Rotherham 'bin tax' is down..but only by £1

The initial £40 suggestion has been revised to £39 in final proposals going to cabinet members on April 16.

The optional service will be year-round - but the number of collections will only increase by four to 19 a year.

This is because garden waste will only be picked up monthly between November and March and there will be a four-week suspension over Christmas.

And the council says the service - set to start in October - will still be viable despite only one in three people saying they will sign up to pay.

The report to cabinet said: “Currently, about 65 to 70 per cent of residents use the free garden waste service. 

“While the consultation exercise has highlighted that residents are not in favour of the introduction of an optional subscription-based garden waste service, almost 33 per cent of respondents would be prepared to pay for this chargeable service.”

Kerbside plastic recycling was initially excluded from the proposals last year and became the biggest bugbear during public consultation.

It was added to the budget at the 11th hour thanks to an extra one per cent council tax levy and will begin in January - collecting bottles, pots, tubs and trays.

The report said: “Other materials such as films, tetrapak, carrier bags and hard plastic will be introduced if the disposal technology allows this to be done efficiently in the future.”

Under the proposals, the current black bin will be used for glass, plastics and metals. The green bin will be used for paper and card and a new brown bin will be issued for garden waste.

New, smaller general waste bins will also be sent out, which was another point of contention among the 6,998 consultation responses.

Council environment director Damien Wilson said: “If these plans are approved by cabinet, every household will have more space overall in their bins and recycling will be easier.

“Like every council, we are under increasing pressure to look at how we deliver our waste services. 

“We need to ensure they are value for money as well as making sure they achieve high levels of recycling.”

How it will work

Week 1 - General waste

Week 2 - Cans, bottles and plastics

Week 3 - General waste

Week 4 - Paper and card