Falkirk Council will introduce a permit system for brown garden bins from 1 April 2023, as agreed by councillors last year.

It means that household brown bins – used for recycling garden waste like leaves, grass and small branches – will only be collected if they have a permit attached.

Permits can be purchased from Monday 6 February 2023, when you can apply for a permit through MyFalkirk.

Requesting your permit now means you'll be ready for the first brown bin collections in April. 

Collections

The move brings Falkirk Council in line with other Scottish local authority areas like Stirling, Clackmannanshire and Edinburgh, who all currently charge for garden waste collections. 

Councillors agreed the new permit system at a meeting of the Council’s Executive on 6 December 2022.

Garden waste will be collected every 4 weeks between April 2023 and November 2023 before moving to an on-demand service between December 2023 and March 2024. 

Permits will cost £25.00 for most households – working out at less than £2 per collection.

Councillor Iain Sinclair, Portfolio Holder for Climate, said:

“The optional garden waste permit means we can continue to provide this service to Falkirk residents at a time of extreme financial pressures for local authorities.

“If you’re not generating much garden waste and you don’t want to buy a permit, there is the option of dropping it off at our recycling centres or composting at home.”

Douglas Gardiner, Falkirk Council's Head of Environment and Operations, said:

“Collecting garden waste is not a statutory service, and a number of neighbouring Scottish councils have introduced a garden waste permit in recent years, including Stirling, Clackmannanshire and Perth & Kinross.  

“The new permit system is part of the transformation to our waste service that will operate similarly to permit schemes which work well across Scotland.”  

How to get a permit

You can apply for a garden waste permit through My Falkirk from Monday 6 February 2023. 

If you can’t access My Falkirk, you have the option of arranging a permit through our Contact Centre: 01324 506070 

Garden waste permits - how it works

• The cost of a permit will be £25
• Permits are half-price for people on means-tested reduced Council Tax (£12.50)
• Collections restart beginning of April 2023
• No permit, no collection – you’ll need a permit for each brown bin you want collected
• When you order a permit, we’ll send you a sticker to put on the back of your brown bin (under the handles)
• Permits are not transferable – they’re registered to the house and not the resident
• We’ll collect your brown bins every four weeks from April 2023 to November 2023.  Thereafter an on demand arrangement will be in place over the winter months
• If you don’t want to pay for collection you can take your garden waste to a recycling centre, or you can compost at home