Rotherham Garden Waste Service: terms and conditions 2024-25
When you sign up to the Rotherham Council Garden Waste Collection Service, you will be accepting the following terms and conditions:
General terms
You agree to pay Rotherham Council to collect your garden waste that is placed in your brown garden waste bin(s). The service charge will be as specified at www.rotherham.gov.uk/garden-waste.
The collection period will run for the dates shown upon sign-up/renewal page, or if you are on Direct Debit you will be notified separately.
The brown bins provided are the property of Rotherham Council. You are paying for the emptying of the bin(s) and for the hire of the bin(s) from Rotherham Council.
You acknowledge that the garden waste collection service is provided in line with the anticipated collection dates published on your calendar. The collection period runs for 12 months; however collections dates may be subject to change.
You understand there are no reductions for subscribing to the service part way through the year.
You accept that you will not be entitled to a refund if you move out of the Rotherham area or no longer require the service for any reason part way through the subscription period.
You are aware that if you move to another address within Rotherham you can transfer your garden waste collections to your new address free of charge. Complete the appropriate form at www.rotherham.gov.uk/garden-waste.
If you move house and stay within the Rotherham Borough you can transfer your subscription, and we will arrange for your garden waste collection service to be transferred. You are responsible for taking your bin to your new address.
If full payment is not received for the service in one payment, or as two instalments paid within 45 days of each other, or if any payment is rejected, your collections will cease immediately, and the bin(s) delivered to your property will be retrieved.
If you have previously arranged to pay by annual Direct Debit, your service contract will automatically be renewed for a further 12-month period unless you have notified us of your request to cancel by the cut-off date as per our website. Please make sure to check our website as this date can be subject to change.
Prior to each future expiry date, we will notify you of the subscription charge payable for the following 12-month term, and where the Service contract is automatically renewed Rotherham Council will be entitled to receive such subscription charge through the Direct Debit arrangement. Your Direct Debit will be taken on or around 1 February annually.
If you have not set up a Direct Debit for your garden waste subscription, it is up to you to renew your subscription in time for the coming year’s collections. Rotherham Council will advertise when renewals and sign-ups for the coming years’ service open. You will not receive any collections until you have re-subscribed and made a payment.
Rotherham Council will arrange collection of your brown bin if you do not wish to renew the service.
If you agree for Rotherham Council to keep your contact data, we will contact you to remind you when your renewal is due. This data will not be used to contact you for any purpose other than about your garden waste collection service. It is your responsibility to inform Rotherham Council if your contact information has changed.
Where you have purchased this service online or via the phone, you have a 14-day cooling off period to change your mind. To cancel, you will need to call Rotherham Council and will be entitled to a refund of the amount paid minus costs incurred for services received.
Rothercard holders are entitled to a 10% discount on the cost of their first bin. This discount doesn’t apply to additional bins and is only valid for the 2024-25 subscription period.
To receive the Rothercard discount you must be a Rothercard holder or live in the same household as a Rothercard holder.
All terms and conditions may be subject to change.
Collections
Your brown garden waste bin(s) will be emptied on your pre-notified collection day, unless factors outside the Council's control prevent this (for example, severe weather, national emergencies, pandemics).
In such circumstances, we will endeavour to return to empty your bin as soon as possible. There will be no refunds if we are not able to empty the bins for these reasons.
You will receive your welcome pack, including collection schedule and annual proof of subscription (sticker), within 10 working days from sign-up / renewal to the service, or at least 10 working days before your annual subscription commences if you have signed up or renewed more than 10 working days before the annual subscription commences.
Please attach the proof of subscription sticker to your brown bin as instructed; ensure the sticker is visible to the crews on your collection day.
Only display the current year’s proof of subscription sticker, remove any old ones.
Bins that are not displaying a valid proof of subscription sticker might not be emptied. If your proof of subscription becomes detached or lost, complete the appropriate form to request a replacement at www.rotherham.gov.uk/garden-waste.
Your garden waste bin(s) should be presented, with the lid closed, at the edge of your property and the public highway by 7am on the day of collection and returned back to your property as soon as possible after emptying. We recommend storing brown bins securely, as the permits are valuable. We will not empty your bin if it is excessively heavy or the lid is not fully closed.
Missed collections
If your bin was out on time, was not compacted or frozen and contained only garden waste but was not emptied by our team please contact us by the end of the next working day at www.rotherham.gov.uk/bins.
This will then be recorded as a missed collection and a crew should return within three working days. Please make sure your bin is left somewhere accessible. Missed bins must be reported by the end of the next working day because it allows the vehicle, we use for missed collections to work in a confined zone, rather than having to collect from properties across the borough. This improves our efficiency and helps keep the cost of the service down.
If collections are suspended because of factors that are outside the Council’s control we will do our best to return as soon as possible. If we cannot return to empty your bin, we will collect it on the next scheduled collection. We will not offer any refunds for missed collections.
If we are unable to empty your bin because it wasn’t presented, it contained the wrong waste, it was too heavy, or the waste was compacted or frozen we will not return to make the collection and your bin will be not be emptied until the next scheduled date. There will be no refunds if we are not able to empty the bins for these reasons. Your bin will be tagged explaining why it hasn’t been emptied if it contains the wrong type of waste or it is frozen, compacted or too heavy.
We are not able to take waste left at the side of your bin. It’s very important that you do not overload your bin, as we cannot take heavy bins either. We can only take bins with a lid shut flat. If your bin is not taken for these reasons, we will not return until the next scheduled collection. You should remove the extra waste to allow us to take your bin on the next collection date. If you regularly have extra garden waste, please sign up for an additional garden waste bin.
Accepted material and contamination
Brown garden waste bins should only be used for grass cuttings, hedge clippings, weeds, plants and pruning's (thin branches chopped up so the lid closes) and leaves; these should be placed loose in the bin (please do not use any bags or sacks).
Soil, turf, rocks, stones, sawdust, pet waste, food etc should not be placed in your brown garden waste bin. If these items are found to be in your brown garden waste bin, our crews will not empty it.
If our crews report your bin as contaminated, the contamination will need to be removed in order for your bin to be emptied on the next scheduled day.
Homeowners putting the wrong kind of waste in their bins costs Rotherham Council hundreds of thousands of pounds each year. Please visit our website for more information on what goes in which bin.
Data protection
When you sign up to the garden waste service, you will be asked to provide your name, address, email address and telephone number. Your data will be stored securely in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). If you agree for Rotherham Council to keep your contact data, we will contact you to remind you when your renewal is due. This data will not be used to contact you for any purpose other than about your garden waste collection service. It is your responsibility to inform Rotherham Council if your contact information has changed.
If you wish to remove your contact details from our database, please use our online form to contact us.
Privacy notice
Rotherham Council is committed to protecting your privacy when you use our services and will always strive to ensure that we handle personal data fairly and lawfully, and with justification.
Our privacy notice explains how we use information about you and how we protect your privacy.