clearance
Green waste removal
£45 to £55 shifts half a cubic metre of cuttings, and £240 to £250 takes a full Luton load of twelve. Charged by weight instead, a tonne runs £140 to £160. A council garden waste bin, where one is offered, costs £39 to £100 a year.
What this covers
What it costs. £45 to £250 covers most green waste collections, set by how many cubic metres end up in the van. Full cost breakdown.
What the job covers
- Taking away cuttings, prunings and arisings
- Clearing a garden's waste after somebody else's work
- Loading by hand where there is no vehicle access
- Separating soil and turf from green waste
- Providing the transfer paperwork where it applies
Worth knowing
The register is free, public and searchable by business name at environment.data.gov.uk, and every registration has its own page. Checking one takes under a minute and costs nothing.
Environment Agency public register of waste carriers, brokers and dealers
What is involved
Green waste is sold by volume, until it is not. Collections quote in cubic metres: £45 to £55 for 0.75, £90 to £100 for three, £140 to £150 for six and £240 to £250 for twelve, a full Luton. Weight pricing takes over once soil is involved, at £14 to £16 for 100 kilos and £140 to £160 for a tonne. Wet grass is the trap: a barrow of it weighs three times a barrow of dry hedge trimmings.
Registration decides what a firm can legally carry. In England and Wales lower tier is free, never expires and covers waste the carrier produced themselves, which is what cuttings and mowings from their own job are. Upper tier costs £191.02 to register and £130.25 to renew every three years, and becomes necessary once a load includes soil, turf, slabs, fence panels or anything the householder generated. Numbers begin CBDL and CBDU, and sit on a public register anyone can search. Scotland has no tiers: SEPA registers by activity and moved carriers onto EASR registration on 1 November 2025, with a £5,000 fine for failing to register.
Gate fees are the cost nobody sees. A gardener cannot take your cuttings to the household recycling centre: waste arising from paid work is commercial regardless of the garden it grew in. Composting sites take clean green waste at a median of about £45 a tonne, and a council commercial transfer station charges more, one publishing £123.60 a tonne including VAT with a £22.25 minimum. Loads contaminated with plastic, soil or rubble are gated higher, or refused.
Choosing someone for the job
Search the registration number on the public register before the van turns up. Is the quote volume based or weight based, and which one applies once the load is soaking? A waste transfer note is legally yours and should arrive without being chased. Does soil or turf going in change both the price and the tier of registration needed? Agree whether loading is their job or yours.
Common questions
How much waste fits in a van?
A Luton box van holds about twelve cubic metres, quoted at £240 to £250. A standard transit takes roughly six, at £140 to £150. As a rough guide, twenty rubble sacks comes to about two cubic metres.
Can I just use my council green bin?
For waste you generated yourself, yes, at £39 to £100 a year where the council runs a subscription, and over 80 per cent of English authorities now charge for it. A gardener filling that bin for you is a grey area with most councils. Anything beyond bin volume needs a collection.