Garden waste collection service terms and conditions
1 The Garden Waste Collection Service
In this agreement ‘you’ or ‘your’ means the person(s) who join the collection service. You have agreed to pay West Lancashire Borough Council a subscription for collecting garden waste on the following terms.
2 Subscription
You can pay for the service by a recurring annual direct debit, by debit or credit card via the council’s website or by telephoning 01695 577177. In exceptional circumstances an alternative payment method may be considered.
If you choose to pay by direct debit this will be on an annual recurring basis.
Please note that if your bank details change you will need to transfer your direct debit to ensure your annual subscription can continue to be collected by direct debit and your collections remain uninterrupted.
If you change your address, please see Section 4.
3 Cancellations and direct debit cancellations
If you cancel a Direct Debit because you no longer wish to receive the service in the subsequent year, please contact your bank to cancel the payment for the following year. In the event of any failed payment, the service will be withdrawn. No refunds will be given for part years or unexpired annual subscription periods. A subscription covers a period of 12 months from June each year. The subscription for 1st June 2024 to 31st May 2025 is £45 for each bin. If you subscribe for more than one bin, it will cost £45 for the year for each additional bin to be collected. The council are not obliged to refund the subscription or any part of it unless you cancel within the first 14 days – see section 8. There is a charge for supplying bins for the garden waste service, please visit our website for details at www.westlancs.gov.uk/gardenwaste.
The council will review the charge for this service annually and will publish intended changes to subscriptions on its website.
4 Moving to a new address
The bin must be left at the property you are moving from. Payment for the garden waste service relates to the property and is not transferrable. If you move to another property in West Lancashire where no payment has been made you will have to sign up and pay at your new address if you want to receive the service.
If you pay by direct debit you will need to cancel your existing direct debit and set up a new direct debit when you re-subscribe at your new address.
5 Standard of Service
The council will only empty bins that are supplied by the council and at a frequency of once per fortnight on a specified collection day. The council has the right to refuse to empty the bin if contaminated or not presented in accordance with procedure. The council will suspend collections over the Christmas and New Year period and may suspend collections for circumstances outside of the council’s control. The council will publish its collection requirements on its website which you must comply with. The council reserves the right to make reasonable changes to the council’s operational bin collection arrangements or the frequency of or days of bin collection. If the council make changes, it will publicise details via the council’s website and/or via social media.
On each scheduled collection day, only one attempt will be made to empty your brown bin(s); any waste remaining/stuck in your brown bin(s) will be left. This may be due to the waste being frozen or over-compacted. It will then be your responsibility to ensure this material is freed up for the next scheduled collection day.
6 Make sure your bin has your house number on it
To ensure that your collection continues without any problems, please ensure that you write your house number in the white square on the front of your bin. This will enable the collection staff to identify your bin and cross reference it with the computer records on board the collection vehicle to validate your subscription.
7 Assisted Collection Service
Assisted collections are available depending upon your circumstances. Visit the website www.westlancs.gov.uk/refuse-recycling for further information and to apply.
8 Cancellation of this Agreement
The council shall be entitled to cancel this agreement immediately if you breach the terms of this agreement. If the council cancels the agreement because the terms have been broken, you may only re-join the service if the council agrees, and a new subscription charge would apply. The council reserves the right to end the service as a whole at the end of a subscription period.
In line with the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulation 2013, you have 14 days from when you sign up to the service to cancel this agreement. If you cancel this agreement within the first 14 days, the council will refund any subscription. If you wish to cancel within 14 days, you must do so by contacting customer services on 01695 577177.
9 Statutory Requirements
The council considers that its garden waste collection arrangements are reasonable and will ensure that your garden waste is collected lawfully. No person other than the subscriber may enforce this agreement against the council. These terms do not affect your statutory rights.
10 How Information about you will be used
The council does comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2016/679 and is committed to protecting any personal data you provide the council in connection with the service (‘data’). Any data will only be used for (a) processing your subscription (b) informing you about the garden waste collection service or other services the council provides (c) preventing or detecting fraud and other lawful purposes (d) performing any statutory enforcement action or (e) in anonymised form for analysis purposes to improve performance. The council may disclose data as required by law or to competent authorities responsible for detecting or preventing fraud or auditing or administering public funds or to any contractor who the council appoint to perform the garden waste collection service provided the contractor is under the same obligation to protect data.
Information on how we handle and protect your data including our Corporate Privacy Policy can be found here.
End of Terms and Conditions
