Garden waste permits now available in Moray
Moray residents are being encouraged to order their garden waste permits by 5 March 2024.
The £50 permit must be displayed on brown bins containing garden waste. A separate permit is required for each additional garden waste bin. Bins containing food waste don’t require a permit.
The 5 March deadline will guarantee delivery of the permit by 1 April, when the new stickers should be displayed.
Permits will be sent out in batches from week beginning 25 March and residents are asked not to chase up their application until after the permits have started to be issued.
In addition to an online payment method, residents have the option of paying for a garden waste permit in two instalments of £25. This can only be done via phone payments by dialling 0300 123 4565. It's important to note the permit can't be processed and issued until both payments are made.
Permits can be ordered online at any time of the year, however they’re valid from 1 April 2024 until 31 March 2025 and are not transferable between properties.
Moray Council’s Chair of the Economic Development and Infrastructure Services Committee, Cllr Marc Macrae, encourages early applications for permits: “We appreciate the cost of the permit has increased this year and, like many councils across the country, we’re facing financial challenges, which means we must make some difficult decisions about our charges.
“We face a balance between maintaining statutory services with those that don’t come with legal duties and the collection of garden waste is not a core service that councils have to provide. A number of authorities don’t provide a collection service for garden waste and others are either ceasing their collections from next year or increasing their charges. We’re able to continue to offer the service and we hope residents see the value and benefit of having a permit, which they can apply for now.”
Householders can also take their garden waste to one of the household waste recycling centres (free of charge). Alternatively, people can compost garden waste at home.
Results from Moray Council’s first phase of budget consultation for 2024/25, undertaken online in September 2023, showed 60% of participants were willing to see an increase in the garden waste permit charge, with 43% of them agreeing a moderate to significant increase was acceptable.