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Important Message

Please be advised our Customer Contact phone lines are experiencing high call volumes and wait times may be longer than usual. If you call through to our team, please utilise our call back service after waiting 60 seconds. This will keep your number virtually in the queue and as soon you become first in the queue, we will call you back. Alternatively please consider emailing us or visiting our website to use our range of self-service options that are available.

Garden Waste Service 2023/24 - Terms and Conditions

  1. You have agreed for Boston Borough Council to collect your garden waste and to comply with the Council's terms and conditions below in respect of this service.

  2. The Council's terms and conditions are as follows:

  3. That you place appropriate garden waste into your brown bin. You should use your existing brown bin. If you do not have a brown bin, you should purchase one from the Council at a cost of £40 for this purpose.

  4. You will pay the Council an amount of £45 for a first bin of garden waste collected and £20 for each additional bin. Collections will be every alternate week throughout April 2023 until March 2024 with a break during the winter period. If you decide to purchase the service part way through the year, the cost will still be £45 for the collection of one bin and £20 for each addition bin, with payment being due again the following February.

  5. If your original brown bin is damaged through your neglect or misuse or by wear and tear e.g. being overloaded or due to age, the cost of replacement will be chargeable to you at £40.

  6. If your bin becomes damaged by us as a result of our neglect or incorrect handling or by defective equipment, we will either repair it or replace it free of charge as soon as is reasonably practical. At our discretion we will replace your bin free of charge for only one occasion. If your bin is damaged, email us to report it at gardenwaste@boston.gov.uk or contact us on 01205 314200.

  7. Payment for the service is required every year in advance of the service being delivered. You will be notified of the charge/payment date. If payment is not made by the date due for any reason, we will withdraw your service.

  8. When payment has been made for the garden waste service, you will receive one sticker for each bin you have paid for. Your sticker(s) may take up to 10 working days to arrive. Your garden waste bin will not be collected until:

    a)  Your payment has cleared   b)  You have been sent a bin sticker and  c)  Your bin(s) is displaying a valid sticker at the time of your collection. A valid sticker must be displayed on the bin; the sticker informs crews of your entitlement to receive the service. Customers who are not displaying a sticker for any reason are not entitled to receive a collection service, even if payment has been made.

  9. If you move out of the Borough or stop using the service, we will not give a  refund and you must inform us at your earliest convenience to ensure our systems are updated.

  10. If you move to another address in the Boston Borough area, you can take your brown bin(s) with you. To ensure that your collections continue you must contact us to transfer the service to your new address. We will not provide a service to your new address in any circumstances unless you notify us of your change of address. You should notify us by email at gardenwaste@boston.gov.uk or by calling 01205 314200.

  11. You must attach the sticker we send to you to the back of your bin(s), please follow the instructions on the sticker.   We will not empty any bin(s) that does not display a valid sticker or where the sticker cannot be clearly seen by crews at the time of collection.

  12. On your sticker within the blank space provided, you must write with a permanent marker pen, your house number or house name, street name and postcode.

  13. We will empty brown bins displaying a valid sticker 20 times alternate weekly between March and November, but we do not empty brown bins during December and January. For 2023, we will collect your brown bins on alternate weeks either on your green bin week or blue bin week, between 03 April 2023 and week commencing 24 November 2023. Your garden waste collections will then resume 19 February 2024 until 31 March 2024.

  14. Your brown bin(s) must only be used for garden waste from your property, or from that of a neighbour's property if you are sharing one bin. Garden wastes accepted for collection include grass cuttings, hedge/tree cuttings, weeds, pruning's and leaves. Wastes not accepted for collection in your brown bin(s) include food waste, animal waste, soil (including large quantities of soil attached to plant roots), household waste and bricks/rubble. Garden waste must be loose contained wholly within the bin with the lid firmly closed. We may reject bins if any of these conditions are not met.

  15. It is not permitted to share more than one bin between properties, e.g. to have more than one bin at a property for the purposes of sharing bins with other properties to avoid the first bin £45 registration charge. You can share only one bin with a neighbour if you both only have need of half a bin or less and have entered into a separate private agreement to share a bin and the costs of the service with a neighbour. We will regularly check our system with crew information and in-cab technology to verify bins which are shared between property locations and we reserve the right to reject and not empty of service any additional bins which we have reason to believe are shared outside the terms and conditions.

  16. You should ensure your bin(s) is placed on the curtilage of your property on the night before your collection or by 05:30am on the morning of your collection. We will not return to collect a bin which is presented late for collection. Our vehicles are equipped with CCTV monitoring equipment, which can be used to confirm whether a bin was presented in time.

  17. If you are registered to receive an Assisted Collection, we will collect your brown bin(s) at the agreed location on your collection day, empty your brown bin(s) and return it to the agreed location.

  18. If you are unsure on your collection day, please call our customer service team on 01205 314200 and  we will be able to inform you.

  19. We may change your collection day at any time. If we do this, we will notify you providing details of when your new collections will be.

  20. If we miss your bin, please report it to us on 01205 314200. We may check in-cab technology and CCTV to verify a bin has been missed. If we agree a bin was missed, we will do our best to collect it as soon as operationally possible.

  21. Collections may be suspended, such as in severe weather, without notice or compensation. A recollection for any missed collections may be made where possible, however, these are not guaranteed if the reason for the suspended service is outside of our control.

  22. You are responsible for the contents of your bin. If the contents fail to empty fully during collection we will not return to collect any waste which remains in the bin. Your bin will be collected if presented on your next scheduled collection. In view of this please ensure that any garden waste is loose in your bin and not overly compact, that you do not overfill it and that is not overweight.

  23. The transfer of service to a third party where the third party is living at a different address is not permitted. The contract is with you as the purchase of the service.

  24. We will not be responsible for cleaning any bins at any time during or after collection in any circumstances.

  25. If you die during the period you have paid for the service, then a refund for the annual service charge will be made to your estate, or to an individual who has been granted probate. The refund will be pro-rata from the next whole month after the date of death. A refund will not be given to someone who has not satisfied the necessary legal requirements.

  26. Customers who make a one-off card payment online up until 30/04/2023 will be entered into a prize draw where the offer of a free service to the value of £45 will be given. This offer covers the collection of one bin free of charge for one year. If subsequent bins are paid for, they will be charged at £20 per bin. Customers will automatically be entered into this prize draw when payment has been made. The Council will randomly select 10 customers and one of those 10 customers will also receive a 'Lincolnshire Hamper' up to the value of £45. We will contact you using the information you have given in your application and will then make a payment to the value of £45. The competition is not open to employees or members of Boston Borough Council or their immediate families.

  27. If you wish to make a complaint about the service, you should contact us via email at gardenwaste@boston.gov.uk or via telephone on 01205 314200 or by completing the online form by visiting www.boston.gov.uk/complaints

  28. Your personal contact details obtained through your application will be used by Boston Borough Council to contact you should we need to obtain further information from you about your application and to notify you of the action we are taking following your application. Boston Borough Council may also use your information for other lawful purposes such as to prevent fraud. All personal information will be processed in accordance with the current Data Protection Legislation and you have the right to see records relating to yourself and to ask that they be amended where they are inaccurate. A full explanation of your rights and our obligations are available on our website at www.boston.gov.uk. We use: GOSS for the electronic form, Data Graphic & UK Mail for printing, Capita for card payments. Each of these companies process your information and are bound by contract to meet their Data Privacy obligations.