Council officers have made the claim in a report to Halton’s Environment & Urban Renewal Policy and Performance Board, which was published last month.
Halton currently operates a three-bin system, with blue bins for recyclables, green bins for garden waste and black bins for domestic waste.
The charge for the green bin collection service came into effect from 1 June 2015, costing residents who wish to opt-in £30 per bin per year, or £25 if paid via the council’s website.
Findings
According to the report, which states there was “a very positive response to the introduction of the charge”, 15,215 households have subscribed to the service, representing a take-up rate of over 36% of eligible households.
Overall, the paid subscriptions totalled 15,721 resulting in an income of £405,000. The council has stated that this sum is sufficient to cover the costs associated with providing the service.
A significant concern previously raised by members was that some residents may deposit garden waste into their black bins to avoid paying for the green bin service, resulting in increased disposal costs.
In reply to this concern, the report outlines that mechanisms put in place such as collection crews leaving black bins with garden waste unemptied have proved successful and claims that garden waste ending up in residual waste does not appear to have been a significant issue.
In addition, members had queried whether the charge would lead to significant increases in the fly-tipping of garden waste.
While results have shown that there has been an increase in the number of garden waste fly-tipping incidents, the reported incidents remains relatively low (40 from June 2015-September 2015) and rates had actually reduced within the first two months of the subscription period.
The council stated: “this could suggest that the overall increase in the number of incidents was not attributable to the introduction of the charge”.
Debate
The report’s findings will likely add to the ongoing debate surrounding the issue of charging for a green waste collection service.
South Gloucestershire council this year saw Conservative councillors pledge to phase out a £36-per year-charge, after criticism from the then Communities and Local Government minister Brandon Lewis, who singled out the authority and said it was using its residents as ‘cash cows’ (see letsrecycle.com story).
There has been support across the UK to keep free green waste collections, as it has been claimed that additional charges could put residents off recycling their green waste and could direct valuable recyclable material to landfill.
Earlier this year, both Sefton borough and Hinckley & Bosworth borough council announced they will continue to provide the service free of charge despite budgetary pressures forcing the councils to consider changing (see letsrecycle.com story).
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