To receive a presentation on chargeable garden waste collections from the Bromsgrove Head of Street Scene and Community and the Redditch Head of Environment.
This presentation will consist of two elements:
a) the Bromsgrove experience; and
b) plans for Redditch.
(Oral report).
Minutes:
Information was presented to Members regarding proposals to introduce a chargeable garden waste collection. These proposals were scheduled to be presented for the consideration of the Executive Committee in November.
Bromsgrove District Council had recently moved from a free garden waste collection to a service that residents had to pay for. This chargeable collection system had been introduced in 2009. Residents who chose to pay for the service were charged £30.00 per year. When the chargeable collection was first introduced in Bromsgrove a large number of complaints were received from residents and there was also some negative media coverage about the issue. Consequently, Officers had found that the numbers of people using the service had decreased, the tonnage had decreased but the average yield had risen.
Support from a variety of different teams within the Council including IT, Finance, Communications, and Customer Services was important in delivering the service. It was also crucial for the lead-in time of the process to begin as early as possible to enable all teams involved to provide support at the appropriate time. It was important that both Council Officers and Members were aware of the service and were able to promote it where possible. Ensuring that the correct information about rounds and routes was available would help to ensure that the correct information was given to the public.
Members questioned the maximum volume for a single collection. Officers confirmed that there would be a 240 litre bin available for residents who signed up for the collection. Residents would be charged a further £30.00 for the use of an extra bin.
Members discussed the potential to reintroduce the Shredder Man service. This service had been used by a number of residents in previous years. However, Officers advised that this service was expensive to provide and therefore did not necessarily represent an appropriate alternative to the chargeable garden waste collection service.
Some Members expressed the view that introducing a garden waste collection service would not be environmentally friendly because of the extra journeys this would generate, the increase in fuel, and the emissions this would create. Officers agreed with this point but noted that there was a good proportion of garden waste that currently ended up in landfill. By introducing a chargeable garden waste collection service, the costs could be covered but also the collection schedule could be kept manageable.
Members discussed the use of composting for disposing of garden waste. It was noted that not everyone had the space to be able to accommodate a compost bin. There was also a question over what to do with the end product once garden waste had been processed. It was suggested that residents participating in the chargeable garden waste collection could receive compost back in return for their garden waste. Officers explained that they had been investigating a possible disposal route for the garden waste. Some garden waste was sold from household waste sites that processed it and one potential disposal point had considered giving excess compost to local farmers.