We will be publishing several articles over the coming days about how households and businesses in Herefordshire can become greener, with some little tips.

For example, did you know that you can buy the soil improver/compost made from garden waste at Herefordshire Council household recycling centres? The soil improver costs £2 a bag. Payment must be made by card. What a great initiative!

Composting at home is the best way to deal with garden waste. It will:

  • Save space in your black bin
  • Save you money on green garden sacks or trips to the recycling centre
  • Reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill or incineration at our energy-from-waste facility
  • Let you produce your own nutrient rich compost for your garden

There are options to suit the scale of your garden or the amount of garden waste you produce.

  • You can compost both garden waste and some food waste such as fruit and vegetable peelings
  • Specialist compost bins are available for composting other types of food waste

You can purchase compost bins at getcomposting.com.

Find out more about how to get started with composting at RecycleNow, including what you can compost.

Unable to compost at home? You can dispose of your garden waste by using Herefordshire Council green sacks, but please be aware that this waste in not composted and is sent to landfill or for incineration. If you can compost your garden waste at home then please do so.

From Herefordshire Council:

Garden waste must not be placed in your general rubbish or recycling containers or bags.

  • We can only collect garden waste if it is placed in Herefordshire Council green waste sacks.
  • We collect garden waste sacks fortnightly at the same time as your general rubbish.
  • If you are going to put out more than 10 garden waste sacks at a time please call our Customer services team on 01432 260051. Under current circumstances we are prioritising general rubbish collections so cannot guarantee collections of very large numbers of green bags from individual households.

Under the Environmental Protection Act (1990) and schedule 1(4) of the Controlled Waste Regulations (2012) local authorities can charge for the collection of garden waste. We make such a charge through the sale of our green sacks.

Purchase green sacks for garden waste

A roll of five garden waste sacks costs £4. These are available for Herefordshire residents only. You can buy online and choose which of the following libraries to collect from: Hereford, Belmont, Kington, Ledbury, Leominster or Ross-on-Wye. Or you can visit one of the outlets listed below to purchase directly.

You will need to:

  • Order and pay for the sacks online
  • Select which library you will collect from
  • Allow two working days (excluding the day of payment) before going to collect the sacks from your chosen library
  • Show your purchase receipt, which we will email to you, when collecting sacks
Library opening times for collection of green sacks

Click and Collect points are open for the collection of pre-ordered green sacks only at HerefordLedburyLeominster and Ross-on-Wye libraries.

  • Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday – 1pm to 4pm
  • Thursday, Friday and Saturday – 10am to 1pm

Belmont Library is open:

  • Tuesday – 1pm to 4pm
  • Saturday – 10am to 1pm

Kington Library is open:

  • Tuesday – 10am to 1pm
  • Saturday – 11am to 1pm

Buy sacks from an outlet

Buy Herefordshire Council garden waste sacks directly from:

  • Bartestree Village Stores
  • Bartonsham Stores
  • Clehonger Stores
  • Eardisley Post Office
  • Kingstone Stores
  • Leominster Tourist Office, Corn Square
  • Lyonshall Nurseries, Kington, HR5 3LN
  • Moreton on Lugg Stores
  • Philpotts Nursery, Cursneh Road, Leominster, HR6 8DQ
  • Wellington Village Stores

Prices at these outlets may vary from that above and stock is not guaranteed.

Another option is to join the Biffa Green Waste Club. Please note this service isn’t anything to do with Herefordshire Council.

Had enough of queuing at the tip? Join the Club. Biffa will give you a green or brown waste bin and empty it every two weeks. All you have to do is fill it up and leave it outside your home.

More Details – The Green Waste Club – The Green Waste Club