One-in-three ready to pay £40 green bin charge

ONLY a third of households have expressed an interest in paying to have their garden waste taken away.

But Rotherham Borough Council says this will be enough to sustain the new system when the changes arrive later in 2018.

A £40-a-year charge is planned for garden waste, which would become a year-round service rather than seasonal.

Cllr Emma Hoddinott, cabinet member for waste, said: “The way officers have modelled the scheme is that it pays for itself appropriate to the level of take-up.

“Clearly, if only a tiny number of people decided to do so we would have to consider whether this was viable.

“At the moment, the consultation suggests, perhaps a third of people would chose to pay for the service if it was no longer available for free, which would make it sustainable going forward.”

The council hopes other departments can improve their own consultation figures after the waste proposals had 6,998 responses in eight weeks.

Scrutiny chairman Cllr Brian Steele said: “We see what the success of the waste management consultation has been.

“Quite clearly that is something that affects every household in Rotherham, so we are going to get a larger response.

“How are we going to ensure that people are coming forward on the smaller budget proposals, when it won’t affect as many people?”

Council leader Cllr Chris Read said: “We continue to have the conversation about the best way of consulting, the most cost-efficient way.

“It’s much easier to engage people in changes to services that they use and that are recognisable to them.

“It’s understandable that people have strong views about that.

“There are changes taking place within the council to try and improve how we do consultation across the piece.

“I’m not sure there’s an easy answer as to how we do budget consultation.”

The bin changes being proposed also include a smaller general waste bin and more space for recycling paper, cans and glass.

Kerbside recycling of plastic was not part of the plans but the council has changed its mind and will not introduce the collections, paid for by putting an extra one per cent on council tax.

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