Brown bin collection - Council starting to charge?

[slarti b]

I have heard a rumour that the Council plan to introduce an annual charge for the large brown organic waste bins on the basis these are used mainly for garden waste. The small brown, food waste, ones will still be free.

I was told this will be effective from 1 April but I can see nothing on council web site and don't seem to have had anything through the door. Has anyone else heard of this?

[Penguin68]

I was also told by a (brown bin) man from Veolia. Charge of ?60 or ?80 annually. It looks like the council is planning a number of 'surprise' (never mentioned in the community charge leaflet) charges. So the leaflet will be (in so far as it states % rises) a lie - as the actual rise for many people will be higher (but because you can choose not to have garden waste collected, I suppose treated as discretionary). That's why I started a thread on Tooley St and trust.

[tomskip]

Good. Hopefully people will get rid of their hideous large brown wheelie bins now and the streets and pavements will look a bit nicer. I'm convinced most of them contain 1 small bag of food waste most weeks anyway.

[rupert james]

Take a look

[Sue]

tomskip Wrote:

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> Good. Hopefully people will get rid of their

> hideous large brown wheelie bins now and the

> streets and pavements will look a bit nicer.

It's the bright blue ones which are the real eyesores.

At least green and brown are colours which occur in nature.

[Siduhe]

Will be interesting to know if this also applies to collection of the garden waste bags? I assume it will have to, otherwise everyone will just swap to those. We don't have a brown bin but we do use the bags a few times a year. How will that be provided for?

[snoopy17]

people will.start dumping their garden waste in the green bin or on the street if they are no longer hoing to collect the rubbish.

[Penguin68]

We don't have a brown bin but we do use the bags a few times a year. How will that be provided for? You either pay an annual fee to have garden waste collected, or it isn't collected. As it was explained to me by the bin man. How they keep a record of who has paid is moot, of course. Indeed the management of this will cost more than they gain, particularly as they will have to provide everyone with the larger kerb side caddies - the kitchen caddy doesn't hold enough.

But this is still rumour and innuendo at this time, even if they are to start charging in April - as the householders know nothing official.

(And wouldn't, if it isn't true, of course!)

[Siduhe]

Thanks Penguin68.

I'm sure that will be what they suggest - but it seems insane to charge someone who has 2-4 bags a year (mostly of leaves that blow into our front drive) the same as someone who fills a brown bin with grass and other garden stuff more regularly. Agree it will just lead to people dumping garden waste or mixing it in with other rubbish.

And edited to add, at the risk of picking an edge case to make a point - does that mean Southwark won't be collecting Christmas trees in January unless people have specifically paid for the brown bin collection? I can see that being something of an eyesore...

[tash b]

tomskip Wrote:

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> Good. Hopefully people will get rid of their

> hideous large brown wheelie bins now and the

> streets and pavements will look a bit nicer.

Couldn?t agree with you more

[tomskip]

We don't have a brown wheelie so we use the paper sacks (plus a compost heap in our garden). I'm sure it must be possible to work out a fair way to charge people for garden waste collection. What did we used to do before the brown wheelies?

Hopefully they can recycle all the old brown bins into smaller kerbside bins which people can keep outside their kitchen doors and therefore off the pavements/front gardens. We (family of 4 adults) put out one small bag of food waste per week, so even our kerbside caddy is never full. I'm aware I'm sounding like a right smugarse here, but we need to think hard about reducing waste generally.

[slarti b]

I heard that, if you paid the fee, you would get a sticker for the brown bin. The paper sacks would continue but would need to be purchased.

I can see the logic in charging for what is effectively a garden waste service but there needs to be some advance communication about this and the implication thought though and explained.

Probably worth checking with local councillors, I may put something up on their thread.

[spider69]

What next, premium phone lines to ring the Council.

It is all getting a bit silly now.

You could get rid of my local Cllrs and save money, they would not be missed

[worldwiser]

The stuff I put in the brown bin (aside from kitchen waste) consists entirely of leaves that blow into our garden from neighbouring properties. Why should I have to pay for that?!

[FriendsOfTheTerrapin]

Any response from our elected councillors?

