Hillingdon to charge non-residents to use HWRCs

Launched on Monday (June 15), the HillingdonFirst card has been issued to all residents over the age of 18 and is intended to ensure residents of Hillingdon pay less for the use of council facilities, which also includes libraries, parking and also discounts at participating shops and business.

Under the system, non-residents using the council-run Harefield civic amenities site will face a charge of £10 to dispose of domestic waste, which they would previously have been able to access for free.

The council deems this a “small contribution” towards the cost of Landfill Tax incurred by residents through their Council Tax payments. Recycling at the site will still not be charged.

The borough has only one civic amenity site that it actually owns at New Year's Green Lane near Harefield. It is understood that the site almost operates as a landfill with residents reversing up and tipping waste onto a concrete area. The site poses a number of health and safety challenges and these have been discussed by the authority in the past, and it has considered investing in new facilities. However, no such investment has yet been made.

The move comes just two months after the London borough of Lambeth decided to not allow anyone to dispose of residual waste at its Vale Street household waste and recycling centre in Norwood in a bid to cut landfill costs (see letsrecycle.com story) and represents part of a growing trend among councils to try and reduce disposal at sites and increase recycling.

Councillor Douglas Mills, cabinet member for improvement, said: “The HillingdonFirst card encourages residents and visitors to the borough to recycle as much as they can, as visitors to the waste and recycling centre in Harefield who do not have a card will have to pay £10 to access the domestic waste area. The recycling area will remain free to all visitors.

“Hillingdon residents pay for the cost of landfill through their Council Tax, it is therefore right that visitors to the site from outside the borough are discouraged from dumping their domestic waste and are charged a small contribution to meet the increasing costs,” he added.

The charges for non-residents do not apply to the two other civic amenities sites in Hillingdon at South Ruislip and Rigby Lane as they are operated by the West London Waste Authority and waste management company SITA UK, respectively.

In 2003, Southend-on-Sea borough council introduced a £3 charge for non-residents using its Stock Road civic amenity site. However, Essex county council opted to reimburse non-residents who had been charged and said, instead, non-Essex residents would be charged £3 for using the Castle Road site in Thurrock.