High demand for garden waste services

Two local authorities in England have struggled to cope with demand for green waste recycling services, with a Norfolk council forced to place residents on a waiting list to have their garden waste collected.

Some residents within the boundary of Kings Lynn & West Norfolk borough council have been placed on a waiting list, after the borough council failed to meet demand for its garden waste service.

The paid-for service, which was started in 2007, has grown year-on-year from just over 6,000 customers initially to almost 20,000 in March 2014.

As a result, the council has established a waiting list for all new customers requesting a brown bin, with orders only being dealt with once other residents have opted out. And, as of April 1 2014, the cost of the service has increased from 39 to 41 a year.

Commenting on the suspension, cabinet member for environment councillor Brian Long advised people to make arrangements with a neighbour to share their bin if they are an existing customer.

He said: The brown bin service is a victim of its own success. Demand has consistently grown and we are now in a position where there is no capacity for further collections.

In the future it might be possible to introduce a further collection vehicle, but at a cost of nearly 120,000, we simply can’t justify this investment as there are no densely populated areas for us to grow the service into, and we would need a minimum of 2,000 new customers to make it financially viable.

He added: “Current turnover of bins, means that customers may have to wait several weeks for a brown bin, but we are confident that we will be able to fulfil the majority of requests. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause to new customers, but would like to reassure existing customers that they will not experience any change in the service.”

Birmingham

Elsewhere, Birmingham council has been drawn into debate over its green bag collections for garden waste, after the city council opted to charge residents 35 a year for the service in January.

Conservative councillor for Edgbaston Deirdre Alden told letsrecycle.com that the move would mean an increase in flytipping, while police were called to a household recycling centre in Lifford Lane last month after tempers frayed as residents queued to dispose of garden waste where they can dispose of green waste for free.

She said: In the past a lot of civic-minded people swept up the leaves on the pavement outside their property and put them into their own bags. But without the incentive of a free service the council might have to invest in more street-cleansing services, so where are the savings in the long-term?

In response, the council has said it is aware of the problems surrounding congestion at the Lifford Lane HWRC, but argued high demand for the disposal of garden waste was predominantly seasonal.

Budget

Councillor James McKay, cabinet member for a green, safe and smart city, explained the introduction of a chargeable service was the result of the council needing to cut two thirds of its entire controllable budget.

He said: If households feel unable to take up the new service, they can of course also compost at home, or take their green waste to any of our five HWRCs, both of which are of course free of charge.

“We are aware that increased traffic has been experienced at the Lifford Lane site, but this is a location which, due to the layout of surrounding roads, has suffered from congestion for many years. This is something we are working very closely on with the site operators, as we always would.

He added: Where community groups are clearing public land of leaves or litter, then of course we should, and do, come and take away what theyve collected.