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Bins & Waste

Garden Waste Collections

The new garden waste subscription service started on 1 April 2024. If you have not paid for the new service, your garden bin will no longer be collected.

For residents that have subscribed, the day and schedule that your garden waste bin is collected will not change. Please have your bin out ready for collection before 6.30am on the day, as collection times may vary with the implementation of the new service.

Your sticker can take up to 2 weeks to arrive as we need to process your subscription, add you to our systems, and send out your subscription pack (includes your sticker). Once payment is received and you are added to our systems, you will be included on the next scheduled collection round.

Changes to Disposal of Food Waste

From 1 April 2024 food waste will no longer be accepted as part of the garden waste collections. By law we cannot charge for the collection of food waste and now that the garden waste service is moving over to a chargeable service, food waste has to be excluded. Any food waste you have will have to be placed in the grey bin. Find out more on the Food Waste page.

Bins & Waste

Garden Waste Community Initiatives

1. Free Loose Compost

Free loose compost is available for all Huntingdonshire residents at Waterbeach, Alconbury and March transfer stations. Simply visit with a spade and a bag and you can help yourself. You can collect your own soil improver from:

  • Waterbeach Waste Management Park, Ely Road, Waterbeach, CB25 9PG

Open Monday to Friday from 8am to 4pm and weekends from 8am to 1pm

  • Alconbury Waste Transfer Station, Stangate Business Park, Alconbury Hill, PE28 4JH

Open Monday to Friday from 8am to 4pm 

  • March Waste Transfer Station, Melbourne Avenue, Hundred Road, March, PE15 0EN

Open Monday to Friday from 8am to 4pm

If you cannot make it to any of the transfer station sites to load your own soil conditioner, then you can buy it for £3.50 a bag at any household recycling centre.

HDC will be promoting Compost Awareness Week (week commencing 5 May 2024) with incentives and promotional events to encourage residents to try composting at their homes. 

2. Community Compost Schemes

Communal composting is a shared composting place. Primarily, it constitutes an exemplary method for waste reduction, consolidating kitchen scraps from multiple households into shared composting facilities using less space along the way.

This approach enhances overall efficiency and resource utilisation. The compost can then serve the community, encouraging sustainable gardening practices. Beyond that, communal composting builds a sense of teamwork and responsibility. People in the community can work together to manage the compost, making it a shared project that benefits everyone.

Has this been done before?

Yes. Marmalade Lane in Cambridge has implemented three community compost bays. Their communal composting significantly reduces individual waste, as evidenced by the 6 small green bins shared among 42 households.

How to get started?

You will need 1 person from your community to monitor it.

Feel free to email wasteminimisation@huntingdonshire.gov.uk for advice or to be put in touch with Marmalade Lane.

3. Subsidised Home Composters

The residents will pay £10 and the delivery costs directly to GetComposting.

The subsidy applies to a maximum of 2 compost converters per household. Please visit GetComposting, enter your postcode, select Blackwall 220 Litre Black Compost Converter and the discount will be automatically applied.

4. Parish Council Allocation for Land Management

Parish councils can request bins, which they can allocate to residents who currently maintain HDC land.

Each request will be verified prior to approval and may be subject to refusal if the location is not suitable.

5. Shared Bins

Households will be able to make a personal arrangement with a neighbour to share the cost of a garden bin subscription. If people share their garden waste bin with a neighbour, the householder who pays the annual charge will have overall responsibility for the bin as a bin can only be allocated to one address. It is the responsibility of the named householder if the bin is contaminated, misused, or needs replacing.

The garden bin/s need to be presented for collection outside of the property which has the registered subscription.

The agreement to share bins is between the payer and their neighbour only. If circumstances change, then the payer remains the primary contact.

6. Assisted Collections

Residents who cannot take their bins out themselves and there is no other person living at the household who is able to help can apply to have assisted bin collections. This service is provided for all bin collections, not just garden waste collections.

To apply go to the Assisted Collections page.

7. Household Recycling Centres

Household recycling centres are open 7 days a week in:

8. Free Freighter Service

From 6.30am to 1pm, between April and September (6 months), HDC will locate waste collection vehicles at pre-designated areas in the district, where residents can visit and deposit garden waste.

The vehicle will be staffed with one driver to facilitate the loading. Areas have been identified based on geographical spread, along with availability of parking for HGVs. The locations of the freighters will be continuously monitored and their efficiency will be evaluated periodically, as necessary. If we find that the location(s) are not operating optimally, we may change or withdraw the service. Our priority is to make sure that the freighter locations are functioning properly.

View the Freighter Locations and Schedules

9. For Parishes Not Eligible for Freighter Service

Parish councils not included in the Saturday freighter schedule can request up to 10 community bins for a community location.

These bins will be accessible for local residents to use to deposit their garden waste and will be collected as part of the normal route scheduling for fortnightly garden bin collections.

It will be the responsibility of the parish council to manage these bins, the same as a household, ie no contamination, out for collection on the collection day.