garden waste in the regular bin 8 July 2022 at 2:03PM in Greenfingered MoneySaving 27 replies 1.2K views

diystarter7

Totally depends on the rules by your council.

Brie

Thanks for all the comments.

I've checked the rules locally and they do say no garden waste in the general bin.  But as a poster stated, what you can't do and what you get away with are 2 different things.  

I will endeavour to take the grass cuttings and anything more than a couple of pulled weeks to the recycling centre.  We're fortunate that we don't need to book - just show something with our address on it to prove we're local.  

Green waste bins can be provided and collected at a cost of about £50 a year.  Annoying that one can't sign up mid year without having to pay the full wack.  Also that it doesn't run between early Dec and late Feb - prime time to clean up one's garden in the sunny south as well as disposing of trees used to celebrate the winter solstice!!

mjm3346

Farway said:

Norman_Castle said:

molerat said:

Norman_Castle said:

molerat said:

ka7e said:

If your council is OK with food waste in the normal bin, a bit of green stuff won't hurt. It either goes into landfill or is burned.The only things allowed in our bins are those marked "Non-recyclable", nappies and cat litter - everything else is collected kerbside weekly.

There is nothing for the council to be OK about or otherwise, as a private householder the only rules are about what cannot go in the specific purpose recycling bins, general waste bin is anything goes. 

Is asbestos ok?

I expect different councils may have different rules, this says you cannot put garden waste in a general waste bin.

https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/info/20009/waste_and_recycling/105/what_goes_in_my_bins/2

This says liquid paint is banned from landfill so unless you know the final destination of your waste it shouldn't be put in a general waste bin. https://www.divert.co.uk/the-divert-guide-to-paint-tin-disposal/

You would be pretty hard pushed to find any legislation that covers private householders

You'll struggle to find legislation stating a council is obliged to empty a general waste bin regardless of its contents. Councils have rules stating what should and shouldn't be in a bin. If they don't like the contents they can refuse to empty a bin.

There's a big difference between what should be in a bin and what you might get away with sneaking into a bin.

Ours do not allow garden waste in the general bin, bin men check before emptying and will leave it un-emptied with a stick on note why left full

Council charges £70 per year for a garden waste wheelie bin and there is a waiting list to get on this service, to rub salt in we have to also buy the bin

Same here, although no waiting list and the charges are a bit cheaper at about £57 a year for a bin or 10 garden waste paper sacks for £28 inc collection

elsien

Norman_Castle said:

molerat said:

ka7e said:

If your council is OK with food waste in the normal bin, a bit of green stuff won't hurt. It either goes into landfill or is burned.The only things allowed in our bins are those marked "Non-recyclable", nappies and cat litter - everything else is collected kerbside weekly.

There is nothing for the council to be OK about or otherwise, as a private householder the only rules are about what cannot go in the specific purpose recycling bins, general waste bin is anything goes. 

Is asbestos ok?

I expect different councils may have different rules, this says you cannot put garden waste in a general waste bin.

https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/info/20009/waste_and_recycling/105/what_goes_in_my_bins/2

This says liquid paint is banned from landfill so unless you know the final destination of your waste it shouldn't be put in a general waste bin. https://www.divert.co.uk/the-divert-guide-to-paint-tin-disposal/

Nowhere else to put old paint in my area. I gave away what I could, took the rest to the tip and the workers pointed me straight at the waste to landfill skip. No other options. 

getmore4less

Since our council decided to charge for stuff at the tip they deem not household it goes in household bin a bit at a time.

Rocks/stones from gardening, rubbish soil, weeds etc.

Crazy you can take an massive old chip board wardrobe but a bit of old trellis or a tree branch too thick they charge.

We have space to compost so most kitchen, loads of Amazon package and garden stuff ends up there, having a shredder helps with bulk and speed of decomposition.
Worms in one of the dalek bins chomps through stuff very quickly.

Torry_Quine

My council charges an annual charge for collecting garden waste. The daft thing is the same bin is used to put the food waste bags in from the food caddy. I put the bin out every so often just with food waste. Any leaves, weeds etc go in the general waste bin. Seems daft  

JGB1955

This just shows how different councils deal with waste management.  We pay £45 (ish) for 26 garden waste collections per annum.  Our kitchen waste is collected 26 times p.a. but we are allowed to use bread loaf plastic bags (and similar) to bag them up.  Our other 26 times p.a. is the recycling bin.  We have the loudest bin in the road - bottles (and more bottles....) , plastics, wood, cardboard etc etc.  Just came back from a week in a holiday cottage in Buckinghamshire.  Ended up bringing back all of our bottle and recyclable plastics and paper/cardboard because the local facility was totally inadequate.  Just the same as Cornwall a couple of years ago - came back with a half-carload of re-cycling!

Alnat1

We are lucky, our council provide for free a large green wheelie bin for garden waste which is collected bi-weekly from March to late Nov. No stones or rubble, all needs to be compostable. Every few months they do events at local parks etc. where you can go and collect a free bag of compost.

Our local recycling center is great, no need to book, the guys are friendly and help anyone who is struggling. They are always sweeping up to keep the place tidy. Their staff hut has a little garden outside, decorated with bits they have rescued and recycled which is cute. You are advised to take something with an address on to prove you're local but only been asked once.

Mr.Generous

Alnat1 said:

We are lucky, our council provide for free a large green wheelie bin for garden waste which is collected bi-weekly from March to late Nov. No stones or rubble, all needs to be compostable. Every few months they do events at local parks etc. where you can go and collect a free bag of compost.

Our local recycling center is great, no need to book, the guys are friendly and help anyone who is struggling. They are always sweeping up to keep the place tidy. Their staff hut has a little garden outside, decorated with bits they have rescued and recycled which is cute. You are advised to take something with an address on to prove you're local but only been asked once.

Always makes me laugh this "Prove you're local" thing.

I was planning to drive 200 miles to dump my rubbish because the tip is soooo much better,  but they got me!!

justwhat

i have totally filled a bin with chicken manure/litter once. Gravel (it was heavy lol ) We also put electrical items in the bin. Our local council does allow paint but its recommended you take lid off an let it dry. 

Remember not everyone can get to a recycle centre. My nearest local  recycle centre is 11 miles away. However there is a nearer recycle centre in another council region 4 miles away. We are not allowed to use a neighbouring council recycle centre without proof of residency.

So of course we have proof of residence from a friend to get around the system.