Garden waste
We do not operate a garden waste collection service. Collecting garden waste from such a large geographical area would be expensive and it would not be of benefit to the environment.
We recommend that you reduce your garden waste by considering ideas like a mulching mower, pruning shrubs before they get too big or even leaving an area untidy for wildlife. Otherwise, you can recycle garden waste by:
Composting at home
Using a home composter is a sustainable way of dealing with organic waste from your home and garden. This avoids vehicle emissions from a collection service or saves time taking it to a recycling centre.
You can compost some food waste as well as garden waste in a home compost bin that you can buy from us at a discounted price. This will provide free nutrition for your garden while reducing the amount of waste going to landfill.
Zero Waste Scotland provides information on other composting systems.
Taking garden waste to a recycling centre
You can recycle your garden waste at:
- most of our recycling centres
- seasonal garden waste drop off points (during summer months)
Garden waste from recycling centres and seasonal points is composted using a commercial composting system.
Community composting
Community composting lets residents manage their garden and food waste efficiently while producing high-quality compost to use in local growing projects.
View the Aberdeenshire Community Composting website for a step-by-step guide on how to start a community composting initiative, developed by Zero Waste Scotland in partnership with the council.
Mulching mowers
A mulching lawnmower can drastically reduce the amount of garden waste most households would normally produce. A mulching lawnmower also feeds your grass as it cuts it. With no grass box to empty and no cuttings to dispose of, you should find that cutting the grass is also considerably quicker.