Reminder for residents to pay for green bin collection ahead of upcoming changes

Residents who want to continue having their garden waste collected can now make card payments for the upcoming collection charge over the phone.

The annual fee will come into place on August 31 and will cost £25 per green garden waste bin per-year.

Only those who have signed up to the service will have their garden waste collected from this date. If you do register to continue to have your green garden waste bin collected you will receive a sticker with your address clearly printed on.

This sticker should be placed on the lid of your bin. This will help the collection crew to quickly identify if the service has been paid for.

The £25 annual fee was due to be introduced back in April but was suspended due to the Coronavirus restrictions and the closures of the Household Recycling Centres.

Those who paid earlier in the year for the service don’t need to do anything and you will receive a full 12 months service until August 31, 2021.

Darren Williams, Chief Officer Environment and Technical, said: “The paid service starts very soon, so we’re looking to remind people they can sign up by calling the contact centre on 01978 298989 and making a card payment.

“The contact centre is very busy at the moment, so if you are struggling to get through please be patient and they will answer as soon as they can.

“We’ve kept the charge as low as possible at £25 per green garden waste bin per-year, which is lower than many other authorities in England and Wales.

“The decision to introduce this charge wasn’t taken lightly, but after cuts to local government funding we had no choice but to join other councils in charging for this discretionary service.”