News

Our survey says...‘Scrap green waste charges’

By Jon Nurse
July 10, 2012

The £60 green waste bin charge should be scrapped and the free service reinstated, according to getwokingham users.

The majority of users who took part in our survey said they would choose to pay less than the current rate charged by Wokingham Borough Council, with 76 per cent saying it should be free.

Our poll on this site drew 374 responses, with 96 per cent of people saying they want to pay less than the £60 annual fee, which was introduced in April.

People who do not want to use the wheelie bins can opt instead for green waste sacks, which are £1 each from the civic offices or libraries.

Liberal Democrat councillors have said they will push for changes to the waste collection scheme, criticising the current service for green waste as being “far too expensive”.

Councillor Angus Ross, executive member for environment, said: “Nobody likes charging for something, but it is a discretionary service. Officers have made a calculation for the cost of collection and disposal and this is the figure.

“We will be reviewing the system to see if there is any margin for change, but that’s not making any promises.

“A lot the people I’ve spoken to have said they don’t see what the fuss is all about, because if you have a large garden you have the opportunity to compost on site and that cost shouldn’t be subsidised by someone who doesn’t have a garden at all.

“I expect it would be people who don’t like the scheme who would choose to answer a survey.

“If people don’t want to use the £60 scheme they can use £1 bags at the times of the year when they need it.

“We offer subsidised rates for people to try composting or houses can pair together and share the service.”

One third of councils in England, including Wokingham, Bracknell Forest and Reading, charge residents for the service.

Liberal Democrats in Wokingham received more than 1,000 replies to a waste and recycling survey earlier this year and plan to use the information to push for changes.

Cllr Prue Bray, leader of the Lib Dem group, said: “Residents have told us about a huge variety of issues.

“The top three are that the green waste is far too expensive, that the blue bags are not good enough and that people want to be able to recycle a wider range of items. We will be focusing on getting the Conservatives to rethink at least those three aspects of the scheme. The Lib Dems recognise that money is tight and that any changes made will have to be affordable and cost effective.

“This may limit the scope of what can be done. But we hope we will be able to work constructively together with Conservative councillors to get the changes residents want to see.”

Cllr Ross said: “I understand the Lib Dems will ask a question at the next council meeting by which time we will have more accurate figures for the first three months of the scheme to see how successful it has been.”

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Well thats easy stop wasting a fortune on a stupid redevelopment plan for the town centre

Andy Shaw
10/07/2012 at 13:26

I would like to see the green waste subsidised like other Boroughs do or at least for pensioners etc, but my concern now is if the cost of the the collection per household per year is £60 and at the moment around 8,000 people have signed up to the service where are you going to get the £480,000+ to make it free for the whole Borough?

What services do you cut to save this money as the savings still have to be made?

Of course the survey says people want it for free but it's just not possible in the climate.

I P Freely
10/07/2012 at 12:55

Doh, I was also meant to say "someone without a garden shouldn't be subsidising someone with a garden" too...!

alex_f, Wokingham
10/07/2012 at 12:55

Was supposed to say in my original post that Wokingham have taken a scheme that wasn't broken and replaced it with one that is!

Smiffy, Reading
10/07/2012 at 12:14

Absolutely Smiffy. I don't have kids. I don't need care for elderly or handicapped. I don't use locally subsidised buses. I have never used the fire service. I have my own house and don't take any benefits of any kind. Some of the time, I don't even seem to have the use of local street lights (because a number around me have been broken for months despite me reporting it). Should I pay for these services? Of course I should, absolutely so. So why should the cost of recycling excess green waste from small to medium gardens not be shared amongst all tax payers as it was before? Perhaps there could be a maximum amount to be colected so that those with larger gardens are encouraged to compost. Before I would put out at most 8 green sacks *per year*, but now, I can't because I'm not paying £60 for that! The £1 sacks are tiny, tear easily, and are pathetic when put out in the rain. They are useless.

I do compost a large amount of my garden and kitchen waste, but I will fill two to three sacks with leaves in the winter, and at least one sack every time I cut the grass. Then I have trimmings from the small bushes and roses in my garden. Home composting struggles with this amount.

Bring back the green waste sack collection and say that at most, say, 2 sacks will be collected per property per fortnightly collection. Any more than that, and you should take it to the tip yourself or compost it.

mavdo, Wokingham
10/07/2012 at 11:33

(sorry Smiffy, just realised I've repeated exactly the point you've made in your final paragraph ;) )

alex_f, Wokingham
10/07/2012 at 11:32

The old "someone with a garden shouldn't be subsidising someone with without a garden" argument again.

As someone in a previous article pointed out recently, given that this has been a service offered from day one, this is a highly flawed argument. If we take that view, then nothing should be offered by the council. Noone ever needs all services. Why should those who never get burgled subsidise those who get burgled regularly? Why should everyone else have to pay, when someone's house sets on fire?

alex_f, Wokingham
10/07/2012 at 11:16

This charge is ridiculous. Why can we not have the ‘old’ system returned? The bins are too expensive and the bags are a stupid size. You cannot empty the lawnmower bin into them without it all spilling over and I have seen several split and the contents all over the road. I have also seen people ‘fly tipping’ in various places because they won’t pay. It is OK for my husband and I, we have a car each but with petrol the price it is, it is expensive but we don’t have enough garden rubbish to warrant a bin and the bags are useless.

Come on Wokingham Borough – think again – please.

It's me in Woodley
10/07/2012 at 11:05

Councillor Angus Ross and the rest of Wokingham Council continue to live in denial. They seem to think that everyone has a big garden and is being really selfish in moaning and shouldn't be subsidised by those who don't have a garden. I don't think this is the case though. How many people in Wokingham Borough don't have any garden? I suspect we are talking about 10% maximum. Many others have small or medium gardens which don't justify a wheelie bin, but the bags we used to have did just fine.

Wokingham BC have taken a scheme that was broken and replaced it with one that is. We don't need (or in many cases want) weekly recycling, so wouldn't it just be easiest to have one week recycling and next week green waste as it was before?

It is true that not every household would use the green waste scheme, but in the same way not every household has children at school or uses a library or other council services. Using an argument about it being subsidised by those without gardens is therefore ridiculous. It is sad that these people are supposed to be representing us but don't have a clue!