Put your sticker on parade

Posted on April 5, 2012

Are you one of Somerset’s tens of thousands of garden waste collection subscribers starting a new year of this convenient cost-saving service?

If so, please make sure your 2012-13 magenta sticker is firmly attached to the garden waste bin and can be easily seen.

Garden waste bins without a sticker for the paid-for subscription can expect to be left unemptied and “tagged” by collection crews with an advice note to explain why.

Your garden waste can be taken to any of the county’s recycling sites, but at less than £1 a week, the fortnightly kerbside pick-ups save people time, money, fuel and the risk of mess in their car.

By booking with their district council, gardeners can start a subscription at any time that will run to March 2013, though it will be at the full-year price. Subscribers can choose either a wheeled bin for their garden waste or sets of paper sacks.

Anyone interested in a garden waste collection or with a query, such as stickers not yet delivered for subscriptions already paid, should contact their district council customer services.

There are some clear do’s and don’ts for garden waste collections.

The following garden waste can be recycled in the kerbside collection:

These items should not be put out with garden waste: plastic bags, flower pots, plant labels, kitchen food waste, stones, rubble, soil, large branches or logs, Japanese Knotweed or Common Ragwort.

Garden waste can also be home composted, which is the best option with most environmental benefits, or taken to a recycling site for composting. It should not be put out with rubbish for refuse collections, as it will then be dumped in costly landfill and give off greenhouse gases.

All of Somerset’s garden waste is shredded, piled into large “windrows”, and kept at correct levels of warmth and moisture for weeks to create the Revive soil conditioner sold at every recycling site, while any remaining woody bits are used to help turn food waste into agriculture fertilizer.