Controversial waste and recycling changes get the go-ahead - with fees for green bin collections on the horizon

A headline-grabbing scheme to charge a subscription fee for garden waste collections will take effect later this year, with households who want to continue their green waste collections required to subscribe by October.

The authority will also introduce a booking system for recycling centre visits, a move which will prevent the disposal of commercial waste and make the centres more efficient, the council says.

However all five of the county’s recycling centres are now safe from closure, after a council U-turn on cost-cutting proposals which would have shuttered two of the centres in an effort to save around £300,000.

Instead, a re-working of the authority’s cost-saving plans will see each centre close for one day per week, with decisions on which specific days for each centre set to be taken after consulting with council waste contractor Veolia.

“It has been clear from the consultation process that the residents’ preference has been to reduce the operational hours rather than permanent closure,” said Ian Nellins, waste portfolio holder for Shropshire Council.

“The review also considered the potential of implementing of a booking system that enables household centre users to book and time and a date to reduce queues at peak times and improve the operations at each site.

“The introduction of the booking system will prevent the ‘man with a van’ or the small medium enterprise users using the sites for the disposal of business waste.

“We know there’s a large number of business waste going through and Shropshire Council picks up the bill for disposing that business waste.”

The authority is hoping to raise around around £4 million annually through charging for green waste collections, which will cost £56 per year for each household.

Shropshire Council says the move is part of a drive to find £62 million worth of cost cuts in order to balance the books for this year, with the authority under increasing pressure to find savings.

“Since not all residents need or want the service, to continue to offer garden waste collections we would provide this as an opt-in chargeable service,” added Councillor Nellins.

“Predictions on revenue have been based on a 70% participation or 96,905 of the 138,000 households who could use the service. Responses from the consultation indicate that this could be 55% or 76,139 households a reduction of circa 61,000 households.

“If this is used as a worst-case scenario then there is no alternative but to set the charge at £56 and even at that rate there would still be a potential shortfall in the expected revenue.”

Households who opt in will be given a ‘marine-grade’ sticker for their green bin, indicating to collectors which households have subscribed and which ones have not.

The council says households that have not subscribed by the October 1 will have their garden waste collections stopped.