Westmorland and Furness Councils new garden waste subscription service will open in on Wednesday for households to subscribe to the new £60 a year garden waste collection service that will come into force from the 29th June 2026.
Right now, there's nothing you need to do but here’s some important information about how the service will work:
The garden waste service will move from the current free service to a subscription model. There will be a £60 annual charge per bin. If you require additional bins, the council will charge a one‑off cost of £25 per extra bin, and each of those bins will also require the £60 annual subscription charge.
If a household is subscribing to the new subscription garden waste service and don’t currently have a garden waste bin, the first bin will be provided free of charge, but the £60 annual subscription charge will still apply.
Garden waste will be collected every two weeks, with the service running April to March and pausing during the months of December, January and February.
Once the council’s new subscription service launces on 1st April, households will be able to sign up during the subscription window, which runs 1st April to 28th June 2026.
The council has confirmed they will continue to collect garden waste bins as usual from 1sst April until 28th June 2026 as a grace period to give households the opportunity to subscribe to the new service.
After you subscribe, the council will post you a sticker for each bin subscription you have which will need to be stuck to the back of your green garden waste bin so council collection crews can easily see it on collection day.
From 29th June 2026 only green garden waste bins with a valid 2026 sticker will be collected by the council. If there’s no sticker, crews won’t empty the bin.
The councils terms and conditions for the new service state “If we have missed a collection, we’ll make every effort to rectify the problem. Where this is not possible, there will be no partial or full refund offered.”
From the 1st April You'll be able to apply and pay for your subscription to the council by completing an online form on the council website or by contacting Westmorland and Furness Council by the telephone to arrange your subscription and payment.
Once you have subscribed the council terms say you can only claim a refund within 14 days, from the date you paid, to cancel the service. If you cancel your service after the 14 days, Westmorland and Furness Council will not provide a refund including if you move house during the period of the subscription.
Westmorland and Furness Council may cancel the service to a household if there is any misuse of the service or the garden waste bins and they will provide no refund in these circumstances.
If households decide not to sign up to the £60 peer bin service this year, there are still ways to manage your garden waste responsibly such as by composting at home or taking your waste to one of the councils Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs).
Then select "Add to Home Screen"
