Cheltenham Borough Council left with thousands of garden recycling bins after residents fail to subscribe to scheme
PLANS to encourage thousands of Cheltenham residents to recycle their garden waste have proved overly ambitious, council leaders have admitted.
The borough council had hoped people in the town would subscribe to using its brown rubbish bins.
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Brown bin
Just over 12,000 people in the town hold a subscription to have their garden waste collected. But the authority had originally anticipated selling 20,000 bins by 2013.
As a result, the council has 9,600 brown garden waste bins in storage – valued at a total of £150,000.
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Council staff have insisted the number of people taking up the service is rising steadily with approximately 2,000 new bin subscriptions in 2012.
But the council has insisted that the number will eventually be taken up – and will save the authority money.
Slow uptake on the scheme has been attributed to the fact people are used to putting their garden waste into their normal household bin, even though this is not allowed.
The council has also pointed to people using the Swindon Road Recycling Centre or Wingmoor Farm to dispose of waste rather than subscribing to the brown bin service.
And the sheer size of the bins has been cited as off-putting for some homeowners who do not have space to store them, while many people in the town do not have gardens large enough to fill the bins with cuttings.
Councillor Roger Whyborn, cabinet member for sustainability who is in charge of waste, believed more people could still take up the service.
He added: "In hindsight, it may have been ambitious to expect the anticipated level of take up.
"Due to the fact that bins become broken or damaged, the council will always need a supply for replacement.
"With wheeled bin production prices increasing year on year and the fact that the council has the necessary storage space to house the containers, having this large stock will undoubtedly end up saving the council money in the future.
"It's more expensive to buy smaller quantities of bins, so the council would have secured the best possible price by ordering in bulk."
It is hoped that some of the bins can be sold to other authorities such as Tewkesbury Borough Council which bought 1,000 bins from Cheltenham in 2012 and is purchasing another 1,000.
Mr Whyborn added: "It is anticipated that this arrangement could be repeated with other local authorities."
OPINION, P8
10 Comments
by Cassandra2010
Monday, March 04 2013, 7:35PM
“Ooooohh ......
Aren't you supposed to put garden waste in the green wheelie then ?????????”
by nomossystone
Friday, March 01 2013, 7:45PM
“cheltenham20.
You are paying the full annual rate for a bin you use six months of the year -- don't you think you that smacks of extortion by TBC.
My brown bin was ordered and delivered, and when I asked for a reduction on the price for pensioners and people on benefit I was told this would be considered -- it was considered ---- and the price was raised, I returned the bin to TBC and have been struggling with my garden waste ever since.
Burning your garden waste causes an environmental problem, and composting waste isn't always possible with tree branches etc to get rid of -- ( no transport to take it all to the tip), when in the past I did transport it in my car I damaged the lining of the interior of the vehicle.
I look forward to spending time in my garden each year but the job is made much more difficult
with no help from TBC.”
by RoadWombat
Friday, March 01 2013, 12:50PM
“Who on earth is interested in all these silly bins? The first thing that went in mine was the two smaller ones they gave us.
Chuck your rubbish in the one bin and bury anything they make a fuss about in the middle.
I can't think of anything that hasn't gone into mine over the years. You can get rid of 3-piece suite, television or cooker if you dismantle it small enough, spread it over a few weeks or you and your neighbours share your bins.
And as for garden waste - if that's causing you a problem just burn it, for heaven's sake!”
by GrumblingNora
Friday, March 01 2013, 11:57AM
“I posted this very story on Twitter about six months ago, along with a picture of the thousands of unused bins taking up space at the tip. Eventually, grudgingly, I got a reply that they'd managed to flog 1,000 to Tewkesbury. Wow, big deal. A lot of people I know have had actually their brown bin waste refused by the vans, as things like turf edges don't count as garden waste (huh?).
As usual this shambolic council shows itself up. Ths problem with councils is they're run by people trained and working in the public sector, not by people from the real world.”
by Bonkim2003
Friday, March 01 2013, 11:18AM
“cheltenham20 you are close to proving my point - 7 months ~ 30 weeks ~ 15 collections and the question is what did you do before this horror was introduced - if you knew the original reason was to boost recycling rates to meet government targets - no longer necessary - It was free to attract many takers - I bet you will be horrified - even more so when you check out the cost of the inefficient collection of food waste and cost of IVC composting.
Many councils discontinue the garden waste collection for 4 or 5 months in the year.”
by cheltenham20
Friday, March 01 2013, 11:01AM
“As a brown bin user, would like to say that for 5 months of the year its not required, 'Winter'
the other 7 months = 28 collections, assumming you put it out every 2 weeks.. So people are not going to be in an hurry to take up the Brown bin scheme, as for that little green one for food waste, must say we have never used it, complete and utter waste of time, and cost..
A waste dissposer does the job with ease and so much cleaner..food waste washed away in
an instant... as for the little green plastic bins, well they make wonderful buckets for your brown fence emulsion, or for use as a paste bucket if you are doing some wallpapering.
And my next tip is........”
by Flat-Broke Films Ltd
Friday, March 01 2013, 10:22AM
“Perhaps CBC could donate them FREE to Care Homes and Charitable run residential homes?”
by Lecorche
Friday, March 01 2013, 10:07AM
“There's nothing like good forward planning and this is nothing like good forward planning.”
by Bonkim2003
Friday, March 01 2013, 8:29AM
“Bonkers - collecting garden waste and transporting it to central composting, particularly in-vessel composting (IVC) mixed with food waste does not do a lot for the environment, and of course the total cost of collection, transport and IVC exceeds the landfill charges and tax.
Stop the garden waste collection completely, encourage people to home-compost, open up a few neighbourhood skips for those that cannot.
Re-think food waste collections - if collected economically, and if there is sufficient quantity to justify investment, send to an anaerobic digestion plant, if not collect with the residual weekly, and to the energy from waste plant which the county council is planning.
Reduce the overall cost of waste collection and reduce council tax.”
by raidermanuk
Friday, March 01 2013, 8:04AM
“Councillor Roger Whyborn
"With wheeled bin production prices increasing year on year and the fact that the council has the necessary storage space to house the containers, having this large stock will undoubtedly end up saving the council money in the future."
The manufacturers of the bins will be quietly smiling in the background. Using Council property as a store for their bins and using tax payers money instead of having to borrow from the bank!”