Hillingdon used to collect garden waste as part of your normal service. It does not any more. The council introduced a charge in 2025 at £70, and for the 2026/27 year it is £77 — opt-in, paid up front, and a genuine change to how a lot of households manage the garden.
The number that matters is not really £77. It is what happens if you decide not to pay: because Hillingdon has also determined that garden waste is not accepted in black sack waste, and black sacks found to contain it can be left behind.
This guide sets out exactly what the subscription buys, what counts as garden waste, what your options are if you skip it, and the point at which paying by the load is simply cheaper than paying by the year.
What does Hillingdon garden waste collection cost?
The 2026/27 garden waste service costs £77 and runs from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 inclusive.
It is a rise from the £70 introduced for 2025/26, when the charge was first brought in following a council consultation. The council’s reasoning was cost: garden waste costs it around £40 per tonne to dispose of, against roughly £146 per tonne for general waste — which is precisely why it will not let garden waste be smuggled into black sacks.
The fee is per property, and one subscription per property is allowed. You cannot buy two to double your capacity.
What the £77 actually includes
- Three garden waste sacks and tags as standard.
- Up to three additional sacks and tags on request — six in total per collection.
- Weekly collections March to November.
- Fortnightly collections December to February.
- Collections Monday to Friday, with changes around bank holidays.
- Open to all Hillingdon households with a garden, including maisonettes and flats.
The sacks remain the council’s property and are loaned to you — you are expected to keep them clean and in good condition, and the council reserves the right to change the container type.
The tag rule
Only garden waste in a council-supplied sack displaying a valid identity tag will be collected. Waste in your own bags, bins or builders’ bulk bags will be left, however neatly it is stacked. This is the most common reason a subscriber’s collection gets missed.
What counts as garden waste?
Hillingdon’s definition is specific: loose, compostable and biodegradable garden waste from your own garden, contained in the sack. That means:
- Grass cuttings
- Flowers
- Small tree branches — under 9cm in diameter and/or 50cm in length
- Loose leaves
- Shrub and hedge trimmings
- Minimal windfall fruit
The branch dimensions are the practical limit. Take out a mature shrub, cut back a laurel hedge that has had ten years unchecked, or fell anything with a real trunk, and a good proportion of it is simply too big for the sacks — subscription or not.
Soil, turf, rubble, pots, fencing panels, decking and shed timber are not garden waste for this purpose. They are DIY or bulky waste, and they need the tip or a collection.
What if you do not sign up?
You have three legitimate routes, and one that will get your bags left on the pavement.
1. The tip. Harefield Civic Amenity Site on New Years Green Lane (UB9 6LX) takes garden waste, seven days a week, 8am to 4pm with last entry at 3.45pm. Free, but it is a drive from most of the borough and a van visit counts against your 12-visit annual cap.
2. Home composting. Genuinely the cheapest answer for grass and leaves if you have the space, and it removes the recurring problem entirely. It does nothing for hedge trimmings in volume.
3. Pay by the load. A garden waste collection takes whatever you have, in whatever container, including the branches that are too thick for a council sack — and there is nobody in the household who has to carry it.
What does not work: putting it in your black sacks. Hillingdon has determined under its waste collection policy that garden waste is not accepted in black bag waste, and bags containing it can be refused.
How to subscribe, and what to do about a missed collection
Subscriptions are taken through the council’s website and paid by card for the full service year. The year runs 1 April to 31 March regardless of when you join, so signing up in autumn buys you the remainder of the year rather than twelve months from that date — worth factoring in if you are weighing it up mid-season.
Once you have subscribed, the sacks and identity tags are delivered to you. Nothing gets collected until the tags are on the sacks, so fit them as soon as they arrive rather than on the first collection morning.
If a collection is missed, Hillingdon has a dedicated report a missed garden waste collection route on its website, separate from the missed refuse and missed recycling forms. Report it promptly — councils generally apply a short window, after which the missed collection is treated as closed and you wait for the next scheduled round.
