Colchester Council's garden waste wheelie bins 'not viable'

The council’s new garden waste collection scheme, which will be a paid-for service, is set to launch in January at the cost of £55 per year, with an extra one-off sign-up fee costing £35.

The scheme will result in garden waste being disposed in wheelie bins as opposed to hessian sacks, with the council’s own figures showing that the physical nature of hauling refuse sacks into bin lorries contributes towards musculoskeletal or back problems amongst staff.

But Lee Scordis, who is Labour’s portfolio holder for neighbourhoods and waste, said it was not appropriate for certain roads like Artillery Street to have garden waste wheelie bins because of narrow pavements.

On the way out – Colchester council will do away with hessian sacks once the new waste collection scheme comes into force (Image: Daniel Rees, Newsquest)

He said: “Our group has raised the issue of wheelie bins being implemented in areas where they are inappropriate or essentially not viable.

“Roads like Artillery Street have little to no pavements, while areas of Rowhedge were not built for wheelie bins.

“We risk, firstly losing potential income from residents here, but also seeing more green waste going into black bags or being burnt in the back garden.”

Mr Scordis also criticised the council for implementing an annual payment system as opposed to a pay-as-you-go system, arguing it was unfair on residents who are less likely to use the service all year round.

A spokesman for Colchester Council responded by saying different sizes of garden waste bins were being offered to residents.

Optional – Colchester Council has argued that residents will have choice of the size of wheelie bin they can use for garden waste collection (Image: Lee Scordis)

He said: “We are offering two sizes of wheeled bins for garden waste collection from January, to give residents the choice of what is suitable for their property: a smaller wheeled bin of 140L or a standard wheeled bin of 240L.

“As with all our recycling and rubbish collections, we recommend residents put their bins out on the day of collection, before 7am, to limit leaving them out for long periods and, where possible, to take their bin back in as soon as they can after our crews have emptied them.”

The spokesman added a single payment option was agreed by the cabinet because a pay-as-you-go system would have been too expensive.