[Delainie]

I was only speaking with a friend in Orpington who said she had to apply for a garden waste bin and is charged for it yearly.

[peckman]

My bugbear is the size of the bloody things. Annoyingly if you have three they are just to big to line up neatly on an average front garden . Surely they should be smaller to account for you are using 3 separate bins

[BigED]

People living in LB Lewisham have had to pay for a brown bin garden waste collection for a couple of years now. Can't remember exactly how much- ?60-70, but it is only collected for part of the year (not much call from Nov to Feb, for example).

People with low need for this service seem to: hide their garden waste in among their household waste / acquire Southwark paper garden waste bags and leave them in the street / use normal bin bags and dump it in the street / or, like our near neighbours, throw it over the fence into the alley - presumably on the basis that if THEY can't see their garden waste then it doesn't exist. Oh, and very occasionally, people load up their car and go to the tip.

Lewisham council tip is more restrictive than Southwark - no rubble, no soil, no DIY waste - so it's a wonder they still take garden clippings. Christmas trees - if you live in LB Lewisham, there is no collection from homes - you have to drag your sorry tree to the nearest municipal park where they are eventually collected. But of course, some people find it easier to just dump them in the street. And others have a bonfire with them (in their gardens, not the street, though that wouldn't surprise me either).

Bulky waste collections - ?15 for three items (quite a restrictive list) in Lewisham (fridges are ?30, mattresses free, though people still dump them in the street); ?16 for 10 items in Southwark.

When Southwark is as bad at refuse and recycling as Lewisham, you'll have my sympathy. Until then, I shall continue to dream of Southwark's waste and recycling paradise...

[Siduhe]

slarti b Wrote:

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> I heard that, if you paid the fee, you would get a

> sticker for the brown bin. The paper sacks would

> continue but would need to be purchased.

Thanks - that at least seems to manage the position for people who only need to use the sacks a few times a year.

[Sue]

peckman Wrote:

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> My bugbear is the size of the bloody things.

> Annoyingly if you have three they are just to big

> to line up neatly on an average front garden .

> Surely they should be smaller to account for you

> are using 3 separate bins

You can ask for a smaller bin for some of them.

I have a smaller green bin than the standard size, as I don't have much landfill. Just contact the council.

[peckman]

Thanks sue . I'll try . Another bugbear is I've heard that the bins are actually imported from Holland and not from recycled plastic . We try out very best 're waste the recycling bin is full so is garden waste

[Penguin68]

There are cases to be made for differential charging for different services (although as I've sent no children to be state educated maybe I should have a discount - oh, it doesn't work like that?) - what I object to is to receive a very short letter from the council making claims about the levels of charge rise - which implies some sort of like for like comparison when (and if) they plan to increase the costs to me of the services I take from them over and above that level, because I could choose not to have garden waste removed (waste which they then compost for their own use!).

That (if that's their intention) is (or would be) simply duplicitous. The trouble is that I have so little trust of Southwark that I am quite happy to believe that they will lie and obfuscate in this manner. It's what I have come to expect. I hope the rumour is wrong - (which is not to say that I wouldn't wish them to make a case and debate such a change - just that the implied manner of what they are doing would sicken me if the rumour is true). The fact that none of their elected lackeys is prepared to bell this particular cat (either through their own ignorance or policy) really says it all.

[EDPineapple]

Regarding asking the council for a smaller bin. Will they also take the bigger bin away?

I only have a large brown bin, so I use that for food waste. But as someone points out that does mean its only ever got one or two compostable bags of food waste in it. Not sure the collection guys like that, they often don't pick them out.

[cariad]

Yes they will take the bigger bin away

I think there are 2 much smaller old waste bins. Either more than adequate

[DulwichFox]

I think Southwark Council must have committees whose soul purpose is to dream up new schemes to raise money.

Most of these are aimed at Motorists, Parking and the like.

But we are told not to Pave over our gardens to improve drainage,

Encourage the growth greenery for insects, butterflies and Bees.

Then Ban the burning of garden waste with the possibility of Fines.

Then.. If we put garden waste in our garden waste bins we will now be charged.

Good Old Labour run Southwark Council.