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Garden waste collections

You can subscribe to the service by ordering and paying in advance for one year. For the duration of the subscription, you will receive a brown wheeled bin for your garden waste. 

The brown bin is emptied fortnightly with the exception of a four week period over Christmas and New Year.  

The garden waste collection service makes a significant contribution to Cheltenham's recycling rate.

Find your collection day

Find your collection day (if subscribed).

Sign up to the service

Sign up now for a 12 month subscription at £57 per bin plus a delivery charge per bin.

If a subscription at this address was cancelled or not renewed within the last 12 months, the standard £57 charge applies when re-subscribing to the service.

Sign up (new customers)

New customers can sign up to the scheme using one of the methods below. If you are an existing customer, we will contact you around 4 weeks before your renewal date with information on how you can renew.

Sign up online

Sign up using our online form. Please note: at the end of the form you will be directed to our online payment facility. Your application cannot be processed until payment has been made.

Sign up over the phone

Please call 01242 262626, and have your debit/credit card ready for payment.

Renew your subscription

If you are an existing customer, you can renew your subscription using one of the following methods. You will need your customer reference number which will be sent to you by post or email approximately 4 weeks before your renewal date.

Renew online

Go straight to our secure payment page to renew online.

Renew by phone

Please call 01242 262626, and have your debit/credit card ready for payment.  

 

What you can put into your brown garden waste bin:

  • Grass cuttings
  • Hedge and shrub clippings
  • Leaves, twigs and bark
  • Plants, flowers and weeds
  • Windfall fruit
  • Small branches

What you should not put in the brown garden waste bin:

  • Soil
  • Animal waste (however pet bedding from herbivores is accepted)
  • Food waste (cooked or uncooked)
  • Vegetable peelings
  • Large branches
  • Plant pots and growbags
  • Ash

 

Ask the Waste Wizard where to repair, recycle, donate or dispose of your items

 

 

How the scheme works

If you sign up for the scheme we will provide you with a 240 litre brown wheeled bin for your garden waste. This will be delivered within 4 to 6 weeks of receipt of payment.

The brown bins will be emptied fortnightly with the exception of the four week period over Christmas and New Year. Please ensure you put your bin out by 7am on the day of collection.

Only garden waste contained within the bin will be collected from the kerbside. Any extra garden waste can be taken to a Gloucestershire County Council household recycling centre.  

It is possible to join the scheme at any time in the year on a 12 month contract. We will contact you after 11 months to inform you that your subscription is due for renewal. Your renewal date is set as the first of the month after your bin was delivered. 

If you decide to cancel your garden waste subscription, please put your garden waste bin at the kerbside on your next scheduled collection date and leave it there so that it can be removed by our crews and reused. Ubico aim to collect the bin within two weeks, however residents should allow for up to four weeks for this to be collected. If it has not been collected after this time, please contact the cleansing team.

If you move house within Cheltenham, please inform us of your new address details, and take the brown bin with you when you move. If you are moving outside the borough please contact us to arrange for collection of the brown bin.

We are committed to reducing the amount of plastic that we use across the borough. Therefore, where possible, we aim to redeploy previously used brown bins to new subscribers. This will extend the life cycle of the plastic bin and reduce our impact on the environment. Reusing bins saves valuable resources and energy that would be needed to make new bins. The reused bins will be thoroughly jet washed and fully checked to make sure they are in good condition before being sent to new subscribers.

Garden waste terms and conditions

Please read the terms and conditions before you sign up for our garden waste scheme. Please keep a copy of this document for your records.

1. The council will provide a 240 litre brown bin which, under normal circumstances, will be emptied on a fortnightly basis. The normal collection day and alterations to collections due to public holidays are published on the council’s website. The service is not available to commercial organisations or businesses.

2. The customer will pay the agreed charge for the service provided, in accordance with the following conditions. The charge covers the cost of emptying one bin. Additional charges will apply to any additional bins required at a property.

3. The brown bins remain the property of the council.

4. Only agreed waste may be disposed of through this service. If the bin contains any unsuitable items, it will not be emptied.

