Garden waste

Garden waste collection subscriptions are for street-level properties with a garden.

We will only collect your garden waste every 2 weeks if you subscribe to the service.

Subscribe to our garden waste collection service

Use our ‘subscribe to garden waste collection’ form to start a new subscription or renew your existing one.

If you are renewing your subscription, you must start a new form. You do not need your reference number from last year, as a new one will be created.

Subscribe to our garden waste collection service

This service is for street-level properties. These can be houses or houses that have been converted into flats. They are generally households with their own bin.

The subscription period is from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026. 

If you buy a subscription later in the year, you will pay the same price for the full term because the price and expiry date are fixed.

We will remind you when and how to renew your subscription for next year in February and March 2026.

Subscription options

We collect garden waste from brown bins or brown bags. 

The cost of your subscription will depend on which bins and bags you need:

• 1 brown bin (140 litre) costs £85
• 2 brown bins (140 litre) cost £128
• 2 brown reusable bags (90 litre) cost £110
• 4 brown reusable bags (90 litre) cost £165
• 1 brown bin (140 litre) and 2 brown reusable bags (90 litre) cost £147

Last year our subscription pricing covered 11 months. This year, the subscription period is 12 months and the price has been adjusted to cover a full year, with prices starting at £85.

If you do not currently have the bins or bags needed for your subscription, please make sure you order them when subscribing or renewing your subscription. 

Bins and bags will be delivered for free within 10 working days.

Discounts

We have listened to your feedback about concession prices. This year, discounts are available for people who receive Council Tax Reduction. 

You will need to provide your benefit claim number when subscribing to get the discount.

How to use your garden waste subscription

Once you have subscribed we will post you a permit for your subscription within 2 weeks. You will receive one permit for each bin or bag in your subscription.

The bin permit must be stuck on the back of the brown bin. If this is a renewal permit, stick the new permit below the old permit so it is directly against the surface of the bin. You can remove your old permit after it expires.

You must tie the bag tag permit around the reusable garden waste bag handle.

Collections will only take place from bins and bags with permits. 

We will not collect garden waste in black plastic bags or any other containers. You must close the garden waste bin lids. We will not collect any extra waste, for example any waste placed around the garden waste bin or on the lid.

We collect your garden waste every 2 weeks. 

Where to put your bin or bag for collection

Place your bins or bags in an accessible location by 6am on your collection day. 

Place them either on the street or as close to the edge of your property as possible, for example by your gate. 

Bins placed on the street for collection need to be returned to the property on the same day of collection.

Change or update your subscription

Report a missed collection

Report a missed collection

If your garden waste bin or bag was not collected on the morning of your collection day, leave it out as we might collect it later.

If we do not collect your bin before 6pm on your collection day, report the missed collection. We will then collect your rubbish within 48 hours.

You must report a missed collection within 2 days of your collection day. Otherwise, we will collect your waste on your next collection day.

You can only report a missed collection for your scheduled collection day.

Check if you are entitled to a collection and find out your collection day

Find your waste and recycling services

Use our postcode look-up tool to find out what waste and recycling services your address should receive and your collection days.

Collecting garden waste from estates

Private blocks that would like to have garden waste collected must subscribe to the garden waste service.

To subscribe to garden waste collections for a private block, the manager of the block should contact our commercial waste team. They can email commercialwaste@hackney.gov.uk or call 020 8356 6683.

If you have communal gardens contact your managing agent or housing association. They are responsible for the removal of garden waste.

One-off garden collections for properties on estates will start in the coming months. Further information will be updated here.

Other ways to recycle garden waste

The most environmentally friendly alternative is to compost your green garden waste yourself. Composting is a natural process that transforms your waste into nutrient-rich soil. 

Garden waste can be home composted using a composter. See Reduce, reuse and repair – Composting and water butts.

You can also take garden waste to one of 3 reuse and recycling centres:

• Islington, 40 Hornsey Street, N7 8HU
• Walthamstow, South Access Road, E17 8AX
• Wood Green, Western Road, N22 6XJ

For more information, see Reuse and Recycling Centres (tips or dumps).

Burning garden waste

Burning garden waste is not recommended in Hackney as the smoke may cause a nuisance or harm to health. You must also not dispose of waste in a way that is likely to cause pollution. 

We encourage people to compost their garden waste, but if this is not possible, choosing recycling and waste collection services is a safer and more environmentally friendly option.

Items you can and cannot recycle as garden waste

Japanese knotweed

You must not put Japanese knotweed in with your garden waste or general rubbish.

The government has guidance on treating and disposing of invasive plants. If you have Japanese knotweed or other invasive plants on your land you should contact a specialist contractor to remove and dispose of it properly.

Find out more about how to stop Japanese knotweed from spreading – GOV.UK.

Disposing compostable packaging

Compostable plastic is a material made from renewable materials such as vegetable starch and soy protein. 

Compostable plastic should be put into your general waste and not your food waste, garden waste or recycling. 

This is because in north London all packaging is removed from food and garden waste and disposed of by ‘de-packaging’ machinery. 

This has to be done because non-compostable items are often put into the food and garden waste which causes contamination. 

The de-packaging machinery we use is not currently able to distinguish between compostable and non-compostable packaging when removing contaminants.

What happens to your garden waste

We send garden waste from households in Hackney to an in-vessel composting plant in south east England to be turned into compost.

Garden waste collection terms and conditions

See Garden waste collection terms and conditions (google doc).