COUNCIL ‘Regrets’ That Garden Waste Fee Is Needed To Raise CashINVERCLYDE Council admits that its new £30-a-year garden waste collection charge will have a “serious and detrimental” affect on recycling rates.
The fee is being introduced from March 2020 and is designed to raise £289,000 a year. It is part of a package of measures introduced by the council to offset a cut in funding from the Scottish Government. Over the next two years the council is having to make £7million in savings and is shedding 58 jobs.
Councillor Michael McCormick, convener of the environment and regeneration committee, said: “The council regrets having to introduce this charge. It is not a decision that we wanted to take but it was one that we agreed, unanimously if reluctantly. The alternative would have been to cut other council services.
“Increasingly, this is the reality for Inverclyde residents — having to pay for non-essential services to subsidise the essential ones.
“This necessary, but unwelcome charge, will have a direct financial impact on local people. In addition it is likely to have a serious and detrimental effect on local recycling rates.”
Currently the council collects grass cuttings, weeds, shrub cuttings and hedge trimmings from around 22,000 properties a year. In 2018/19 this amounted to 3,880 tonnes of garden waste and contributed 11 per cent to Inverclyde’s annual recycling performance.
Experience at other local authorities shows that just over half of households choose to pay to have their garden waste taken away. This is equivalent to 12,300 homes in Inverclyde and would result in nearly 1,700 tonnes of garden waste going to landfill instead of being recycled.
Householders who pay to have their garden waste taken away will be issued a non-transferable permit to attach to their brown bin. Those who choose not to take part in the scheme can take their garden waste to the recycling centres at Pottery Street and Kirn Drive.
Nine of Scotland’s 32 local authorities currently charge for garden waste collection with fees ranging from £25 per bin to £36 per bin per year. Three more are expected to introduce charges soon.
