Council garden waste collection£££

barry island

Well it looks as if it is happening here in Northampton next year £45/year to collect garden waste, I expected this charge to catch up with us sooner or later as it happens in other boroughs. I won't pay the extra as my garden is quite small and will take any grass cuttings to my allotment where I do my composting and already take lots of kitchen waste now, any branches e.t.c I will take to the council recycling centre. Whether they get enough people to use the new service to keep it viable is questionable. I suppose they will charge for all household recycling in the future.

Pete.8

There was a similar proposal from our local council 2-3 years ago to charge the same amount for green bin collection. It caused such an uproar, the council changed its mind and we now still get our green bins emptied weekly.
But I have no doubt the time will come..

steephill

Houses on our street all have reasonably large gardens which could easily accomodate compost bins but quite a few are happy to pay for a green bin for garden waste. One neighbour switched and gave us their dalek compost bins. So there seems to be a good market for it.

Topbird

It came as a shock when we moved 10 miles into a different LA area and suddenly found we had to pay £50 a year for garden waste collection.
We have a medium sized garden and maintain 4 compost bins but there is still too much by way of gluts in garden waste to dispose of in the compost bins. For example lawn clippings are incorporated into compost and stored to layer with autumn leaves, but there's still a glut of clippings by August. Similarly in the autumn I collect as many leaves as I need for leaf mould but the rest go in the council bin. And about half the hedge trimmings. And all the perennial weeds I really don't want in the compost (ground elder, creeping buttercup, ivy etc etc)
It's worth a pound a week to have an easy way to get rid of stuff I can't or don't want to use.

B3

I don't mind paying about a pound a week to get rid of branches ,slow composters like ivy, and seedy weeds. I don't understand what the problem is. It's not compulsory to have your garden waste collected.

KT53

We currently have to pay about £42 per year for garden waste collection.  I can easily half fill the bin just from grass cutting in the summer and I certainly wouldn't have any use for the amount of compost which could be created.  Although I'm not happy about being charged on top of the normal council tax, I do agree with Topbird that it's good to have an easy way to get rid of stuff.  It would cost more if I had to drive to the tip every couple of weeks.

barry island

I agree £2 for each collection isn't too expensive by any means but as I go sometimes months without putting the garden waste bin out I won't bother, it's like enrolling in a gym membership and not using it as many people seem to do especially after Christmas.

Anna33

As I understand it, councils have a legal obligation to collect rubbish and recycling, but not garden waste - this is entirely optional. Given how little money councils have for core services nowadays, it seems logical to charge residents a small amount for collection of garden waste. We pay £52 a year for ours, which I'm quite happy to pay - having a green bin has massively helped with (as @Topbird has so perfectly put it!) the gluts, and despite having a small garden, there is frequently too much for any compost bin to cope with.

Given the small cost for this service, I don't begrudge the council charging for a mutually beneficial option. It gets cars off the roads pootling to and from the tip as well. And once you've paid the charge, you can forget about it for another year!

Marlorena

I pay for mine, am happy to do so and have no objections to it... I'm only surprised it didn't happen earlier... it's been taken for granted for too long.  The standard Council Tax charge should be for other things, not collecting my garden waste....  so I pay £36 a year for one bin, but I have 2 but do not use the other... I think it's £70 for two... but during the summer there are some weeks I could do with 2 bins, so I have to manage that as it goes... I expect like me, most people won't use it year round... for me my single bin [which is brown not green]… is used from roughly May to December... I have hardly any garden waste from Jan - April.... so I'm paying for 12 months when I really only use it for about 8....  
..I'd say for those of us who don't drive, don't go out much, and don't have room for composting... it's an absolute godsend... and I would struggle without it...   so well worth the fees.. 

Hostafan1

I think folk living in flats might feel aggrieved if their council tax payments had to cover something they couldn't use.
We're charged here, no idea how much as I dispose of everything on site.

barry island

I never even considered that the council were doing householders a favour collecting our garden waste after all they never used to do it and I don't think that anyone ask them to do it, I took it for granted that they composted the waste to sell as compost, they also collect kitchen waste which no one ask them to do but I believe that they sell it to another council who use it to feed a power station, in fact they are always promoting the food waste collection facility.