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The council is looking at reducing the £60 green waste charge
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£60 green waste fee may be reduced

By Victoria Smith
June 22, 2012

A £60 charge for green waste collection could be reduced under a review of Wokingham’s new waste collection scheme.

In the coming months, Wokingham Borough Council is to review the failures of the scheme rollout, which saw some residents receive the wrong type of blue waste sacks and others none at all.

How much would you be prepared to spend annually on green waste collections?Have your say in our poll

This week it was revealed hundreds of people have been warned they are using the wrong bin bags under a ‘gentle’ crackdown.

The council issued nearly 1,000 leaflets in the first two weeks of its new tougher approach to enforcing the waste collection rules, which began in April when all residents were delivered 80 blue waste sacks for use throughout the year.

A £60 annual charge for green waste wheelie bins was also introduced.

Households reluctant to pay for green waste collection

Bin collectors issued 500 leaflets in the first week and 340 leaflets the following week. A council spokeswoman said both figures accounted for less than one per cent of the Wokingham population.

Green waste collection labelled 'stealth tax'

Councillor Angus Ross, executive member for environment, said: “It is a very small proportion across 60,000 houses. We decided to take a gentle approach to this.

“We have deliberately delayed introducing these letters until now and given people the chance to make sure they have got blue bags and can use them.”

The warning leaflets sent to residents who use the wrong bag read: “We noted during today’s collection you are not presenting the non-recyclable waste in our official blue bags. Whilst we have collected your waste this time, this will not be the case from now on.

“I shall be grateful therefore, if you will, in future, present the waste in the official blue bags we have provided.”

The council says all residents should now have received blue bags.

The council is to carry out a review of the way the scheme was introduced and how well it is working. This will include a look at the design of the bags, which some have said are too flimsy, and the £60 charge for green waste bins.

Cllr Ross said: “We will be looking at three key things: seeing how we might have done things differently in terms of introducing the scheme; the immediate issue of making sure there are extra bags for those who have run out; and looking at the blue bags and whether they will be sent out next year in exactly the same format or whether they are changed slightly.

“We tested the bags. They are as good if not better than blue bags you buy from the supermarket.”

He added: “We will be looking at the green waste charge for next year as to whether we have estimated it right or not.

“It is something we are very aware of.

“We do not want to charge people more than we have to.”

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As an old Wokinghamite, (born and bred 1939 to 1975 when I moved to Suffolk) I am surprised that a charge for green waste disposal is levied. Here in Sufflok, our council makes money from selling the coverted waste to compost, therefore our collections are free. What is wrong with Wokingham Council not doing the same?

snaggle, Suffolk
28/06/2012 at 21:07

Will the £60 charge be reduced or not? Knowing this may happen in the near future, would YOU invest in a bin today? Clear message please WBC/Woky Times. BTW... my green waste ..... deposited in a black sack and taken away. Not paying any more for a two tier service.

Bag Lady
27/06/2012 at 15:54

Oenone - you are spot on with your comments. Nothing about the new scheme is environmentally friendly or efficient. It may be cutting council costs somewhere, but it isn't going to significantly reduce waste or increase recycling. We will see stats that make it all look good, but they will miss the fact that many people are now having to make extra trips to the tip, which will not be visible in any stats, as a result of a failure by the council to fulfil a reasonable refuse and recycling collection.

Smiffy, Reading
25/06/2012 at 11:22

It is apparent to anyone who 'looks around' that much of the green waste that was going for 'recycling' is now going for general waste. So any figures the Council is producing for the amount of recycling now as against before must be 'selective'. I am reliably informed the crews have been told to collect black bags to 12 July, then stop. So they are delaying the confrontation in the hope things will have died down. Do you feel the con-merchants can't be honest with us. Had a man on the door step during the election saying how the changes were necessary to reduce costs. When I said I thought there were to be efficiency savings not reductions in service, he said they had made considerable savings by reducing staff numbers. Yet I hear people made redundant in private employment have found jobs in the Council. Who can one believe? Can we have 'figures' not fudges.

Bingley, Woodley
23/06/2012 at 18:41

Since the scheme changed, it has affected me in the following ways:

- I used to use a black bin bag from the supermarket for household waste, which I would put outside each week. The new blue bags are not opaque and I don't want the neighbours seeing all my rubbish, so I still use a black bag and place this inside the blue bag. So that's two bags instead of one. Not very green.

- I used to recycle my grass cuttings. I'm not prepared to pay £60/year for a dozen bags of cut grass to be removed, so instead I have to drive them to the recycling centre myself. This needs to be done each time I cut the grass, so that's a dozen or so trips to the recycling centre that I'm now having to make. Also not very green. I don't have any space for composting, and actually I don't have any space for a green wheelie bin either.

- The paper/plastic recycling is now collected weekly. I didn't have any problem with it being collected fortnightly, so this isn't any particular benefit.

The whole thing seems to me to be more expensive and less environmentally friendly. Personally I would be very happy if:

- I could choose to use my own bin bags, or alternatively, those provided by WBC were of a sufficient quality that all the rubbish inside were not visible through the bag.

