Middlesbrough residents who are eligible for green waste collection have until today, Monday, March 16 to sign up
Bown bins in use for the now subscription-based garden waste collection system(Image: Gareth Lightfoot/LDRS)
The total cost to individual Middlesbrough residents for having their garden waste collected for two years was £1.8m. The council began charging individual households £40 a year to have their green waste collected in 2024.
The near £2m figure was not a complete gain for the council, with costs to the authority including the procurement of new collection vehicles and supplying new bins, amongst other factors. However, the move was introduced to be a cost saving measure, and as the town enters the third year of being charged for garden waste collection, there is hope that the charge for households will be reduced come next year.
Residents who are eligible for green waste collection have until today, Monday, March 16 to sign up, if they want all of their collections this year. Missing the March 16 date could mean residents do not receive their first collection in April.
The matter of garden waste collection cost was one of the few points of contention during the local budget setting process for 2026/27, with the final budget proposals – including a continuation of the £40 fee – garnering near unanimous approval from councillors in the February vote.
Middlesbrough Council has confirmed that in 2024/25, the income figure for green waste fees was £918,280, this was down in 2025/26 to £877,674, creating a total for the two years of just shy of £1.8m.
The current subscription costs £40 for one garden waste wheelie bin, with an additional fee of £20 for every additional bin that households purchase (the limit is five bins). Costs are similar to neighbouring councils like Stockton, who introduced a garden waste collection fee in 2025, a year after Middlesbrough.
It was reported at the end of last year that Redcar & Cleveland Council earned more than £1m from residents paying for garden waste collection in 2025. Middlesbrough’s initial rollout in 2024 came under fire, with confusion about the old green bin pick up and complaints about an inability to opt in for the then-new brown bins.
Middlesbrough Mayor Chris Cooke (Lab) has confirmed to the Local Democracy Reporting Service that there is a review of the garden waste charges, however, he was unable to commit to reducing or scrapping the garden waste charge come next year. Independent and Conservative councillors have advocated various reductions. Councillor Mieka Smiles (Con) made an unsuccessful attempt in this year’s budget setting process to halve the green waste service charge for the upcoming 2026/27.
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