The Norfolk local authority is looking at introducing a second bin for garden waste and residents would have to pay for it to be emptied. Green waste would be banned from the refuse bin.
The council hopes to trial a scheme in two areas later this year and roll out an initiative across the district by next spring.
Paul Smith, recycling officer of Broadland District Council, said: “We are looking at all aspects of green waste collection and investigating the polluter pays principle. We don’t want all residents to have to pay because of a few who don’t want to compost. This initiative supports those residents who want to compost and those that would rather have it taken away will have to pay.”
He added: “We are encouraging the best practice principle of green waste being dealt with in the garden. Green waste could have a significant impact on our recycling rate which is currently 9%.”
Broadland council carried out a waste composition analysis in March and found that 31% of the waste produced by residents was organic. The council plans to carry out another analysis during the growing season.
Broadland is part of the Norfolk waste management initiative which was set up four months ago to supply discounted Straight compost bins to residents.
Mr Smith added: “We have a collection service which empties wheeled bins and they are well accepted by residents, so we will probably introduce another bin service. But we haven’t ruled out any other methods of dealing with garden waste. Initially we looked at providing a bag collection service, but there was public objection to this and there is the added problem of what to do with the bags if they are not compostable.”
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