Increased charges for garden waste recycling

Any gardeners in Bridgend County Borough who sign up for this year’s garden waste recycling collections before Monday 1 April will receive the seasonal service at a discounted rate.

Offered by Bridgend County Borough Council in partnership with Kier, the service makes it possible to recycle garden waste including plants, flowers, weeds, grass, leaves and hedge clippings.

This year’s collections begin on Monday 18 March and will continue throughout the main growing season up until Friday 15 November. Residents who register before Monday 1 April will pay the early bird price of £28 per household, while the fee is £24 for residents aged 60 and over.

From Monday 1 April, the general fee will rise to £38.30 and the fee for residents aged 60+ will increase to £34.30.

Bridgend County Borough Council has agreed the new rates after a proposed price increase received support from local residents in last autumn’s budget consultation.

Of the 2,349 people who answered the question relating to garden waste recycling charges, 69 per cent said that they would be happy to pay more for the service, with 31 per cent of respondents agreeing that they would be willing to pay £38.30 for the service as it would create an additional £50,000 annually which could be spent by the council on other frontline services.

The budget consultation also found that 72 per cent of respondents were happy to pay more for bulky waste collections in order to increase revenue for other services. As a result, from Monday 1 April onwards it will cost £20 for the collection of three items (a rise of £5 from the current charge of £15) and it will cost £5.20 per every additional item (a 20p rise from the current charge of £5). The increase in bulky waste collection charges will generate an additional £20,000 annually to be spent on other council services.

The most convenient way for households to register for garden waste recycling collections, or to book bulky waste collections, is online at the Kier Bridgend web portal.

Fifty of the online applicants for garden waste collections will be selected at random to receive a free service for 2019. Alternatively, residents can register and pay over the phone by calling 01656 643643 (+ option 2).

We are often asked why residents have to pay for the garden waste recycling scheme. Because not all homes in the county borough have gardens, we believe it is fairer to make it an optional service so that only the homes that want to receive the collections can choose to pay for them.

Our budget consultation laid out the difficult financial decisions that we are faced with due to austerity. While we don’t want our residents to have to pay more for any services, the majority of respondents to the survey agreed that they would be willing to pay more for garden waste and bulky waste collections if it means that more money will be available to be spent on other important council services such as homecare for our ageing population.

Councillor Hywel Williams, Bridgend County Borough Council’s Deputy Leader

Once payment for the garden waste collections is confirmed, households will be supplied with two reusable bags together with details of when their bags will be collected. Any returning customers who indicate that they don’t need any new bags will just be sent a calendar showing when their collections will be made.

The subscription fee covers the collection of two garden waste bags – any households who would like to be able to put out more garden waste bags each fortnight have the option of paying an additional £5 per extra bag.

All of the garden waste collected in the county borough is taken to local firm Cowbridge Compost and turned into a compost fertilizer. Just over 4250 homes signed up for the collections in 2018, resulting in more than 650 tonnes of garden waste being recycled instead of ending up in landfill.