Garden waste recycling scheme

The Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) reported that almost 85% of English councils operate a charged garden waste service.

In July 2026, Cheshire East Council reported that its longer term financial plans still identified a potential £15m funding gap in 2027/28 despite improvements in its overall financial position and more than £13m of savings already being incorporated into future plans.  

Residents will only pay for the garden waste subscription service if they subscribe to the scheme and it remains free for residents to dispose of their garden waste at our household waste recycling centres.

We remain committed to protecting and enhancing Cheshire East’s environment and delivering on the aims and priorities as set out in our corporate plan.

This includes continuing to encourage people to think about the impact of their actions on the environment and to ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ their waste.

The council continues to work with Get Composting to provide home composting products. You can also find lots of information and advice about getting started with home composting.

There is no evidence to suggest that we will see any increase in fly-tipping as a result of a subscription service being introduced.

We have spoken to other councils that have introduced similar schemes and they have not seen an increase. Importantly, fly-tipping is a crime and anyone caught doing it could be prosecuted and face a large fine.

The collection of garden waste is not a core service that councils are required to provide and almost 85% of local authorities across England are already charging for this service and many have been doing so for several years.

Your Council Tax will not be reduced now that there is a subscription to pay for your garden waste collection. The Council Tax you pay is based on the Valuation Band of your property.

The payments you make are a tax that contributes towards the costs of all council services, rather than a direct payment for an individual service such as garden waste collection.

The contents of the Council Tax bill are prescribed by legislation therefore the charge for the garden waste collection cannot be added to the Council Tax bill.

You can find out more on the About Council Tax page.