Garden waste bin charges: what 272 UK councils charge in 2026

Key findings

• The dearest subscriptions: East Hampshire £130 (plus an £86 bin, so £216 in year one), Kingston upon Thames £104 (plus £44 for the bin), Barnet £103.80, Brighton and Hove £102, Isle of Wight £102 and Lewisham £100.63, though Lewisham collects weekly.
• The cheapest paid services are all in Scotland and the North West: Falkirk £25, then Aberdeen, Inverclyde, South Ribble and Wyre at £30, and Wrexham at £35.
• 50 councils still collect free, concentrated in Greater Manchester and Merseyside, Wales, and a cluster of Yorkshire and London authorities. Northern Ireland collects garden waste free everywhere.
• Yorkshire is two-tier: Leeds, Hull, Wakefield, Doncaster and Barnsley collect free while Sheffield charges £66.58, Bradford £62, Calderdale £58, Kirklees £56.65, Rotherham £53 and North Yorkshire and York £52.
• Scotland has charged fastest: nearly every council now charges, from Falkirk's £25 to Moray and Stirling at over £50, with only Fife still free and the three island councils running no kerbside service.
• Birmingham's service is suspended owing to industrial action, and East Riding is moving to free weekly food-and-garden collection.

Average charge by region

Regional averages

London averages £86, the dearest region, though six of its boroughs collect free. The North East is the cheapest at £41, with the whole Tees Valley on £40. Northern Ireland is not shown because collections there are free.

Cost per collection: the number nobody publishes

The headline fee hides what you actually get. Hartlepool's £41 sounds cheap until you see it buys eight collections a year; Lewisham's £100.63 sounds steep until you see collections are weekly. Dividing each fee by the collections it buys gives a fairer league:

Worst value per visit

1. Kingston upon Thames £5.20 per collection (£104 for 20 visits)
2. East Hampshire £5.20 per collection (£130 for 25 visits)
3. Barnet £5.19 per collection (£103.80 for 20 visits)
4. Bradford £5.17 per collection (£62 for 12 visits)
5. Hartlepool £5.12 per collection (£41 for 8 visits)

Best value per visit

1. Aberdeen £1.50 per collection (£30 for 20 visits)
2. Inverclyde £1.50 per collection (£30 for 20 visits)
3. South Ribble £1.50 per collection (£30 for 20 visits)
4. Wyre £1.50 per collection (£30 for 20 visits)
5. Fylde £1.56 per collection (£39 for 25 visits)

Bradford is the standout: £62 buys just 12 collections, one every four weeks, putting it level with Kingston and East Hampshire per visit while Leeds, Wakefield and Barnsley next door collect free.

Every council we've checked

Skip past the table ↓

272 UK councils covered: complete for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and 207 of England's district and unitary councils. Yours missing or changed? Tell us.

Who still collects free, and why it's disappearing

50 councils still collect garden waste at no charge. They cluster in a few places: nearly all of Greater Manchester and Merseyside, most of Wales, five Yorkshire authorities (Leeds, Hull, Wakefield, Doncaster and Barnsley), and six London boroughs. In Northern Ireland garden waste shares a free food-and-garden bin everywhere. But free is retreating: Scotland has gone almost entirely paid in five years, the whole Tees Valley began charging by 2025, and Chelmsford, Plymouth, Westmorland and Furness and Staffordshire Moorlands all introduced charges in 2026. A further 42 councils charge but don't publish the fee on an indexable page, mostly behind Scotland's permit portals.

Garden waste charges: your questions answered

How much is a garden waste bin per year?

Across the 176 charging councils we could price, the median subscription is £53 a year and most fall between £40 and £70. The full range runs from £25 (Falkirk) to £130 (East Hampshire), and 50 councils still collect free.

Which council charges the most for garden waste?

East Hampshire, at £130 a year, and new subscribers must also buy the £86 bin, so £216 in year one. Kingston upon Thames (£104, plus £44 for the bin), Barnet (£103.80), Brighton and Hove (£102), Isle of Wight (£102) and Lewisham (£100.63, though collections are weekly) follow.

Which councils collect garden waste for free?

50 councils across the UK, including Leeds, Hull, Wakefield, Doncaster and Barnsley in Yorkshire, twelve councils across Greater Manchester and Merseyside, most of Wales, six London boroughs, and Fife in Scotland. In Northern Ireland garden waste generally goes in the standard food-and-garden bin at no charge.

Why do councils charge for garden waste?

Garden waste collection is a discretionary service, not a statutory one, so councils may charge for it under the Controlled Waste Regulations (in Scotland, the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012). Most run it as a self-funding opt-in service so that households without gardens don't subsidise those with them.

Is garden waste collection included in council tax?

No. Council tax covers statutory collections such as general waste and recycling. Garden waste is an optional extra almost everywhere, which is why cancelling the subscription doesn't reduce your council tax.

Can I share a garden waste bin with a neighbour?

Often, yes. Fylde, Lancaster, Wolverhampton, Cannock Chase, Darlington and Dudley all explicitly allow it, with one household holding the subscription. Check your council's terms, since the bin usually has to be presented at the subscriber's address.

When do garden waste collections stop for winter?

Most councils pause for four to twelve weeks over December and January. A few run reduced calendars all year, such as Hartlepool (eight collections between April and November) and Bradford (twelve, one every four weeks), which is why cost per collection varies so much more than the headline fee.

Do I get a refund if I cancel or move house?

Rarely, beyond a 14-day cooling-off period. Nearly every council in our data states no pro rata refunds for cancelling, moving or signing up late, so subscribing before the season starts gets the most collections for the same money.

What can and can't go in a garden waste bin?

Grass, hedge clippings, leaves, prunings and cut flowers are accepted everywhere. Soil, turf, rubble, plastic bags and food waste (unless your council runs a combined food-and-garden bin) are the usual refusals. Our guide to what can and can't go in a skip covers the heavier stuff.

Is a skip cheaper than the garden waste subscription?

For a one-off clearance, often yes. A subscription buys roughly 240 litres a fortnight, so a big garden clearance can take months to trickle away, and soil and turf usually can't go in the garden bin at all. A small skip takes the lot in one go. See our skip prices and size calculator.

Methodology

Download, reuse and press

More in this series: UK skip permit costs, council by council. Hiring a skip in North Yorkshire? Get a quote or try the skip size calculator.