Altrincham residents will have to pay to have garden waste collected from their green bin, Trafford Council has announced.
As part of the council’s budget for 2017-18, householders within the whole borough must pay an optional annual charge of £35 if registering online or £40 if registering by phone.
The new paid-for service kicks in from June 5th, and householders must register and pay the annual subscription by Thursday May 18th if they want their service to continue uninterrupted.
The registration form can be accessed here.
Food waste will still be collected as usual, but only if there is no garden waste in the same green bin.
The council said the move had been a “difficult decision” and that over 40% of councils across the country already charge for garden waste collection.
It said: “There is no requirement for the Council to provide a kerbside collection service for garden waste, but where it does, it can make a charge. Whilst the Council has for some time provided this service for free, it is not in a position to continue to do so and has taken the difficult decision to introduce a charge for those who wish to receive a collection service in the future.
“The income from charging for garden waste collections will make the service self-financing, which will help protect essential services.”
The council said the charge was optional and that residents could choose to make their own arrangements, such as home composting or taking the waste to a recycling centre.
Everyone opting to pay the garden waste charge would receive a permit sticker to identify their green bin for collectors. Sharing a green bin with a neighbour will be allowed but there’ll be no discount for those with smaller gardens.
Information packs about the new service will be mailed to all households in April.
The news comes as Trafford revealed that since the draft budget stage began in November, its overall funding gap had increased from £22.17m to £25.37m in 2017/18 – and increased from £42.09m to an estimated £47.71m for the next three years.
