But if this is not possible, you can take your garden waste to a household recycling centre where it will be collected in large containers and transported to a central composting plant and turned into a soil improver.

If neither of these options are suitable for you, garden waste will be collected by the council if it is put out in special garden waste sacks, which will be a different colour depending on whether you live in an area with the brown bin scheme. All sacks can be bought from us at a cost of £1 per sack. Sacks are not reusable.

If you live in an area covered by the Brown Bin Scheme

(Verwood, Three legged Cross, West Moors, Ashley Heath, St Leonards & St Ives, southern Ferndown, West Parley)

Put all of your food waste and cardboard in the brown bin and you can use any spare space in the bin for a bit of garden waste. The contents of your brown bin are taken away on a weekly basis for composting.

However, if you have more garden waste than you can home compost, you are unable to get to the nearest household recycling centre and your brown bin is full, you can purchase special white or green garden sacks that are made of compostable material.

These white or green sacks need to be placed out with your brown bin for collection, and will be taken with the brown bin waste to be composted and made into soil improver. The sacks are not reusable.

White and green sacks can be purchased for a charge of £1 per sack by sending a cheque to Technical Services, East Dorset District Council Offices, Furzehill, Wimborne, BH21 4HN or by calling the telephone number below and using a credit/debit card for amounts over £10.00. Orders of less than 10 sacks will be delivered by post free of charge. Order of over 10 sacks will incur a postage charge of £2.

They can also be purchased at the following offices:

• Cash Office at the Council Offices, Furzehill, Wimborne, BH21 4HN 
• Verwood Town Council, 28 Vicarage Road, Verwood, BH31 6DW 
• St Leonards and St Ives Parish Council, Braeside Road, St Leonards, BH24 2PJ 
• West Moors Parish Council, Library, Station Road, West Moors, BH22 0JD
• Ferndown Town Council, Peter Grant Way, Ferndown, BH22 9EN 

If you live in an area NOT covered by the Brown Bin Scheme

The sacks you purchase for garden waste will be orange and made of plastic. The sacks need to be put out for collection alongside your black refuse sacks. They will be collected and landfilled. Black sacks containing garden waste will not be collected.

There is no limit to the number of garden waste sacks that you put out for collection.

Orange sacks can be purchased for a charge of £1 per sack by sending a cheque to Technical Services, East Dorset District Council Offices, Furzehill, Wimborne, BH21 4HN or by calling the telephone number below and using a credit/debit card for amounts over £10.00. Orders of less than 10 sacks will be delivered by post free of charge. Order of over 10 sacks will incur a postage charge of £2.

Alternatively the following offices have a supply of orange sacks for sale:

• Cash Office at the Council Offices, Furzehill, Wimborne, BH21 4HN
• Wimborne Minster Town Council, West Borough, Wimborne, BH21 1LT 
• Wimborne Tourist Information Office, 29 High Street, Wimborne, BH21 1HR
• Corfe Mullen Parish Council, Towers Way, Corfe Mullen, BH21 3UA 
• Ferndown Town Council, Peter Grant Way, Ferndown, BH22 9EN 
• Sixpenny Handley Parish Council, Town Farm Workshops, Dean Lane, Sixpenny Handley, SP5 5PA 

• Name: Refuse, litter, street sweeping and recycling (East Dorset)
  Email: contracts@eastdorset.gov.uk
  Tel: 01202 886201
  Full details for Refuse, litter, street sweeping and recycling (East Dorset)