Decision details

To approve charging residents for the collection of a second green bin for garden waste.

Matter for Decision

Cambridge City Council needs to make savings of £6.3M over the next four years and has been looking at a whole range of options to reduce expenditure and increase income in order to meet this target.

The green bin service is used for the collection of garden waste and food waste from households in the city. Some flats do not have this service as a result of lack of space to store a bin or lack of material generated.

Under the Controlled Waste Regulations 1992, garden waste is classed as household waste for which a charge for collection may be made. This is not the case for other waste streams such as food waste. The collection of garden waste is not a statutory service, but is at the discretion of the Waste Collection Authority. The Council is intending to continue to offer a free garden and food waste service to residents but proposing to introduce a charge of £30 p.a. to be applied for the emptying of any second green bins containing garden waste only. Historical information obtained from collection crews has highlighted that two thousand households have second green bins so that they can have extra garden waste collected.

The Officer’s report set out options to be offered to residents who do not want to take part in this paid for service for a second green bin.

Decision of Executive Councillor for Environmental & Waste Services

Approved the introduction from 1 October 2014:

       i.          A charge of £30 per annum for the emptying of a second 240 litre domestic green bin that a resident would like to either retain for extra garden waste or for a resident who would like to join the second green bin scheme.

     ii.          A charge of £25 for the emptying of a second 140 litre domestic green bin that a resident would like to either retain for extra garden waste or for a resident who would like to join the second green bin scheme.

Reason for the Decision

As set out in the Officer’s report.

Any Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

Not applicable.

Scrutiny Considerations

The Committee received a report from the Waste Strategy Manager.

In response to Members’ questions the Waste Strategy Manager said the following:

       i.          Officers only expected a small amount of green waste to be put into other bins if a second green bin was not requested by residents.

     ii.          Residents could swap their green bin for another size (larger and smaller) free of charge if the Executive Councillor approved the report recommendations.

The Waste Strategy Manager requested a change to recommendations 2.1 and 2.2. She formally proposed to amend the following recommendations from the Officer’s report (amendments shown as struck through text):

2.1     A charge of £30 per annum for the emptying of a second 240 litre domestic green bin that a resident would like to either retain for extra garden waste or for a new resident who would like to join the second green bin scheme.

2.2     A charge of £25 for the emptying of a second 140 litre domestic green bin that a resident would like to either retain for extra garden waste or for a new resident who would like to join the second green bin scheme.

The Committee unanimously approved these amended recommendations.

The Committee resolved by 4 votes to 0 to endorse the recommendations as amended.

Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Executive Councillor (and any Dispensations Granted)

No conflicts of interest were declared by the Executive Councillor.