A recent decision by Brent Council
executive will introduce a new charge of £40, forty pounds, per annum to
collect garden waste. This will be an
optional charge, which means you the resident will decide if you want to pay or
not. Senior Citizens will be eligible for a 20% discount. You can also agree to
share a green bin with your neighbour and share the cost. The cost works out at
less than 80 pence per week.
Why are we doing this?
Government cuts mean we have
to find 53million pounds of savings this year. This means cutting out some
services and charging for others. It means difficult choices on where we spend
limited resources. We also need to increase recycling to reduce overall waste
collection that goes to expensive landfill. (See previous blogs on the need to recycle)
We do not have to collect
garden waste as a statutory service for nothing; many other Councils have levied
an annual charge for years or do not collect at all. Not every house in Brent even has a green bin,
including many in Fryent.
Weekly Food waste collection.
A new initiative will be the
introduction of a new weekly collection of food waste. Every household in Brent,
approx. 11000, and 8500 in Fryent will receive a new 23 litre sealable food
waste container. A new recycling vehicle will collect food waste and dry
recycling, your blue bin waste, ever week which will increase re cycling and
save money. How? Any recycled waste is £70 pounds cheaper than anything in a
grey bin going to landfill. Your collection day should not change and the new
service should start in Spring next year 2015.Your Grey bin will collected
every other week as now.
But it’s your choice, you can
compost garden waste for free, you can take it to the Civic Amenity site in
Abbey Road NW10 for free or pay to keep the green bin.
We hope these changes will
make Brent a greener, cleaner borough that cares about future generations and
thinks about recycling first.
Fryent Councillors
I will not be using the small food bins - I live on the railway, keep chickens and already have lost several birds to one of the multitude of foxes who prowl the area day and night. Encouraging these vermin is the last thing I will be participating in. Similarly I will not and cannot afford to use the 'pay extra to be a cleaner greener' Brent resident. Despite the council's promise to take me to court if I use the grey bin for garden (and chicken straw etc) waste, I have no alternative. I am a careful recycling resident - my grey bin is usually very empty unlike the majority of other residents on the street who fill their grey bins to overflowing and the recycling bin with all sorts of inappropriate materials. Incidentally I voted Labour last election but this May I'm afraid, I will be voting Green - for the cleaner, greener Brent you talk about. Shocking and inept policy making.
ReplyDelete