Frequently Asked Composting Questions
What is garden waste?
Garden waste refers to the type of organic waste arising from
day to day gardening activities. This includes waste from any
plants, trees or other vegetation growing in your garden.
This can include things like grass cuttings, weeds and dead
plants, prunings, twigs and leaves.
Garden waste does not include waste arising from other garden
based activities such as landscaping. Soil and rubble are not
classed as garden waste. Plastic items such as seed trays are
also not classed as garden waste as they are not organic and
will not rot down.
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What are the ways I can deal with
cardboard and garden waste?
The best thing to do is to compost your cardboard, garden waste
and kitchen scraps at home. To find out more about composting at
home, please go to
How to compost at home.
Alternatively we provide a collection service. This is most
suited to the materials that you would not normally compost at
home. There is a charge for the garden waste, but the
cardboard can be collected free of charge. For more information on
this service, please go to
Cardboard and garden waste collections.
You can also take cardboard and garden waste to one of the three
Recycling Centres in Bath and North East Somerset, where there are
separate containers for collecting the cardboard and the garden
waste.
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Cardboard and Garden Waste
Collections
Why is there a charge for collecting garden waste?
Local Authorities can make a charge for collecting garden
waste. We make a charge for the following reasons:
- We want to encourage people to compost as much as possible at
home. By maintaining a charge, there is an incentive for
people to keep composting.
- Local Authorities that have offered free garden waste
collections have found the amount of waste they have to deal with
rises dramatically along with the costs of providing the
service.
- The collections are expensive to run and are
already heavily subsidised by the Council. If we did not
make a charge they would be too expensive to run.
- Not everybody has a garden so it would be unfair on those
people to offer a completely free service.
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What do I do if I only want to have my cardboard
collected?
Cardboard can be collected on its own free of charge without
using a wheeled bin or paper sack. Simply put it out on the same
day as the cardboard and garden waste collections in your
street.
Pack the cardboard flat in a cardboard box or tied with string
and leave it at the front edge of your property so that
it is visible and accessible.
Please do not put your cardboard in plastic bags as these cannot
be composted.
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What materials must I avoid putting out for the Cardboard and
Garden Waste Collections?
Do not put out any kinds of plastic for collection as they
cannot be composted. This includes things like plastic film
(eg the plastic windows found on cake boxes), handles, sticky tape
and other attachments.
Please also do not put out plastic bags (you can pack your
cardboard into a cardboard box or tie it with string as these can
be composted)
Please do not put out cardboard drinks cartons as these are made
from a mixture of cardboard and plastic film and cannot be
composted (we have recycling banks for these at Pixash Lane
Recycling Centre in Keynsham and will be adding other sites in
due course).
Please do not put out any plastic described as 'biodegradable'
or 'compostable' - we do not have facilities to deal with
these materials and it is not possible for them to be distinguished
from other kinds of plastic.
For further information please go to
Cardboard and Garden Waste Contamination Notice.
Other materials to avoid putting out for collection include food
waste, Japanese Knotweed and large branches or logs.
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How can I found out my collection day?
Contact Council Connect on 01225 39 40 41 or email councilconnect@bathnes.gov.uk
. Alternatively you can go to
Cardboard and garden waste collection dates.
How often are the cardboard and garden waste collections?
They are every fortnight.
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What happens to the collections during Bank Holidays?
Cardboard and garden waste collections are not affected by Bank
Holidays and will continue as normal. The only exceptions are
Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day where you will
need to wait until the following collection to have your cardboard
and garden waste collected.
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What should I do if my bin is missed?
Please check if other properties on your road have been missed
before calling.
Although the time of collection is broadly the same each week,
we cannot guarantee this. It is important to make sure your
cardboard and garden waste is put out by 7am on the correct
collection day.
Contact Council Connect on 01225 39 40 41 or email councilconnect@bathnes.gov.uk
Providing you report a missed collection by the end of the next
working day, we can send the crews back to collect your cardboard
and garden waste.
What container should I use for my cardboard and garden
waste?
Garden waste must only be presented using the paper sacks or
wheeled bin provided by the Council. No other containers will
be accepted.
Cardboard can be put out in any suitable container (e.g a box,
or tied with string). However, please do not use plastic bags
as these cannot be composted.
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How can I purchase paper sacks or a wheeled bin service?
The wheeled bin service currently costs £22.40 per year (plus a
one off charge of £2.50 for delivery of the bin). Paper sacks
cost £1 each.
To find out the options and details of local paper sack outlets,
go to
Cardboard and Garden Waste Collections or contact Council
Connect on 01225 39 40 41 email: councilconnect@bathnes.gov.uk
More information on the cardboard and garden waste collections
can be found at
Cardboard and Garden Waste Collections
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Home Composting
More information on home composting can be found at
How to compost at home and
Compost Bin Offer.
How do I compost?
Composting is very easy to do because it is a natural
process that works with very little input.
The easiest way to compost is to buy a compost bin and add your
garden waste and kitchen scraps to the compost bin. Over time
they will rot down and turn into compost.
To find out more about how to compost at home, go to
How to compost at home.
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What if I'm having problems with my compost bin?
Most problems have easy solutions. If your compost is too
soggy, or nothing is happening or you have unwanted pests, you'll
find advice to help you by going to
How to compost at home.
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How do I know when my compost is ready?
It can take from 6 months to 2 years for your waste to turn into
compost. Once ready it should be dark brown, smell nice and
earthy and look like normal soil. To find out more, go to
How to compost at home.
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How do I get a compost bin?
Up until 31st December 2007 the Council is
working with Recycle Now, a Government supported organisation,
offering heavily subsidised compost bins to residents of Bath and
North East Somerset.
To find out more, go to
Compost Bin Offer.
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How can I find out more about wormeries?
Go to
Wormeries
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