Registration for garden waste collections will open next week ahead of the introduction of a controversial new service in October. From Monday (18th June), Edinburgh residents must sign up on the Council website or at one of five local offices.if they wish to continue receiving brown bin collections. The annual brown bin collection service will cost residents £25.
In February Edinburgh’s ruling SNP Labour ‘Capital Coalition’ councillors voted through an additional £25 annual charge for brown bin collections, despite protests that introducing a new charge will result in an increase in dumping and fly-tipping. The administation argue that this is a non-statutory service which will save the Council around £1.3m a year.
Letters will be sent to all affected households, including information on how to sign up for the garden waste collections and what the changes will mean for them. The service, which will run for 12 months from 8 October, will continue to be delivered for free over the summer, until 5 October. Collections – for those who sign up to pay for them – will increase from once every three weeks to fortnightly.
Transport and Environment Convener, Councillor Lesley Macinnes, said: “We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to ensure changes to the service are made as smoothly as possible – beginning the process now will give plenty of time for residents to sign up and for us to create new collection routes and calendars.
“We’ll be keeping residents fully informed about how this will affect them, and will be writing to households as well as running an awareness campaign with details on registration and how the service will work.
“By introducing this charge we will be able to increase collections from once every three weeks to once every two weeks, while also saving the Council around £1.3m every year, enabling us to continue to deliver a whole range of essential services to residents.”
Residents will be able to sign up for the service, between 18 June and 22 July, during which time additional web capacity and contact centre resources will be put in place to manage demand, as well as an awareness campaign to highlight changes.
Following 22 July, there will be a period when people will not be able to register while re-routing is carried out. Registration will reopen at intervals throughout the year though households will have to pay the full amount for the year ending October 2019. People who receive Council Tax Reduction (formerly called Council Tax Benefit) will continue to receive the brown bin collections for free, but they will still need to register.
Anyone who chooses not to receive the new garden waste collection service is encouraged to continue to recycle as much as possible by using a compost bin or one of the city’s household waste recycling centres. Unwanted brown bins can also be taken to recycling centres or it can be arranged for the Council to collect them in October. Further advice on composting is available online.
Further information can be found on the Council website, including a series of FAQs, which will be updated in the lead-up to the introduction of the new service with any additional questions from the public.
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