Garden Waste Collection in 2019

When does it start this year?

Collections for garden waste run from 25th February 2019 until 29th November 2019.

The brown bin garden waste collection service is available to all residents of Amber Valley, with the exception of residents who either have their waste collected in bags or use communal waste facilities.

The dates for collection vary throughout the DE56 area, and can be checked by putting your postcode in to bin collection dates checker on the AVBC website.  This will also give you collection dates for recycling and regular waste.

The dates are also sent to those signed up to the scheme, along with a tamper proof sticker, which must be attached to the bin to prove that payment has been made.

How do you get on the scheme?

You have to sign up for the scheme, and pay in advance, which can be done through the AVBC website by one of the following routes:

• online via the garden waste payments page
• by calling 01773 841440
• in person at the Ripley town centre office

For brown bin users who already have a bin, the price remains the same as last year:

• £40 for their garden waste bin to be collected, fortnightly for a 10 months.

New users have to buy a brown bin and their costs for the first year are:

• £20 for a garden waste bin to be purchased and delivered to their property
• £40 for their garden waste bin to be collected until November

Existing users can order a second brown bin for their property with a lower collection cost for the second bin:

• £20 for the bin to be purchased and delivered to their property
• £20 for their second garden waste bin to be collected until November

To clarify, for 2 bin service users:

• £40 for their first garden waste bin to be collected until November
• £20 for each additional bin to be collected for a year.

Bins without the payment sticker will not be emptied.

If you sign up late, you still have to pay £40 for the year.  It can take 15 days to add new users to the service, so new users need to be paid up by 10th February.

If you cancel, you are stuck with the bin.

AVBC provides a list of accepted and unaccepted waste:

Acceptable items

• Leaves
• Twigs
• Prunings
• Grass cuttings
• Weeds and Plants
• Cut flowers
• Small branches (no larger than 3 inches/7.5cm in diameter)

Unacceptable items

• Food waste (cooked or uncooked including fallen fruit and garden vegetables)
• Plastic (plant pots, seed trays, plastic bags)
• Soil
• Bricks
• Rubble
• Household waste
• Wood
• Animal bedding
• Animal faeces

AVBC’s rules for the scheme:

• Please make sure your bin is put out for collection by 6:30am on collection day.
• Your bin lid must be closed properly.
• Missed collections of garden waste must be reported by 12 noon on the next working day.
• Extra bags of garden waste by the side of the bin will not be collected unless authorised by the council.
• Garden waste must be put loose into the garden waste bin.
• Garden waste MUST NOT be put inside any plastic or paper bags even if these bags are classed as biodegradable.
• Garden waste bins that contain unacceptable items of waste will not be emptied.
• If garden waste is stuck or frozen inside your garden waste bin the council will not return to empty the bin but will take additional garden waste on the next collection day.
• For further information please read our full terms and conditions of the garden waste collection service.

Composting alternative:

If you would prefer to compost at home, you can purchase a discounted compost bin through the scheme run by Derbyshire County Council.

Where does it go?

Users of the service hope that they are being more environmentally friendly by not sending their garden waste to landfill.  What happens to the garden waste is that it is taken to a special site where a waste contractor shreds and grades the garden waste.  It is then shaped into windrows (long lines, like unbaled hay) and allowed to rot in place to produce compost, which is then used to improve local soil.

21,000 tonnes of garden waste have been collected and composted through the scheme over the last 5 years, keeping all of that out of landfill.

Contacts for further information:
Phone: 01773 841326
Email: refuse@ambervalley.gov.uk