- Green and paper/plastic recycling went back to alternating every two weeks. I'd even be happy to pay a small fee (perhaps £10/year) for green recycling, but certainly not £60, and I'd like the green waste collected from the old recycling bags please, not from massive wheelie bins.

Oenone
23/06/2012 at 12:07

It is good that the Council are listening finally to public opinion and reviewing both the blue bags and the new green waste arrangements. It's just a shame that they didn't listen before. I put a motion before council at the beginning of the year asking them to think again about the charges and warning of the consequences of pushing through changes without consultation and public buy-in. Every Conservative councillor voted against my motion.

Sue Smith
23/06/2012 at 11:03

@Mistwalker. I'd argue that it has cost more to implement this scheme. 1) Cost of blue bags. 2) Distribution. 3) Lower than expected take up of green waste collection resulting in higher cost to purchase bins from supplier. 4) Cost of running round replacing bags. 5) Drop in service levels cause by having to commit additional resources to fix the problem (not just call centre staff). 6) Cost to Torries Campaign Funds at the next election - They'll need to work harder to convince the electorate to give them another go. 7) Cost to update residents of any impending changes to waste collection once improvements have been agreed (e.g. cheaper brown bins). 8) Cost of administering the collection of money for additional 'two tier' services such as the green waste service. I'd love to see the numbers though I doubt they add up.

Bag Lady
22/06/2012 at 16:29

Not happy about wokinghamtimes editing of my last comment! And I'm considering going to the press about the issues regarding other WBC departments therein, for which I have undeniable evidence, guess that won't be wokinghamtimes though! WBC have had to take on extra staff & will in fact be left with much more work because of this. This is probably the reason staff seem to change departments So often, they want to get away from their ever increasing work loads. This will also have increased the number of complaints to wokingham borough councils usual number, when staff fail to answer the call centre number. Though you will not get to see the time wasted their, because many of the complaints the council actually refuse to acknowledge or take on as a complaint. It would be good if the council could set up a complaint register where everyone can go to formally have their complaints recognised. Plus also claims it has consulted residents, when in fact all they have likely done is brought it up in a meeting that they know residents don't usually attend. In order to say residents were consulted they need to have made arrangements for even disabled residents who can't get to those meetings, to have been able to be heard!

Lou Bellas, Eustace Crescent, Wokingham
22/06/2012 at 15:45

Lou B - "So in fact they have cost us a lot more money by implementing this scheme." How do you figure that? They still have the same amount of CSA's as before just that a lot of callers are left in a que waiting to be answered. They haven't taken on extra people to cover the additional calls they have been receiving...

Mistwalker
22/06/2012 at 14:47

Just noticed in free wokingham times paper there's a headline that 'bin queries double call centre workload'. So in fact they have cost us a lot more money by implementing this scheme.

Lou Bellas, Eustace Crescent, Wokingham
22/06/2012 at 13:42

That's OK I just take my green waste to shute end & flush it down their public toilets. Sadly I don't have much though as my council flat has no garden, much to my child's frustration. Incidentally it should have been council flushing there money grabbing, greedy waste disposal plans down the toilet! Funny how council tax will still go up though even though residents are paying extra for a service that they have already paid for! Looking at where council tax goes I was shocked, most of it goes on council employees. Nothing on adult social care & some on children's social care. Presumably so they can take kids away & claim money back from gov to 'care' for them. I know there are contract care takers, but their litter tidying skills are non-existent! The only litter picker uppers I've ever seen were resident volunteers on a 'walk about'. It's so blatant that residents are being forced to do all the work & council employees get to pay them self for residents hard work. It's no wonder most residents refuse to take part on principle!

Lou Bellas, Eustace Crescent, Wokingham
22/06/2012 at 13:23

@ Blackburn Rovers fan

Consultation? What consultation? As far as I'm aware, residents were never asked if they wanted the new scheme. They were told that they were having it, and to shut up.

Matthew S. Dent, Wargrave
22/06/2012 at 12:44

That's the nearest we will get to an apology from WBC on the waste issues. The idea was commendable but the 'consultation' with residents was abysmal and the implementation was a shambles.

The blue bags do not equate to any average supermarket rubbish bag. They are flimsy. But, best way to stop them getting attacked by magpies is to pile them on top of the recycling bins on collection day.

One of my neighbours is charging 50 pence per traditional rubbish bag to take waste/garden rubbish to the tip. Pays for his Budweiser on a Friday night with the takings. Ok, he's not going to win 'Dragon's Den' but it's working for him.

It does appear from this article that WBC do not know what is going to happen in the future but if Pete the Bin starts to listen, it's a very good change of course.

Blackburn Rovers fan, Wokingham
22/06/2012 at 12:08

I paid £60 for a brand new bin this year.

If I renew next year I'll expect to pay less for a used one.

Friday's child, Reading
22/06/2012 at 12:07

@Mistwalker So, could I in theory buy a Brown Bin in March, just before the end of the 2012/2013 year, and pay £5, before flogging it on ebay?

B&Q sell similar bins for £37.

Come October, would WBC start making a loss on the provision of their bins?