Bolton Council consults on green bin garden waste charges

If approved the charge will apply to households that opt to have their garden waste collected, with a proposed fee of £45 a year for 25 pickups a year.

This comes as part of a drive to save around £1M from the council's environmental budget.

Council cabinet member for the environment and climate change Cllr Richard Silvester said: “We don’t make any proposals around bin collections and charging for services without extremely careful consideration.

“Currently, over 80,000 households have free collections of garden waste and anyone who pays council tax helps to fund these collections, regardless of whether they have a garden or not.

Changes have already been made to bin collection routes this year (Image: Bolton Council)

“This proposal would mean that those who choose to use the service would contribute directly towards the cost of providing it.

“At a time when council budgets are under severe strain, we must find ways to protect vital frontline services, and therefore we need to consider every option.

“I would urge everyone to take part in the consultation, whether they have a garden or not, and have their say.” 

The proposed charges come just months after controversial changes were announced to bin collections across the borough earlier this year.

These included changes to routes and cutting beige bin collections for cardboard and paper from every two weeks to every four weeks.

Opposition councillors have already condemned the proposal as a "garden tax" which attacks people like pensioners who have already lost out through winter fuel pay mentcuts.

Conservative environment spokesperson Cllr Nadim Muslim said: “Let’s be very clear, this is a garden tax.

“This is a punishment for people who have aspired, who have achieved and who have got a garden.”

Cllr Muslim said that he had rejected similar proposals during his time as cabinet member for the environment.

He said: “I said it wasn’t fair, it wasn’t reasonable to expect residents to fork out for what are supposed to be basic council services.”

He added: “It just goes to show that Cllr Silvester and the Labour group talk a good game about climate change but then they don’t deliver.

Cllr Muslim said he was concerned the policy could lead to an increase in fly tipping, to less people recycling and asked why fellow councillors had not had a chance to pose questions.

He said: “The fact that they have done this after the deadline has passed for questions at council has passed indicates that want to avoid debate.

“This from a Labour group that has claimed to be the most open and transparent ever, once again they have failed to deliver on that.”

The authority says collections food waste in green bins and caddies would continue as normal without charge, and collection days would also remain the same.

Around a third of Bolton households that do not have a garden, which instead put their food waste in a 23-litre caddy, will not be affected.

Also not affected are households in “hard-to-reach areas” that do not have either a green bin or a caddy.

Households that opt into the scheme will be given a sticker for their green bins so that the waste collection teams know to empty them.

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Under this system green bins without a sticker could only be used for food waste.

The council says that system in the bin waggons will also tell the teams which households are signed up for the charges.

People who do not opt in have been encouraged to either compost their garden waste at home or take it to a household waste and recycling centre on Salford Road or Raikes Lane.

The proposal can be found by going to Chargeable Garden Waste Removal Consultation on the active consultations section of Bolton Council's website.