Green Waste

Green waste is another term for Garden Waste with the two being synonyms of each other.

Green waste, like Garden Waste is biological organic waste that originates from a garden (or similar) and is collected as part of a Waste Collection Authority Household Waste Collection Service.

Types of Green Waste

Green waste is usually made up of the following:

• Grass cuttings
• Leaves
• Hedge trimmings
• Prunings
• Flowersc
• Branches
• Weeds plants etc

Collection Types

Green waste is sometimes collected co-mingled with Food Waste Food Comingled Green Comingled and is either collected weekly or fortnightly depending on the service offered by the local Waste Collection Authority.

Following the introduction of the Controlled Waste Regulations 2012 as amended Waste Collection Authorities are now able to charge for the collection of green waste if they wish to do so. This has led to two types of arrangements being implemented across the country for the collection of Green Waste:

• Free Collection or Green Not Charged - Most authorities initially did not charge their residents for the collection of their Green Waste and those that continue to provide the service with no charge/fee, do so either because of a political reluctance to charge and/or a perception that a charge would lead to a drop in recycling figures or a political desire to retain their position as a 'high achieving recycling authority'.

• Charged Collection or Green Charged - Many authorities have moved to a charged system, mainly driven by a desire to recover the cost of collection from those that use it the most, but also due to the perception that free collection leads to an increase in collected waste and a reduction in, for example, home composting.

The design of a Green Waste collection service by a Waste Collection Authority cannot be taken in isolation and must be considered alongside the collection of the Residual Waste, Dry Mixed Recycling and Food Waste collection service (where these individual services exist) as part of a Collection System Design Programme. In some instances, a Waste Collection Authority may choose to only operate the Green Waste collection service over a certain period i.e. between March-November inclusive or indeed choose to suspend the service for the December/early January “Christmas period”.

Green Waste is also handled by the Waste Disposal Authority at a Household Waste Recycling Centre which allows the public to bring their larger quantities of Green Waste to be bulked up and disposed of via the usual methods of Windrow Composting or In-vessel Composting.