Garden waste - what we will and won't collect
We will collect We do not accept (this list is not exhaustive)
  • Grass cuttings
  • Hedge and shrub clippings
  • Leaves, twigs and bark
  • Branches less that 10cm (4”) in diameter
  • Small plants and weeds
  • Cut flowers and fallen fruit
  • Soil, rubble or bricks
  • Kitchen or food waste
  • Animal waste however pet bedding from herbivores is accepted
  • Tree stumps or branches over 10cm in diameter
  • Plastic bags, pots or trays

5. All waste must be contained within the bins provided. Any waste not contained in a Cheltenham Borough Council brown bin will not be collected. The exception to this is when the council has had to cancel the service as set out at 14.

6. Due to the mechanical methods used to empty bins, it is a requirement that bins are presented with the lids in the closed position. Bins should not be filled with such a weight as to make the moving or emptying process hazardous to the council's operatives. The council reserves the right to suspend or cancel the service to customers whose bins are overweight or if the lids are not closed. 

7. Bins should be presented on the kerbside by 7am on the day of collection, unless arrangements for an assisted collection have been agreed. Collection crews will not return if the bin is put out late or not presented.

8. Should collections be missed due to circumstances beyond the council's control, every effort will be made to arrange an alternative collection. However, the council shall have no liability to the customer if it is unable to provide an alternative collection. If a collection is missed, the customer must report it within 2 working days.

9. The customer shall be responsible for maintaining the cleanliness of the bin.

10. Charges are normally set annually from the 1 February each year and customers will be notified of the charge for the forthcoming year’s subscription at least 14 days prior to payment being due.

11. Payment is to be made annually in advance. If payment is not received before the service start date, the bin will be removed and the service will no longer be provided.  If the customer then wishes to renew, they will need to sign up as a new customer and will not be eligible for any promotions or discounted arrangements which the council may be offered to new customers

12. The subscription is in force for the full 12 months and if cancelled by the customer at any stage within this period, no refund will be issued and the bin will be removed.

13. The garden waste service will not operate for four weeks over the Christmas/New Year period. Details of the specific dates will be published on the council’s website.

14. When a subscription is taken out for an additional garden waste bin, the renewal date for all bins will be calculated as an average of the renewal dates on all subscribed bins.

15. Payment does not guarantee a specific number of collections a year. Collections may be suspended during periods of severe inclement weather in order to assist with the catch up arrangements for waste and recycling. The council reserves the right to withdraw its service at any time. No refund will be issued and the bin will be removed.

16. The brown bin remains the responsibility of the homeowner and if they move within the borough it is their responsibility to move the brown bin to the new property and notify the council of the change of address. If the homeowner moves outside of the borough they must notify the council so that arrangements can be made to collect the bin. Customers who either cancel their service or fail to renew their subscription and fail to present the bin for retrieval may be charged.

17. Any outstanding charges or invoices due to the council may be collected as a debt

No space for a wheelie bin?

If you live in one of the specified areas where there is little or no space for storing a brown wheelie bin, you can have your garden waste collected in compostable paper sacks.

The service works on a pay-per-sack basis, instead of an annual subscription.

The scheme is entirely optional. 

How the scheme works

If you live in a qualifying street you can buy the 75 litre paper sacks at £25 for 10 sacks. There is a charge of £4.99 for delivery, or you can collect your order from the municipal offices.

Up to 10 sacks can be put out for collection on each collection day.

Collections will be made fortnightly on a Wednesday. Find out the collection week for your street.

Please ensure sacks are presented at the kerbside at the front of your property by 7am on collection day.

Qualifying streets

View the directory of streets included in the scheme.

Apply for the service

To apply for the service, please contact us on 01242 262626 and have your debit or credit card details ready for payment.

What you can put into your garden waste sacks:

  • grass cuttings
  • hedge and shrub clippings
  • leaves, twigs and bark
  • plants, flowers and weeds
  • windfall fruit
  • small branches

What you should not put in the sacks:

  • soil
  • animal waste
  • cooked and uncooked food waste - please use your food caddy
  • vegetable peelings - please use your food caddy
  • large branches
  • plant pots and growbags