Garden waste collections resumed 3 March

The Highland Council brown bin garden waste collections resume on Monday 3rd March. The fortnightly collections were suspended for 3 months over the winter, saving money at a time of year when the service is less in demand. New collection calendars for the brown bins will be put through residents letterboxes in the coming weeks.  Some householders in Inverness and Ross and Cromarty will see a change of collection day so they are advised to check their new calendar carefully before putting their bin out. 

Gardeners have still been able to take material to the garden waste skips at Recycling Centres; however, the March resumption will enable gardeners to start using their brown bins again to clear up before the growing season gets going.

The brown bins take grass cuttings, hedge trimmings, twigs and small branches, flowers and plants and weeds (excluding Japanese knotweed and ragwort). Residents must NOT use the bins for soil, stones, turf and rubble, any type of plastic (including polystyrene), animal waste or kitchen waste (cooked or raw including fruit and vegetables). Inverness residents should use their food waste collection service for kitchen waste: this is specially heat treated to ensure that any pathogens are destroyed. In other areas householders are encouraged to compost raw fruit and vegetable waste in their own gardens.

The garden waste collected by The Council is turned into compost and is mainly used by local farmers as a soil conditioner; some is also used for landfill restoration. All compostable material collected by local authorities must meet a quality standard, PAS 100 which ensures the compost is suitable for its intended use.  Recent changes to the PAS 100 standard mean that testing for items such as stones and plastic have become more stringent. Some Recycling Centres have separate skips for soil and rubble.

For further information on the brown bin service, including collection dates, information on garden waste facilities at Recycling Centres and on home composting visit The Highland Council’s recycling pages.