From 1 June 2024, West Lothian Council will introduce a £50 per annum charge for garden waste collection.
Applications are now open for garden waste permits for 2024/25.
Permits cost £50 per household (up to two brown bins per household) and will be valid from 1 June 2024 to 31 May 2025.
From 1 June 2024, if you would like the council to collect your garden waste from your home, you need to purchase and display a garden waste permit on your brown bin. If you do not have a garden waste permit displayed, only food waste should be placed in your brown bin. If garden waste is placed in your brown bin and you do not have a permit displayed, your bin will not be emptied.
Please try not to compact the material in your bin, this can result in your bin being half emptied on collection day. If your bin is not fully emptied due to the material being compacted, or frozen together in winter months, it is your responsibility to loosen the material ready for your next scheduled collection. No additional collection will be provided for half emptied bins.
Apply for a garden waste permit
Permits cost £50 per household (up to two brown bins per household). Permits take up to 21 days to arrive.
You cannot buy an additional brown bin permit if you have more than two brown bins.
You should apply for your permit by 10 May if you want to receive your permit by 1 June. You can still apply for a permit after this date, please be aware that the price will remain £50 and will still only be valid until 31 May regardless of when in the year the permit is purchased. You can read the full Garden Waste Terms and Conditions in relation to the scheme.
Residents unable to apply online can call the Customer Service Centre on 01506 280000 (Option 3 then Option 1) for assistance.
You have 14 days from the purchase of your permit to cancel it. This is called the "cooling-off" period. If you are within the 14 day period, please complete the Cancel your Permit form.
Attach your permit to the back of your brown bin, under the handles as shown in the short video.
We'll then start collecting your garden waste on your next brown bin collection date.
Your permit will be valid from 1 June 2024 to 31 May 2025.
If you do not purchase a garden waste permit, only food waste will be collected from your brown bin. If garden waste is placed in your brown bin and you do not have a permit displayed, your bin will not be emptied.
Paying for your permit
If you are paying upfront for your permit, this will be charged at the point of purchase.
West Lothian Council Housing tenants can choose to pay in the same way as they pay their rent, using existing administrative arrangements. If you wish to make a payment towards your garden waste permit, you can do so on the Garden Waste Payments for Council Tenants page.
Frequently Asked Questions - Garden Waste Permits
Following the Council's annual budget meeting for 2024/25, a decision was made to introduce a charge for the collection of garden waste within the brown bin.
The collection of garden waste is not a statutory service, and with reducing budgets and increasing costs, the Council can no longer afford to operate this type of collection as a free service.
To retain a garden waste collection service, it was therefore necessary to introduce a charge to contribute towards the cost of its provision. There is no obligation to make use of the chargeable service and residents can continue to dispose of garden waste free of charge at the Community Recycling Centres.
Garden Waste permits cost £50 per annum for up to two bins per household. This cost is not reduced if a customer purchases a permit beyond 1 June 2024. All permits for the 2024/25 year will end on 31 May 2025.
Food waste can always be placed in the brown bin, free of charge. Once you have a garden waste permit, these items can also go in your brown bin:
grass cuttings
leaves and twigs
branches and twigs (small enough to fit in the bin with the lid closed)
hedge clippings
plants
Do not put these items in your brown bin:
rubble and soil
pet waste and bedding
plant pots
wood and fencing
timber or logs
garden furniture
stones, gravel, or concrete (including DIY waste, such as plasterboard)
There will be no change to the brown bin collection day. Households will continue to receive uplifts on a fortnightly frequency. Brown bins displaying a valid garden waste permit will be emptied by the same crew and vehicle collecting food waste from households not participating in the garden waste collection service.
The £50 charge will be valid per household for up to two bins. This provides up to two permits if required to place on your bins to allow collection.
As per the Waste Service Standards, only two brown bins can be presented per household at any one time.
The service starts on 1 June 2024.
Collection crews will only empty brown bins containing garden waste if they display a valid garden waste permit.
Service information and permit payment system will be available online from Monday 8 April 2024.
Please be aware that the permit sticker is not designed to be pressure washed or commercially cleaned using strong chemicals, this may cause the permit to be damaged or spoiled.
If your permit is damaged you can request a replacement permit in the replacement permit section above. This service will become available once initial permits have been issued.
Please note, once the payment has been processed, it will take up to 21 days to print the personalised permit for your bin and then post it to your home. If it has been more than 21 days since you ordered your permit and you received the email confirmation, but you have still not received the permit through the post, please request a replacement permit via Brown Bins or telephone the Council's Customer Service Centre on 01506 280000 (Option 3 then Option 1).
Brown bin collections will be suspended over the festive period. Details of changes to the festive uplift schedule will be available on Household Recycling and Waste and you can stay up to date with any daily changes to collections on Bin Collection Daily Updates.
