Garden waste charge

[Gemini]

Do you pay to have your garden waste bin emptied?

Until now we haven't had to. A green wheelie bin for garden waste is emptied every other Thursday, free of charge.

From August 5th we will have to pay an annual fee to have this emptied. People are not happy.

DD1 says she is not going to pay. The alternative is transport your garden waste to the recycling centre yourself. Not everyone is able to or has the time to do this. The other alternative which a lot of people will choose I think to to put the garden waste in the general bin when it will go to landfill.
We feel we have no option but to pay the charge really.

[WeeGranny]

Yes Gem, we have a garden waste collection fee in his area. have had it for several years I believe! Costs £55 if I remember correctly and the green bin is collected fortnightly except in Jan/Feb or Feb/Mar.....can't remember which two months! People putting garden waste in the general bin, run the risk of their bin not being collected ! We have a sticker to put on the bin so the bin collectors know we've paid. I have no desire to load my car with garden waste and trail it to the tip. Nearly all my neighbours have a sticker.

It does feel like an extra charge over and above Council tax, but as I said, when you look at the alternative it's a no brainer.

[Daisy]

Gem, we've always had to pay to have garden waste collected. You had to use green bags - a bit like rubble bags but not very big. Some people had as many as 6 bags. My OH said it was daylight robbery and he's always taken garden waste to the tip in the trailer. At least it's not in the car. But we now have proper brown wheelie bins for garden waste, which at least are a decent size. They're collected every two weeks and, yes, we do have to pay for them. But it saves OH a job going to the tip, and I like it because I don't have to time gardening round a tip run!

I think a lot of Councils charge for garden waste collection, but it's composted and is sold as mulch/dressing/compost for the garden, so I think the Council win twice. on that!

[Grauntie Mag]

We have paid a similar amount to WG for a long time. When we moved here the garden was full of bluebell like bulbs. I put them in the bin but apparently with too much earth attached! The bin man refused to empty the bin saying it was too heavy! He only had to wheel it to the lorry, mechanism did the rest. I complained, a person was sent to photograph the bin! I didn’t win, we had to bag it all up and drive it to the tip.
Now we don’t have a tow bar on either car so the trailer is redundant, we rely on the council.

[Gemini]

We don't have a trailer any more either. I think our charge will be in the area of £60 and no collections in winter months, as WG says.

You have to be sneaky to put garden rubbish in the general bin, disguising it. You can't just openly chuck it in

[Enfys]

We’ve always paid as otherwise we’d have to load it in the car which DH used to do before the bins. Now I don’t mind paying as it’s a lot cheaper than having to pay someone to take it away. My bin is always full to the brim.

[Daisy]

You have to be sneaky to put garden rubbish in the general bin, disguising it. You can't just openly chuck it in

Gem, you sound something of an expert on the topic of disguising garden rubbish in the general waste! . It's probably easier for us as our general waste goes into opaque black plastic sacks and as long as you don't fill them to the point where they split nobody is any the wiser (I presume this, of course).

[Gemini]

Daisy I am an expert! My last home where I lived for 20 years was a Victorian terraced house with a back garden. Because not all properties in the street had gardens, the council in their wisdom said no one could have garden waste bins. If we did big gardening jobs we took it to the tip. Every day stuff cunningly disguised in the main bin My friend and ex neighbour doesn't drive so has always had to use this method.

[Oma]

I don’t have one but our garden waste bins are brown and collected every two weeks apart from winter months ,there is a charge of £45 a year.
Most people pay it but a few like my next door neighbour I know puts her grass clippings in black bin bags inside her household wheelie bin .

It used to be free like everything ,
we did get free household goods collections , now it’s £25for 3 large items or 6 black bags .

Making people without transport to the tip pay through the nose,

[Plantaholic]

Quite strict here too like WG says. Because we are two properties we have 2 bins in each colour. Sil is quite strict which goes where and it has been known for him to catch me out.

[Clover]

I seem to be the exception to having to pay a charge for garden waste collection. We put it in strong white plastic bin like bags with handles. We can put out as many as we like and new ones can be bought from the library for about £3 each. They do last ages though. Perhaps it’s a Welsh thing.

[Grauntie Mag]

Chatting with our soon to be new neighbours this morning it appears someone has helped themselves to their inherited garden waste bin (it will cost approximately £80 to replace)! This was this week. Unbelievable.

[Gemini]

Charming!!!

[Oma]

GM if there are any damaged or stolen bins here they are free to replace as long as you haven’t deliberately damaged them.
We don’t get a lot of stolen bins around here I think I’ve heard of maybe two .
You can however buy a extra bin if needed.

[Gemini]

Our green garden waste bin was damaged by the council workers. We went to bring it in one day and the handle was hanging off.
OH contacted the council. The response was it couldn't have been the council who did it as the person responsible would have put sticker on! Well they didn't and it was fine when we left it out.
After some time a new replacement bin was delivered. A smaller size and not big enough for us. They said they had no others on the van, so OH sent it back.
Then nothing happened (we still had the defective one) Then Lockdowns etc.

One day OH , who looks after new members at the golf club noticed a familiar name on the list .
The lady she dealt with regarding the bin had an unusual and memorable surname, and this was that lady!
After a decent interval she introduced the bin topic in conversation! A lovely new green bin of the right size was duly delivered