediately. If you cancel your direct debit after payment has been taken for the year, you will need to re-subscribe the following year.

The council reserve the right to cancel an existing subscription(s) if a resident fails to notify them of their move so that the new resident can subscribe.

This agreement is made under the provisions of the Environmental Protection Act sections 45 and 46 and the Controlled Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2012.

Privacy notice

West Suffolk Council is a Data Controller and can be contacted at: West Suffolk House, Western Way, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 3YU. Phone: 01284 757173.

The Data Protection Officer can be contacted at the same address.

We collect your personal information in order to process your application for Garden Waste Collection. Your data will not be shared with third parties unless they are used by us to deliver the service, for example a mailing house for the sole purpose of alerting customers that payment is due or to inform them about changes to the service. Your data may be used for council purposes, in order to prevent or detect crime, to protect public funds or where we are required or permitted to share data under other legislation.

Your data will be kept for six years in line with our records management guidance.

You have the right to access your data and rectify mistakes, erase, restrict, object, or move your data in certain circumstances. Automated decision making and processing is not used during this application. Please contact the Data Protection Officer for more information or go to our website where your rights are explained in more detail. If you would like to receive an explanation of your rights in paper format, please contact the Data Protection Officer. 

Any complaints regarding your data should be addressed to the Data Protection Officer in the first instance. If the matter is not resolved you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at: Wycliff House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, phone: 0303 123 1113.

If you do not provide the information required on the application form, we will not be able to process the application for Garden Waste Collection.

For more information on our Data Protection Policies please go to our website: How we use your information, or email: data.protection@westsuffolk.gov.uk