Brown bin - fortnightly garden waste subscription service

Garden waste is collected fortnightly

You must have a pre-paid garden waste permit for the bin to be collected. Permits cost £40. Read more about garden waste permits.

Using the garden waste collection service

  1. put your grass cuttings, weeds and prunings into your brown bin
  2. make sure you are displaying a valid permit, have only put the right items in your brown bin and that it is not too heavy
  3. present your brown bin at the kerbside by 7am on your collection day

What goes in the brown bin

Yes No
  • grass cuttings
  • hedge clippings
  • leaves
  • twigs and small branches
  • shrub prunings
  • plants, weeds and flowers                                                           
  • plastic bags or liners
  • kitchen waste or food scraps (please put these items in your silver caddy)
  • soil, turf or wood (you can recycle these items at your local Recycling Centre)
  • plant pots or polystyrene
  • stones, bricks or rubble (you can recycle these items at your local Recycling Centre)
  • animal faeces or bedding

Your collection day

Your permit pack will include a sticker that will tell you the day and week your bin is to be collected. There will be a calendar on the letter that's included in the pack that lets you know what the week is.

There is a strict limit of one brown bin per household to make sure we can complete our collection routes when there is a lot of garden waste. 

My brown bin hasn't been emptied

If you put the wrong items in your brown bin the collection crew will not empty the container. If the bin is too heavy we won't be able to empty it.

If your garden waste bin has not been fully emptied then this is because the material was stuck in the bin, please loosen and present on your next collection.

If none of the above apply and you presented your permitted bin at the kerbside with the lid closed by 7am on the correct collection day and it has not been emptied, please contact us and arrangements will be made for your bin to be emptied as soon as possible.

Report a missed collection

What happens to the material collected?

All the material collected is delivered to Forth Resource Management's composting facility at East Fenton in East Lothian. The compost is then used for landscaping or sold as a soil improver called Caledonian Green Goodness Compost, more details can be found on their website.

If you don’t want to use the permit service 

We will not collect your brown bin. It should stay at the property for potential use in the future.