Melton Borough Council to extend recycling - but end free garden waste collections

By melton_mark | Wednesday, January 18, 2012, 12:22

Melton Borough Council is to end free 'brown bin' garden waste collections, as part of an overhaul of its waste and recycling collection. From 1st April 2012 the brown bins will instead be used for ALL recyclable items including plastic, glass and paper.

Recycling will change in Melton Mowbray on 1st April 2012.
It will be out with the Grey and Green boxes and in with the Brown bin for recycling in Melton Mowbray on 1st April 2012.
What will you use your recycling boxes for after 1st April 2012?

The existing scheme costs £2.4m a year to run, and the council believe these changes will help save £100,000 a year. Collections will remain fortnightly despite the coalition government making £250m available to councils in England to keep or restore weekly bin collections.

Households still wanting to have their garden waste collected will have to subscribe to a new independently operated 'garden club'. For a payment of around £35 a year, subscribers will receive a new 'green' bin and will have a fortnightly collection as before. Alternatively, people will still be able to take their garden waste to the 'tip' on Lake Terrace for free.

Council leader Cllr Byron Rhodes told us:

"We think the changes are fair and reasonable and whilst customers will be asked to pay around £35 a year for their garden waste to be collected fortnightly, we are going to change to a mixed collection of all recyclable materials in the brown wheeled bin.

This will include almost everything that is recyclable and push up recycling rates by 25% and send less to landfill. All types of plastic and cartons will be accepted and using just one bin will make it easier to recycle."

This decision was taken by the council's Rural, Economic and Environmental Affairs Committee - seemingly without any public consultation.

Personally I'm not against fortnightly collections, and I think the wheelie bins we have in Melton Mowbray are good, but if council tax is 'frozen' this year - we'll all actually be getting less for our money - £35 less to be precise.

Let us know what you think of these changes by adding your comments in the box below. (You'll need to Join / Login first - but this can be done with your Facebook or Twitter ID).

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Melton Borough Council will debate the 'bin tax' tonight (Wednesday 18 April 2012) following submission of the petition with over 1,500 signatures.

The meeting starts at 6.30pm at Parkside, and the public are welcome to attend.

By melton_mark at 11:05 on 18/04/12
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More from the whingers...

I certainly don't want my taxes going up and up so if the council is saving some money then great. I don't have a garden anyway.

I am sure there was a consultation in 2010/2011 as I filled out a survey.

By badams1800 at 20:48 on 11/03/12
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Now I know this is a silly idea but I always thought the Council was there to work on our behalf. Now I wasn't asked if I wanted fortnightly rubbish collections(I don't) and I haven't been asked about wanting a Green Club. I know our Council tax goes to pay for services but, if asked, all residents would say this tax is to pay for street lighting and rubbish collections. The street lights are being switched off early and we are being asked to pay again for part of our rubbish to be collected. Time to think again!!

By ggoodey at 17:46 on 11/03/12
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There is now a petition on the Melton Borough Council website, asking the council to:

"reconsider the proposed changes to the waste management contact because a £32 charge is unfair, and a universal service would be more effective."

You can view the petition here - http://tinyurl.com/7z73k8t

According to the website, this appears to be the first e-petition Melton Borough Council has ever received, as there are no other open petitions, nor anything listed under closed or rejected petitions.

By melton_mark at 12:43 on 22/02/12
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Dave on Facebook said:

"Build your own compost heap. Good for the garden and free..."

You can 'like' Melton Mowbray People's Facebook page here - http://tinyurl.com/blz6qxe

By melton_mark at 12:42 on 20/01/12
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