Council to remove unwanted garden bins

Residents who do not want to keep their garden waste bin are being given the chance to have them collected in by the Borough Council.

While more than 18,000 households have now signed up to the chargeable collection service introduced this year, some people have decided to make alternative arrangements for disposing their garden waste.

Now, the Council has said if gardeners are not planning to join the paid for service in the future – and they have no other use for the brown-lidded bin – it will be collected from their properties during September. A contract has been agreed by the Council with a company which will take in all of the unwanted bins at no cost to the authority. They will then recycle the plastic to make brand new bins – some of which could even be used in the borough in future!

The collection of unwanted garden waste bins will take place on the same day that normal residual waste collections take place during September. A brightly coloured tag will be placed on household waste bins in August letting people know that if they want the Council to remove the brown-lidded bin it will be done on their two normal refuse collection days. This will be done by a separate team who will come along after the normal refuse bins have been emptied.

Cllr. Trevor Johnson, Cabinet member for environment and recycling, said: “Reductions in the amount we receive from recycling credits would have left a black hole in our budgets which is why we had to take action and introduce the chargeable garden waste service.

“We understand some people don’t want to subscribe and we also understand why some households may not have an alternative use for their brown-lidded bin. So for those people we are arranging to collect the unwanted bins in.

There will be two opportunities in September for people to get these garden waste bins back to us and so I would encourage everyone who doesn’t want to hang on to this particular bin to make sure it is out for collection.”

Did you know?

Around six out of every 10 councils across the UK now charge to collect garden waste.

There has been no increase in fly-tipping in the borough since the chargeable garden waste service was launched.

Residents can share a bin – and the subscription costs – with a neighbour.

Garden waste can be taken to the county council’s recycling centre at Leycett and disposed of for free or it can be put in the normal refuse bin.

There is lots of information on the Council’s website about home composting as an alternative way to dispose of your garden waste – www.newcastle-staffs.gov.uk .