Garden waste collection

Garden waste queries

Below you will find answers to common queries we are asked about garden waste.

Permit queries 

If you require a replacement permit or have any permit queries, please contact waste.

We aim to answer within 10 working days and have replacement permits delivered to customers within 10 working days. 

Moving house 

If you’re moving house, you can transfer your permit to your new address. Please give at least six weeks notice and take your brown bin and permit sticker to your new house.  

Tiphereth garden waste collections in Colinton 

If you live in Colinton, a local charity called Tiphereth collect garden waste on our behalf. They collect garden waste in bags rather than brown bins.  

  • Register online during the registration period, using the standard process, and we’ll pass your details to Tiphereth.
  • Tiphereth collect garden waste every Tuesday. 
  • Permits cost £35 per year. 
  • You can fill a maximum of four bags of garden waste per week. 
  • Only use bags provided by Tiphereth to contain garden waste. Any other bags or containers will not be picked up. 
  • Bags must be on the kerb by 8.30am on a Tuesday.  
  • Make sure each bag weighs no more than 5kg. 
  • There will be no garden waste collections from 18 December 2023 to 14 January 2024. 

What goes in your Tiphereth garden waste bags 

  • Flowers, plants and weeds
  • Grass cuttings and leaves 
  • Hedge clippings, twigs and small branches

Tiphereth cannot collect your bags if you put in

  • animal waste and bedding 
  • edging, stone, rubble, soil and turf 
  • plant pots 
  • trees and large branches 

Free garden waste bags

Once you've registered, you can get free garden waste bags from Tiphereth. Contact them on

0131 312 9944

sales@tiphereth.org.uk.

You cannot collect bags in person from their office or get them from their collection crews. 

Bowling and croquet clubs, lawn tennis courts and places of worship

The Garden Waste service is provided for the collection of household garden waste, and we do not offer a commercial service. We only provide the service to a limited number of other organisations such as bowling and croquet clubs, lawn tennis courts and places of worship. We don't offer this service to any commercial site. For more information please refer to our waste management policies

If you are registering on behalf of one of these sites please register online using the standard process. 

The charge remains the same as household customers - £35 per permit. 

To ensure the collections operate legally both for your organisation and the Council, a waste transfer note will be sent to you for completion, before the permit is sent out. On receiving your registration, we will carry out checks to ensure your organisation is eligible to access the service. 

Once this is confirmed we will email you a completed waste transfer note within two weeks of your registration for you to sign and keep on file. It is your responsibility to sign the waste transfer note when received as this is a legal requirement. This does not apply to places of worship.  

For registrations that aren’t eligible to access the service, we will cancel the registration and refund. 

Cancellations 

If you change your mind, you may cancel the registration at any time, by contacting waste.  

If you cancel within 14 days of registration you will receive a full refund. Please note that if you cancel after 14 days of registration you will not receive a refund.