Meeting documents

1.1 The Cardboard and Garden Waste Collection Service began in June 2003, funded by Defra capital and revenue support for a 12 month period and income generated by charging for the collection of green waste. The Council undertook to subsidise its continuation from April 2004 (when the government subsidy stopped) and charges for the bins and sacks increased at this time.

1.2 Cardboard collection only is free of charge.

1.3 The service has been well-received by the public with significant amounts of garden waste and cardboard diverted from landfill and made into compost. It is forecast that in 05/06 6250 tonnes of garden waste & cardboard will be diverted from landfill through this scheme.

1.4 Current charges in 2005/06 are £37 for the wheeled bin service for 3 years and 50 pence for a paper sack.

1.5 Residents who initially subscribed for 3 years of the service using a wheeled bin come to the end of that period in June 2006.

1.6 Operational costs have risen significantly (due to both increased waste processing and collection costs which the Council has to meet in full) and it is proposed to increase the budget subsidy for this service from £355K to £548K in 06/07. In order to operate the service within the waste services budget the charge to customers must also rise. The proposed charge to recover the remainder of the costs of providing this service for 2006/07 is £20 per annum for the wheeled bin service for existing customers and 75 pence per paper sack.

1.7 In addition, in order that prices are structured to reflect actual costs incurred, it is proposed that an additional £2.50 delivery charge per wheeled bin will be levied to new users of the scheme. Therefore new customers will be charged £22.50 in the first year only.

2.1 To increase the annual subsidy (i.e. budget) for this service from £355K to £548K.

2.2 To implement a service charge in 2006/07 of £20.00 per annum plus a delivery charge of £2.50 per bin for new wheeled bin customers. These charges to be subject to review in subsequent financial years.

2.3 To implement from June 2006 a charge of 75 pence per paper sack.

2.4 To promote and publicise our new home composting scheme in partnership with WRAP (Waste Resources Action Programme) selling home composting bins delivered to the door from £4 each.

4.1 The reduction of waste to landfill is a Corporate Improvement Priority. The provision of a garden waste collection service is non statutory (the Council does not have to provide this service) but has had and will have a significant effect on achieving this priority.

4.2 The background to the scheme is given in Appendix B.

4.3 The principle of the scheme is to levy a charge for the collection of garden waste, in order to maximise the amount diverted from landfill whilst continuing to encourage home composting, minimising growth in waste arisings and offsetting the operational cost of the scheme, whilst charging a rate which meets as near as possible costs to the Council at a price the market will stand.

4.4 It costs in the region of £25 per tonne to process garden waste in to compost, in addition to the costs of collecting the waste. We have contracts with companies to carry out the composting process and pay for the service by the tonne. The compost produced is owned by the companies concerned, not by the authority. The sale and marketing of the product is the responsibility of the processing company and no profit is made by the Council as a result of this.

4.5 To further incentivise home composting we have recently launched a new home composting scheme in partnership with WRAP, offering cut price bins to residents, delivered from £4 each.

4.6 In addition, residents can choose to recycle their garden waste free of charge at the Council's Recycling Centres (Civic Amenity sites).

4.7 Performance of the composting collection scheme to date is shown in Appendix D.

5.1 A risk assessment related to the issue and recommendations has been undertaken, in compliance with the Council's decision making risk management guidance.

5.2 Risks associated with determining the charging policy include potential negative impacts on the achievement of landfill reduction targets and the possibility that participation in the collection scheme is reduced to the point at which the scheme becomes financially unviable. It is believed that the proposed charging arrangements will effectively mitigate these risks.

5.3 There is a risk that income projections (shown in Appendix A) will not be achieved but this risk would be mitigated by consequent lower operating costs and it is therefore envisaged that this can be managed from within the service budget.

6.1 Garden waste is defined by legislation as household waste for which a charge for collection may be levied by local authorities. The collection of household cardboard cannot be charged for by the local authority.

6.2 This authority has always had a policy of charging for the collection of garden waste - initially through the sale of green plastic bags at a charge of £1.25 each (1996). The waste was disposed of to landfill before composting facilities became available.

6.3 The charge levied for the service must increase to the stated levels to enable the service to be operated within existing waste services budget allocation.

6.4 Authorities which have introduced free of charge collections for garden waste have invariably seen a significant increase in their total waste arisings as they divert waste away from home composting, and collect waste which was never previously present in the household waste stream. Collecting and processing this additional waste inevitably leads to increased costs. Home composting is to be encouraged as it offers the most economic and sustainable method of disposal.

6.5 The policy of charging for garden waste collections is common throughout the country and has the effect of continuing to encourage home composting where practical. Examples of charges levied in other authority areas are shown in Appendix C.

7.1 A range of charging options were modelled, including offering a free of charge service. The lowest charge which could be accommodated within existing budgets is that detailed of £20 per annum per wheeled bin and 75 pence per sack. A delivery charge of £2.50 per bin will be levied for new customers.

8.1 Consultation was carried out with the following: The Executive Member for Sustainability & the Environment, the PTE&S Overview & Scrutiny panel, staff within Operations, Finance, Revenues and Benefits, Administration, IT support and Customer Services. The proposed charging mechanism has been developed following consultation with the O&S panel and attempts to address their concerns regarding potential adverse impacts on participation as a result of price increases.

8.2 A number of other Local Authorities were also consulted in the preparation of the report to assess the success of schemes throughout the country.