I pay £69 to the council on top of my council tax to have my green waste bin collected 10 times a year.As my bin was not collected on the specified date recently, I contacted the council to report it.It was not emptied until two weeks later, which was the designated next time anyway.I have asked for a refund, but they just keep referring to their rules, which do not mention a lack of collection. As I have paid for a service and not received it, am I entitled to my money back? Cutting corners: A This is Money reader pays extra for 10 garden waste bin collections every year, but one was missedJane Denton, of This is Money, replies: England’s new recycling rules came into force on March 31, 2026. Every council in England must now offer garden waste collections, separate from household waste. They are allowed to charge a one-off or subscription fee for this, and most do. The rules about what actually goes in the bin are stricter than most people realise. Garden waste means natural organic material that grew in your garden, excluding soil, plastic pots, stones, ash and food scraps. Locals in three council districts in the south of England pay the most for garden waste collections, according to recent research by private waste collection firm Divert Waste. James Naylor is a partner at Naylor SolicitorsOn an annual basis, residents in the Waverley council area, which covers the towns Godalming, Farnham, and Haslemere in Surrey, pay £136.70 to have their green waste taken away every fortnight.East Hampshire has the next most expensive annual bin collection subscription at £130, the study said, followed by Kingston upon Thames at £104.I asked a solicitor what you can do about your missed garden waste collection. James Naylor, a partner at Naylor Solicitors, said: Imagine you pay a dog walker £200 for ten walks. Nine take place, but on the tenth day the dog walker simply does not turn up. You would naturally ask: 'I paid for ten walks and received nine. Why shouldn’t I get something back?'That is, at heart, a question about what was promised.Here, you paid £69 for ten scheduled collections, and one did not take place. So, start with the small print. Do the terms promise ten collections? Can a missed collection be rearranged? Do they exclude refunds or provide another remedy?If the terms amount to a promise of ten collections, and nothing excuses the missed one, there may be an argument that part of the paid-for service was not supplied. But that does not automatically mean you are entitled to one-tenth of the annual fee back. The appropriate remedy will depend on the legal basis of the claim, the scheme’s terms and, where damages are sought, the loss suffered.There is, however, an important qualification to the dog-walker analogy. A paid-for council garden-waste service also operates within a statutory framework, so the contractual terms are not necessarily the whole picture. Since 31 March 2026, councils in England have a duty to collect garden waste where a household has requested the service and paid any applicable charge. That does not necessarily mean that every missed collection gives rise to a private right to damages or a refund, and the council’s terms still matter because they help determine what service was promised and what remedies may be available if it is not provided.The sensible first step is the council’s complaints procedure. If that fails, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is another possible avenue. However, the Ombudsman says it will not usually investigate one or two missed collections and does not expect councils to pay a financial remedy for a single missed collection or a limited number of them.There may also be the possibility of a court claim. But for potentially a few pounds, litigation would be like hiring a removal van to move a shoebox: possible, but wildly out of proportion to what is at stake.So, you may have a legal point, but it is probably better pursued through the complaints process than walked all the way to court.Do you have a property question? Please email jane.denton@dailymail.co.uk Best mortgage rates and how to find them Mortgage rates have shot up again due to inflation triggered by the conflict with Iran reversing hopes that the Bank of England would cut rates. 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