Braintree District Council has confirmed the difficult decision to introduce a charge for collecting garden waste from March 2024, after councillors agreed the proposals at Cabinet, on Monday 10 July.
The collection of garden waste is a discretionary service for which local authorities may make a charge. In the current economic climate and with council budgets under significant pressure, the cost of the current service at £683k is no longer affordable or sustainable.
The existing service is disproportionate as it is funded by Council taxpayers irrespective of whether or not they use the service. Introducing a charge ensures that only those who use the service pay for it and this is seen as a fairer way of providing the service.
Collections will be every fortnight throughout the year apart from the week before and the week after Christmas, compared to the current service which is suspended for 3 months over the winter period.
The subscription fee for 2024/25 will be £55 p.a. but residents who sign up by 30 November 2023 can benefit from a 50% early bird discount, bringing the cost down to £27.50 which equates to just £1 per collection in the first year. Additional bins are available for an extra charge.
The new service will start week commencing 4 March 2024 and in the first year the subscription will cover a 13-month period until end March 2025. Thereafter each subscription year will cover a 12-month period from April to March.
From 21 July, residents can register their interest in signing up to the service and should keep an eye on the council’s website and social media for further updates for when the payment service is live: visit www.braintree.gov.uk/gardenwastesubscription
Those who have subscribed to the service will receive a sticker to put on their bin and the crews will have handheld devices to check that the property has paid for the service. Bins not displaying the sticker will not be emptied.
For properties who do not have bins, garden waste will only be collected in bio-degradable sacks available from the Council at a cost of £8 per roll of 20 sacks, which also includes the cost of collection and delivery. Residents will be able to purchase rolls of sacks using an online form on the Council’s website.
Cllr Tom Cunningham, Cabinet Member for Transformation, the Environment and Customer Services at Braintree District Council said: “Every council in the country is having to make difficult decisions about what it can afford to do and 70% of councils nationwide, including 8 across Essex, have already moved to a subscription model for garden waste. Not every resident is fortunate enough to have a garden and some prefer to compost at home, so it is fair to ask those who want their waste collected by us, to pay for that service. We are keen to maintain a garden waste collection to residents, however the only way this can be achieved is to recover the cost of the collections.
“If residents don’t want to pay for the service, they can dispose of their garden waste by taking it to their nearest Essex County Council’s Recycling Centre. Better still I hope this encourages people to think about composting at home.”
Residents can purchase a composter through GetComposting and discounts are available for Essex residents.
More information will be communicated to residents by Braintree District Council and published on its website visit www.braintreegov.uk/gardenwastesubscriptions