The commonest reasons a collection is skipped
No tag on the sack; the sack put out after the round has passed; waste in your own bags or a builders’ bulk bag rather than the council sack; soil, turf or rubble mixed in with the trimmings; or branches over the size limit sticking out of the top. All five are treated as contamination or non-presentation rather than a missed collection.
Is the subscription worth it? The honest maths
This comes down entirely to how you use your garden, and the answer genuinely differs household to household.
| Your situation | Better option | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lawn cut weekly, hedges trimmed, steady output Mar–Nov | Subscribe | Roughly 35 weekly collections for £77 is hard to beat per load |
| Two big clear-outs a year, quiet in between | Pay per load | You are paying £77 for capacity you use twice |
| One-off overgrown garden reclaim | Pay per load | Volume and branch size both exceed six sacks |
| No car, or cannot lift | Subscribe or collection | The tip is not a realistic option either way |
| Clearing a let property or probate house | Collection | Landlord and trade waste is outside the household service |
The subscription is good value if you use it. Its weakness is that it is capacity-limited and calendar-locked: six sacks a week is plenty for maintenance and nowhere near enough for a reclaim.
How Hillingdon compares to neighbouring councils
Charging for garden waste is now the norm across London and the Home Counties rather than the exception, so “my old borough did it free” is rarely a useful comparison any more. What differs is the price, the container and the capacity.
The three things worth comparing when you look at a neighbouring borough’s scheme:
- Sacks or a wheelie bin? Hillingdon uses sacks. A 240-litre wheeled bin holds a similar volume to two or three sacks but is far easier to fill and drag, and it does not blow down the road empty.
- Capacity per collection. Hillingdon allows up to six sacks. Schemes that charge per bin often make you buy a second subscription for a second bin — nominally cheaper per year, more expensive for a big garden.
- Winter service. Hillingdon drops to fortnightly December to February. Some schemes suspend collections entirely over winter, which changes the effective price per collection considerably.
The comparison that actually matters, though, is not against the borough next door — you cannot switch councils. It is between the subscription and the alternatives available to you here: the tip at Harefield, composting, or paying by the load. That is the decision in the table above.
A note for landlords
Garden waste from a property you let out is generally treated as household waste while a tenant is in occupation. But garden clearance carried out as part of preparing a property between tenancies — or by a contractor you have paid — is commercial waste, and it needs a registered carrier and a transfer note. Hillingdon’s bulky waste pricing reflects this too, with a separate and higher landlord rate.
Same-day garden clearance across Hillingdon
We clear gardens right across the borough — Uxbridge, Ruislip, Ickenham, Eastcote, Hayes, West Drayton, Yiewsley and Harefield.
No sack limit, no branch-diameter rule, no tag on the bag. Trimmings, turf, soil, old fence panels, pots and the shed they were leaning against all go in the same load. We are a registered waste carrier and green waste is taken for composting rather than landfill.
Pricing is by volume from £95, fixed before we start. Send a photo of the pile on WhatsApp and you get a price back, not a survey appointment.
Frequently asked questions
How much is Hillingdon garden waste collection?
£77 for the 2026/27 service year, running 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. It was £70 in 2025/26.
Can I put garden waste in my black sacks in Hillingdon?
No. Hillingdon has determined under its waste collection policy that garden waste is not accepted in black bag waste, and bags containing it can be left.
How many garden waste sacks do I get?
Three sacks and tags as standard, with up to three more on request — a maximum of six per property. Only one subscription is allowed per property.
How often is garden waste collected in Hillingdon?
Weekly from March to November and fortnightly from December to February, Monday to Friday, with changes around bank holidays.
Do flats get the garden waste service?
Yes — the subscription is open to all Hillingdon households with a garden, including maisonettes and flats.
What if my branches are too big for the sacks?
Anything over roughly 9cm in diameter or 50cm long falls outside the service. It has to go to the tip or into a paid collection, which has no size limit.
Garden Cleared in One Visit
No £77 subscription, no six-sack limit, no branch-size rule. Trimmings, turf, fencing and the shed — one load, one fixed price, across all of Hillingdon. Send a photo for a quote.