Garden waste

If you encounter any issues this may be down to the high volume of users in the system. Please try again later – we apologise for any inconvenience. Paying online is still the quickest option as our phone lines are busier than normal.

Our garden waste service is now live for customers for 2025-26. Find out more in our garden waste changes and FAQ page.

Garden waste is an optional paid-for garden waste service. In the year 2025-26, for an additional annual charge of £75, customers get their garden waste such as hedge clippings, grass cuttings, dead leaves etc collected regularly from their home using one of our brown wheeled bins.

About the garden waste service

We are introducing a new garden waste subscription this spring. 

From 1 April 2025, a new permit scheme will change the way that you pay for your garden waste collection.  The permits must be paid for in advance, and direct debit will no longer be available. 

Once we have received your payment, you will receive a garden waste permit through the post, which needs to be put on the lid of your brown bin. You can purchase permits here from when we launch in mid February.

When we move to the new permit system, we will no longer collect bins that do not display the year’s permit sticker. After fair warning, if you continue to present your bin without displaying a sticker it may be removed. 

Please note: if your property is unsuitable for wheelie bins, please call the Garden Waste Team using the details at the bottom of this page and do not use the online form.

Service information

Garden waste is collected on the same day as your recycling. To check when this is please see waste calendar. Garden collections start at 6am.

If your bin was not emptied – please report a missed bin collection

If your bin is broken or missing please contact the council’s contractor Biffa directly on 03000 610 610 or admin.southoxford@biffa.co.uk.

Extra garden waste collections

If you have purchased a permit for our brown bin garden waste collection service, you can have extra garden waste collected for free, on your normal scheduled collection day only, between 31 March* and 11 April.

Permit holders can put out a maximum of up to four additional sacks of garden waste, per brown bin subscription, next to their brown bin.

To be eligible for a collection, please follow this guidance:

• Only present natural garden waste, such as cut grass, plants or branches.
• Please use standard sized (60L) black refuse-style sacks or boxes / containers totalling no more than a standard bin full. 
• Bags and containers must be left open so crews can easily empty them into the rear of the vehicle. 

Please DO NOT use bags larger than 60l (including one tonne builders’ type waste bags) – our crews will not collect any garden waste from these, as they are too heavy to lift.

*This service is also available to current garden waste collection subscribers who are due to receive a collection on 31 March, prior to the start of the new permits on 1 April.

New customers

Residents that not currently have brown bins at their property can purchase a permit now.

If you do not have a brown bin at your property, we aim to deliver within 15 working days.

Note for organisations – A company or organisation is only eligible to apply for the garden waste service if it classed as creating household waste under the Controlled Waste Regulations 2012. Examples of these types of organisations include schools and places of worship. Landlords are only permitted to sign up to the service for their tenants’ use only.  Please note additional charges may apply for this type of application. If you are unsure whether your company or organisation is eligible please contact the waste team using the contact details on the garden waste page.

The service cannot be used by a gardener or grounds maintenance company employed to dispose of garden waste. 

If you need help setting up the service online, call us using the phone number in the contact section at the bottom of this page.

Useful garden waste information

Will you take extra garden waste if left next to the bin?      

We will only collect waste inside the bin. However we do have Extra Garden Waste Weeks in the spring and autumn (more information and dates below) when we will collect extra garden waste (capacity of an extra 240 litre bin’s worth).

What if my property is not suitable for a brown bin but I’d still like the garden waste service?

If your property is unsuitable for wheelie bins, please call the Garden Waste Team using the details at the bottom of this page.

What can you put in the brown bin?

• Grass
• Leaves
• Weeds
• Flowers and plants
• Hedge clippings
• Branches (not more than 10cm thick)
• Prunings and twigs
• Windfall fruit
• Hay / Straw / Sawdust (soiled animal bedding from non-meat eating animals only eg rabbits)
• Vegetable waste from the garden only eg potato tops (not kitchen waste) 

The waste must be put in loose – no liners or bags

Please don’t put any packaging or sacks in your garden waste bin, even if they are compostable. As the compost heaps are outside, packaging and sacks are likely to end up littering neighbouring farmland.  There also is no way for our crews to know if packaging is compostable or not when they are emptying your brown bin.

What shouldn’t go in the bin?

• Compost bags,
• Plant pots
• Garden tools
• Soil and rubble
• Turf
• No weeds that need reporting to the Environment Agency, like Japanese knotweed and ragwort.  For more information visit the Oxfordshire County Council website

If your bin contains anything it shouldn’t, we will leave a note on your bin explaining this and will empty it on your next scheduled garden waste collection if the items have been removed

Spring and autumn extra garden waste weeks

We collect the equivalent of one extra bin’s worth in one week in Spring and in Autumn. These are indicated on our waste collection calendars. Boxes and bags are left at residents’ discretion and will not be replaced if missing or damaged.

Home composting

For more information about home composting and purchasing a compost bin please visit Oxfordshire Recycles.

What happens to your garden waste

Your garden waste is recycled outside using a process called Open Windrows and the end product is sold to local farmers. We only accept garden waste in our brown bins. This means no packaging not even compostable packaging. As the process happens outdoors, packaging of any kind presents a litter issue.

Anyone who is not a garden waste customer can dispose of garden waste at one of Oxfordshire County Council’s Household Waste Recycling Centres. These sites are open but please check their website for opening times and any restrictions.

Contact us

If you need to get in touch with us, please call 01235 422422.