Garden waste
Registration for the garden waste service is closed. There will be another opportunity to sign up in January 2020.
Garden waste is a £25 fee bin collection service that runs from October to October.
Current garden waste permits expire on 6 October 2019. If you have recently renewed your permit or signed up for one, the next service year will run from 7 October 2019 to 4 October 2020. You will receive your permit sticker in late September in time for the new service year starting.
We’ll empty brown bins once every two weeks, except over the festive period when there will be no collections between 16 December 2019 and 13 January 2020.
If you receive Council Tax Reduction (formerly called Council Tax Benefit) you do not need to pay the £25 fee but you still need to register to receive the service. Other council tax reductions, such as Single Occupancy discount or Garden Aid, do not qualify for free garden waste collections.
Read the garden waste terms and conditions
Request a collection of your brown bin
If you have not signed up to the garden waste service and no longer want your brown bin then we will arrange to uplift it for you.
Step 1 – register
If you haven’t already, you’ll need to register with mygovscot myaccount. Need help with mygovscot myaccount?
Step 2
Request a collection of unwanted brown bins
Step 3 – help
For issues check our help page or contact
customer.care@edinburgh.gov.uk.
If your garden waste bin is damaged or missing
If your garden waste bin is damaged or missing, you will need to order a new bin.
Moving house
If you move to a new house you can transfer your permit to your new address. Please give us up to six weeks' notice and take your brown bin and permit sticker with you.
If you don't sign up for garden waste
You can still recycle your garden waste by using a compost bin and our recycling centres .
You can book a special uplift for your garden waste for £35 for up to 28 bags of waste.
Find out what happens to all the recycling and waste collected in Edinburgh
Why we're charging for garden waste collections
Our costs are increasing and more people are using our services, whilst our income is reducing. The £25 per year charge was agreed by the Council at a meeting in February 2018 and it is estimated it will save £1.3 million each year and allow us to provide a more frequent service.
As garden waste collection is not a statutory service, and with reducing budgets and increasing costs, we can no longer afford to provide the service for free.
Over 40% of councils in the UK charge for a garden waste collection and some have stopped the service altogether.
The £25 charge is lower than many other councils and works out at less than 50p per week.