Changes to brown bin collections

Following extensive consultation, the Council has this week confirmed that, as of Monday 1 April the garden kerbside waste collection service will be an opt-in subscription service.

Residents will now be asked if they wish to opt-in to brown bin collections with effect from April 2024, and pay £40 per annum/per bin for the service.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council does not have a legal obligation to provide brown bin collections. Following a full review of council services and finances, it has been announced that brown bin collections will now be an opt-in, paid-for service for residents who wish to maintain a garden waste collection service.

From Monday 1 April, residents who wish to have their garden waste collected at kerbside will need to have subscribed to the service.

Councillor Amjid Wazir, cabinet member for city pride, enforcement, and sustainability, said: “Not everyone needs or uses the garden waste service, and making it a self-funded service enables us to provide the service for those who want it, and maintain the fortnightly general waste collection. There is no legal obligation for councils to collect garden waste free of charge, and we see nationally that around 70% of local authorities have introduced a subscription service. Residents in Stoke-on-Trent with gardens can decide if they would like to receive a garden waste collection and it will be an opt-in, self-funding service.

“We recognise that some of our residents are suffering considerable financial challenges, and we have therefore kept the charge as low as practically possible - it works out at £1.60 per collection. This cost could also be split with neighbours to keep the cost low for families.”

 To provide residents with the opportunity to easily dispose of any garden waste which may already have accumulated in their brown bin - and also to provide them with a little more time to subscribe to the garden waste collection service, all households will receive a one-off collection of garden waste before the subscription period commences on Monday 1 April 2024.

Residents are asked to present their garden waste bin on their scheduled recycling day during the weeks of Monday 18 March and Monday 25 March.

Any additional garden waste collections after this period will need to be subscribed to.

Residents can do this by visiting www.stoke.gov.uk/GardenWaste. Collections will run fortnightly in conjunction with the blue bin collection schedule throughout the year.

 Current optional winter-only collection subscriptions are no longer available.

If you need further information head to our frequently asked questions www.stoke.gov.uk/GardenWaste.

The council continues to encourage residents to reduce, reuse, and recycle their waste as much as possible so that less waste needs to be disposed of. This includes encouraging people to try home composting, which is an environmentally friendly way to limit food waste and benefits people’s gardens.