RESIDENTS of West Devon can now sign up to or renew their subscription for the borough’s garden waste collection service.

An annual subscription to West Devon Borough Council’s garden waste collection service will cost £55 for 2024/25.

One subscription provides four generous reusable sacks, which are collected every fortnight on the same day of the week as your recycling collections, in the opposite week to your black bag refuse collections.

Subscribers can put grass cuttings, hedge trimmings, cut flowers and plants, small branches, weeds, leaves, twigs, and vase flowers in their bags for collection.

You can sign up for 2024/25 collections from now, with collections starting from April 1, 2024. The year’s subscription will run until March 31, 2025.

Cllr Lynn Daniel, West Devon Lead Member for the Natural Environment, said: “Our garden waste collection service provides wonderful convenience for our residents, and at a reasonable price. Knowing that your garden clippings will be collected from your home, sent off for composting straight from your front door, is a time saver and could save you multiple journeys to our recycling centres. Local farmers benefit too, as the resulting compost is sent off to them to use.

“There is a slight price rise on last year, but we still feel that the £55 charge represents good value for money. The rising costs of running the service have led to the slight price increase. It’s much cheaper than organising a private collection.”

If you’re already a subscriber to the garden waste service, there will be no changes to your service if you renew your subscription by April 1, and you can continue to use your current garden waste sacks. 

If you are a new subscriber, the Council will deliver garden sacks straight to your door. After that, you will simply need to fill them and leave them along with your household recycling and waste on your next scheduled collection day from April 1. If you are subscribing for the first time, the Council aim to deliver the green sacks within 10 working days of you signing up. 

The annual cost of £55 applies for fortnightly collections running until March 31 each year, excluding the weeks when the service is suspended for the winter period - the dates of the suspension period are to be confirmed. 

For more information and to sign up, visit: www.westdevon.gov.uk/gardenwaste .