Residents in County Durham can now sign up for the Garden Waste Collection scheme for 2021.

The first collection from the Durham County Council service takes place in late March or early April, followed by fortnightly collections until November when the season ends.

Those who sign up before Sunday 14 February will receive all 17 collections during the year, dependent on Government advice on coronavirus.

Residents can sign up for a fee of £35. Those who subscribed to the scheme in 2020 will be charged £30.90 per existing bin subscription for 2021 due to coronavirus causing a late start in 2020.

Collection calendars and stickers will be provided to residents in advance of the scheme starting following subscription. Once the scheme has started, residents who sign up to the service will receive the remaining collections before the season ends.

John Shannon, Durham County Council’s strategic waste manager, said: “We would like to take this opportunity to thank customers who signed up to the 2020 scheme for their patience as there were interruptions to the service due to the ongoing pandemic.

“Over 65,000 residents signed up to the 2020 service which resulted in us collecting over 16,000 tonnes of garden waste”.

To sign up to the service or find out if a property is eligible, call 03000 260 000 or visit www.durham.gov.uk/gardenwaste

When residents subscribe to the service they are reminded to fix their bin sticker to the garden waste bin and put the bin out for collection by 7am on their allocated collection day.

Collection information will be available before the scheme starts and can be found by visiting www.durham.gov.uk/MyDurham and entering the postcode and property number.

Residents are reminded that the following items can go in the garden waste bin for composting and should not be used for any other waste:

• Grass cuttings • Shrubs

• Leaves • Weeds

• Flowers and bedding plants • Hedge clippings

• Prunings • Small branches

Durham County Council provides garden waste collections to eligible properties in County Durham.

For residents in the Teesdale area, garden waste collections are carried out by Rotters, working in partnership with the county council. Residents in this area should call 01833 690 022 or visit www.rotters.org