No change to bin collections this Easter

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Waste updates - 12 April 2022

No change to your bin collection day

You will be pleased to hear that all collections for Good Friday 15 April, Easter Monday 18 April and the two bank holidays for the Queens Jubilee, Thursday 2 and Friday 3 June are all scheduled to be completed on your usual day.

There is no need to worry about putting your bins out on a different day.

Get your garden waste collected for £45 a year 

You can join Maidstone Borough Council’s garden waste collection service for a one off payment of £45 a year.  

Nearly one in three households take part in our garden waste collection scheme, as a result we collect more than 11,000 tonnes of garden waste every year.

The garden waste scheme operates on a two weekly system for the collection of grass cuttings, flowers, plants, hedge trimmings and pruning, leaves and small branches.

Payment is made online and when people sign up arrangements are made for a brown wheelie bin to be delivered to their home.

We have recently started providing brown bins instead of green. Anyone who already subscribes to the service should keep using their green bin with yellow stripe for garden waste. However, if this bin needs replacing in the future due to damage or if it goes missing, a new brown bin will be provided.

The service starts from when the brown bin has been delivered to the property.

Why not try a composter 

The best compost is made with a mixture of ‘green’ and ‘brown’ materials. 

Green material will help provide nutrients to your plants. Brown material will help the structure of the soil. It’s important to get lots of air into your compost, scrunched up paper and card will help create air pockets and help keep your compost healthy.

Green materials

• Grass cuttings
• Old flowers/plants
• Rabbit/hamster/guinea pig bedding
• Raw fruit and vegetable peelings
• Tea bags and coffee grounds
• Wet green materials

Brown materials

• Dead leaves
• Dry brown materials
• Sawdust
• Shredded or scrunched up paper/card
• Twigs

How much do they cost?

A 220 litre composter is £22.50 plus delivery

A 330 litre composter is £25.00 plus delivery

You can get your composter, and other ‘green’ products such as water butts, from the Get Composting website  

The company also supplies a wide range of other composting bins and accessories, you can register on their site to ensure that you are notified of any future special offers.

Joint winner of Maidstone Borough in Bloom Best Back Garden 2021

Entry to Maidstone Borough in Bloom competition

opens 21 April  

It's almost time to enter the Maidstone Borough in Bloom competition!

The competition opens for entries on 21 April and closes on 1 July and judges will start inspecting all gardens, pots or allotments from 4 July. 

There are lots of categories and entries are welcomed from residents, businesses and community groups. Anyone entering will be given a £5 voucher to spend at Coolings.

The Maidstone Borough in Bloom categories are:

Best front garden 

Best back garden 

Best planted pot, trough or hanging basket  

Best allotment plot  

Best pollinator friendly garden 

Best display of Jubilee colours 

Best Commercial Garden or Horticultural Display  

Best Community Project

A trophy will be awarded for the winner in each category. All winners in each category will also receive a prize of £25.00 Coolings gift voucher as well as two adult annual tickets for Leeds Castle.

The Council works with Coolings Garden Centre in Bearsted and Leeds Castle to run the competition and awards ceremony which will take place towards the end of July.

To enter please complete a Coolings Garden Centre entry form through the Maidstone Borough Council website here: https://maidstone.gov.uk/maidstone-borough-in-bloom  

If you have any tips about gardening or how to minimise waste which others could use please let us know by emailing us at recycling@maidstone.gov.uk

We shall try to recycle your tip in a future edition.

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