New subscription for Epping Forest garden waste collections
Published: 11 December 2025
The annual charge will be £60 for one garden waste bin for the period April 2026 to March 2027. Households that need extra capacity will be able to request up to three additional bins at £30 each. Collections will run all year apart from a short pause over Christmas and subscribing homes will receive a permit sticker to show that the service is in place.
Epping Forest District Council has been the only council in Essex that still provided garden waste collection without a direct charge. Keeping the service free would leave a gap of almost £2 million pounds in the council budget. District Councillors have been clear that if they do not ask garden waste users to contribute, they would have to find savings from other important local services instead.
This change also brings the district into line with the rest of Essex and with the way many councils across England now provide garden waste collection. Around the country most councils already run paid garden waste services, typically charging between about £50-£100 a year for a fortnightly collection. For example Enfield currently charges £100 per bin, Havering charges £87 and Broxbourne charges £56 for a standard subscription.
Councils are facing significant financial pressure. The cost of collecting and treating waste has risen because of higher fuel prices, vehicle and maintenance costs, staff pay and stricter environmental standards. Income from recycling has also fallen in recent years. At the same time new national rules require separate weekly food waste collections, which Epping Forest will be providing for all residents from March 2026. The district council has explained that without a contribution from those who choose to use the garden waste service, it cannot continue to offer both improved recycling and a free garden waste collection.
The new subscription is designed to be fair and positive. Garden waste collection is an optional service, so only those residents who need it will pay for it, while everyone will benefit from the new weekly food waste service and the environmental gains from higher recycling. Households that prefer not to subscribe will still be able to compost at home or use recycling centres, and the council is promoting home composting and discounted compost bins to help with this.
Taken together these changes are intended to protect core local services, meet new national recycling requirements and keep Epping Forest in a strong position as local government in Essex moves toward future reorganisation