NEW garden waste permits are on sale from Inverclyde Council ahead of brown bin collections resuming in March.

The permits now cost £42 and can be purchased via the council website.

Collections will start the week beginning March 11 or 18, depending on residents’ typical recycling collection day.

Around 11,000 permits are purchased each year and the brown bins are emptied from March through to November.

Councillor Michael McCormick, Inverclyde Council’s convener of environment and regeneration, said: “Garden waste permits cost the same no matter what time of year people buy them so it makes sense to get one as soon as possible to get the most use out of it during the season.”

Waste materials such as grass, hedge trimmings, weeds, leaves and shrub cuttings can all be put in brown bins and will be turned into compost.

Soil cannot be recycled in the brown bin and any bins containing soil will not be emptied.

This year’s permit is coloured purple and will be valid from the week beginning March 11 through to the week beginning November 11, 2024. Bins without a valid 2024 permit will not be emptied.