Terms and conditions

• The customer agrees to pay Chelmsford City Council (“The Council") to collect garden waste in the Councils' supplied 240 litre brown wheeled bin(s), for the period of the customer's subscription.
• The payment is a one-off annual payment towards the collection.
• Payment can be made by either credit card, debit card or cheque, payment will not be accepted via any other method.
• Subscriptions may be subject to annual changes, these will be posted on the Council's website prior to renewal of the subscription.
• Annual subscriptions received after the start of the subscription year will not be reduced.
• Minimum 20 collections per year to allow for adverse weather or ground conditions.
• The Council will send you a bin sticker(s) to place on your bin(s). You should receive your sticker(s) within 4 weeks of   making payment. If you have paid for more than one bin you will receive a sticker for each bin.
• The sticker(s) authorising the collection will identify the household subscribing to the service.
• The sticker(s) must be affixed to the rear of the bin below the handle. It is the responsibility of the customer to place the subscription sticker(s) on the bin(s).
• The council will arrange for the emptying of subscribed brown garden waste bin(s) fortnightly, throughout the duration of the customer's subscription period.
• The annual subscription for garden waste collections will be listed on our garden waste web page.
• The annual subscription will be for a 12 month period starting in March to February the following year.
• If the customer moves out of the council area no refunds will be given.
• Households that decide not to join the subscription service should deal with their garden waste by either composting or using their nearest Household Waste Recycling Centre [HWRC], the garden waste should not go into the black residual waste bin.
• The service is for use by domestic households only.
• The council reserves the right to vary these terms and conditions at any time.

• The only container the Council will empty garden waste from is the brown garden waste wheeled bin(s) issued by the Council.
• Collections in conjunction with the Council's Recycling and Waste Collection Policy.
• The sticker/s must be prominently displayed at the rear of your bin/s below the handle, if the sticker is not visible to our collection crew on your collection day your bin(s) will not be collected, and the collection crew will not return until the next scheduled collection day.
• The bin lid(s) must be completely closed, and no side waste will be collected, i.e. no extra waste next to the bin(s) or placed on the lid(s).
• If the customer already receives an assisted collection for other domestic waste collections this will also apply to subscribed garden waste collections and the customer's collection point will remain the same.
• The Council reserves the right to alter the collection day/week and will endeavour to provide adequate notice to customers that would be affected by the alteration.

• Materials not listed as acceptable materials via the Council’s website must not be placed in the garden waste bin. If items other than those listed above are found to be in the garden waste bin it will not be emptied.
• If collection crews report garden waste bins as contaminated (i.e. containing any unacceptable material), the customer will need to remove the offending material in order for the bin to be emptied on the next scheduled collection date.

• If the Council is unable to empty the garden waste bin(s) because they were not presented at the collection point by 7am or contained unacceptable material or was inaccessible or was too heavy to safely manoeuvre onto the vehicle lifting equipment or the contents were too compacted to eject fully into the vehicle or the permit was not visible/affixed to the bin then the customer's bins(s) will not be emptied until the next scheduled garden waste collection date. No refunds will be available if the Council is not able to empty the green garden waste bin(s) for these reasons.
• The Council will make every effort to empty bins presented for collection on the scheduled day. If the Council is unable to empty the bin on the scheduled day of collection, then provided the missed collection is reported within 24 hours, the Council will seek to complete the collection within two full collection working days of the report of a valid missed collection. However, if the Council are unable to do this due to reasons beyond their control, the bin will be emptied on the next scheduled collection day, there will be no refund
• If the garden waste bin contains unacceptable material the customer must remove the offending item(s) in order for future garden waste collections to take place.

• The customer has the right to cancel the subscription within 14 days of making payment.
• For a refund to be allowed, the service must not have been used.
• Requests to cancel the service must be in writing to the Council address or emailed to recycling@chelmsford.gov.uk. Cancellations cannot be accepted by phone.
• If the customer contravenes the terms and conditions the service may be cancelled by the Council. In such circumstances no refund will be given.

The service may be suspended during periods of inclement weather, and it may not be possible for missed collections to be collected later due to operational reasons. No refunds will be given in these circumstances.

When the customer signs up to the garden waste collection service, the customer will be asked to provide their name, address, email address and telephone number as part of the signup process.

The customer's data will be stored securely in line with the Data Protection Act 2018. The council will use customer's data to notify the customer about renewing the garden waste subscription before the end of the subscription year.

The Council may also use the details to contact the customer about service issues, such as service delays, or cancellations due to bad weather, and collection contraventions.

About the data you will provide in this form 

You will be asked to enter your name, address and contact details as part of the online form. This is classed as your personal data. We will use the data that you provide to help us deliver a garden waste collection service to you.

How we will use your data 

The law allows us to use your personal data to enter into a contract with you to provide a garden waste collection service, to deliver the contract/service after you have signed up and to send to you relevant service messages.

Data sharing 

Our waste and recycling team and our customer services team will have access to the data you provide to deliver the service you have asked for and respond to any queries that you may have. Full details on how the Council uses and shares personal data is online at www.chelmsford.gov.uk/privacy.

How long we will we store your data

We will keep your personal data for as long as is necessary to deliver the service you have asked for, and for up to five years after the end of the subscription year. After this time it will be deleted from our systems.