No plans to charge for collection of garden waste

Shropshire Council is assuring residents that it has no current plans to introduce charges for the collection of garden waste.

It follows a meeting of the council’s Place Overview Committee on Thursday 29 September 2022 at which councillors were asked to support the development of a waste minimisation strategy to help reduce the amount of household waste generated in Shropshire.

A number of ways to help reduce waste were included in the committee report, with charging for garden waste collections one of many options put forward for consideration. [See notes].

The Place Overview Committee approved plans for a waste minimisation strategy, and this will now be considered by the council’s Cabinet at a future meeting.

Ian Nellins, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for waste, said:-

“I’m pleased that councillors on the Place Overview Committee have supported plans for a waste minimisation strategy, as it’s really important that we reduce the amount we produce. I’d like to thank members of the committee for their comments and suggestions.

“However, I do want to make clear that we have no current plans to charge for garden waste collections. This is something that would first need detailed proposals to be drawn up for consideration by Cabinet, before going to public consultation ahead of a final decision by a meeting of the full Council.

“So, any such plans would be shared with residents – and they would have the chance to tell us what they think about them – before any decisions are taken.”

Joyce Barrow, Chairman of the Place Overview Committee, said:-

“Though there was some discussion at the meeting about charging for garden waste collections, this was just one line in a very detailed report about how we can all help to tackle the amount of waste produced by the county’s households.

“We had a really good discussion about waste minimisation. It’s clear that we are producing too much waste and we need to do something about it, so I’m really pleased committee supported the plan for a new strategy. The views of the committee will now be shared with Cabinet when they consider a possible new strategy.”

The Shropshire Council area has one of the highest quantities of waste per household in the country, costing the council over £33.5 million per year to collect and dispose of, which equates to 6% of the council’s entire budget.

Further information

The waste minimisation initiatives listed in the Place Overview Committee report for consideration, are:-

• Community composting
• Community/individual food growing and ‘Incredible Edible’-type
• initiatives
• Community reuse/ upcycling workshops and swapshops
• Food redistribution
• Community/street level sharing and loaning initiatives
• Broaden scope of council library offer to include other items eg tools, bikes, clothing
• Charging for garden waste collections or free compost bins
• Real nappy network and personal hygiene products
• Substitution of toiletries and cleaning products for home made versions
• Promotion of alternatives to single use plastics.