Petition against green waste charges to be debated by councillors

The authority began accepting registrations for its £56-per-year green waste subscription service this month after deciding in July that the previously free service was no longer affordable.

A booking system for household recycling centres was also announced as part of changes designed to help the council meet a £62 million savings target for the current financial year.

A consultation on the proposals drew more than 18,000 responses from the general public earlier this year before the council decided to press ahead with the scheme.

Now, a petition organised by residents calling for Shropshire Council to think again on the policy will be debated by a meeting of full council on Thursday, September 26, having reached the 1,000 signature threshold required to force a debate.

The petition, which has been backed by 1,840 people, calls on the council to “significantly reduce” its proposed £56 charge and to scrap the proposed booking system for recycling centres.

“After a public consultation which generated an unprecedented response, the Council appears to have made decisions without regard to public opinion on the charges and the proposed booking system for the recycling centres,” the petition says.

“This [£56] cost will be prohibitive to many people and will result in less recycling and increased fly tipping, costing more to clean it up and a blot on our beautiful county.

“The proposal to introduce a booking system should be abandoned. Our experience in using the excellent recycling facilities is that it isn’t required and there will be an unnecessary cost to set it up. If people can’t dispose of their waste when they need to, again there will be less recycling and more fly tipping. It also discriminates against those who don’t have digital access.

“It is hard to believe that the Council’s proposal reflects the responses to its consultation and we request this matter is discussed again by the relevant committee before implementation.”

Shropshire Council says its charge for collecting garden waste is in line with other local authorities and not a service it’s obliged to provide to residents, with the measures designed to tackle an “unprecedented” level of financial pressure facing the authority.

Announcing the changes earlier this year, they added that the booking system will help the council to prevent illegal trade waste being dumped at its recycling centres, and also reduce the amount of waste brought in from outside the county.

They say garden waste collections will drop for anyone who hasn’t signed up to the service by October 1.

The petition will be debated at a meeting of Shropshire Council at Shirehall on Thursday, September 26.