In recent weeks, both Sefton borough in the North West and Hinckley & Bosworth borough council in Leicestershire have announced that they will continue to provide the service free of charge. This comes despite budgetary pressures forcing the councils to consider charging.
Gateshead and Sutton councils are among a number of councils to recently have announced plans to charge for the service, joining the growing rank of authorities in England asking for a subscription fee from residents.
Hinckley & Bosworth council operates free in-house fortnightly collections of garden waste from households in the borough in 240 litre brown wheeled bins, before sending the material for open-windrow composting at two local sites.
The service had been funded through around £500,000 per year in recycling credits, provided to the local authority by Leicestershire county council since 1996.
Credits
These are due to be withdrawn by the county council in April, with the cost of treatment of the material to be borne by the county. As a result the borough council will save around £200,000 in gate fees, but it will still be required to find around £345,000 per year for the collection of the material.
Council officers had submitted proposals to introduce a £30 per year charge for green waste collections (see letsrecycle.com story), but the authority has instead opted to retain the free service until at least April 2016, using unspent funds from its planning budget to cover the cost.
Commenting on the move, councillor Bill Crooks, executive member for neighbourhood services, said: “I am delighted that our officers have been able to locate extra funding from additional income brought in by the large amount of new homes being built. The green waste is a major part of our recycling tonnage and without this our EEC target percentages would fall from the above-target rate of 56% which we are currently achieving.”
Sefton
Sefton borough council, located north of Liverpool, has also responded to budgetary pressure on its green waste collections, and has opted to reduce the frequency of its green waste collections – from fortnightly to three-weekly in a bid to avoid imposing a charge on residents.
The council, which serves around 120,000 households, will continue to collect dry recyclables and food waste on a weekly basis. Residual waste will also stick to its current fortnightly collection schedule.
Councillors in the Merseyside borough had previously rejected plans to charge £46 per year for the service when officers recommended the proposal for consideration in 2013.
The Labour-run authority has now opted to collect garden waste from homes every third Monday – as well as stopping collections of the material from being carried out on a Saturday, a move that it claims will cut down on the cost of running the service through reduced vehicle movements.
Funding
Councillor Trish Hardy, Sefton council’s cabinet member for environment and communities, said: “Once again the council is faced with cuts in government funding which means having to reduce spending by an extra £55 million over the next two years.
“However, we are determined to continue running this well used, free of charge service and from March, it will operate every three weeks. Sefton has one of the best recycling rates in Merseyside and we hope all residents will continue to use the service and recycle as much as possible.”
Sefton council is now updating residents of the new schedule head of its roll out in March.
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