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Council agrees to new garden waste scheme throughout the district

A proposal to run a fortnightly kerbside garden waste collection service was agreed by Mole Valley District Council's Environment Committee on 24th January

Environment Committee Councillors on 24th January accepted the recommendation that residents should be urged to use new wheeled bins to take their garden waste.

A garden waste collection scheme aims to achieve the objectives of the Local Waste Strategy with the help of residents. They are to be asked to support the new garden waste collection scheme by paying £24 a year and in return they get a 240 litre wheeled bins to hold all their garden waste materials. This would be emptied once a fortnight on a regular collection day.

The collection of householders' garden waste is the next recycling target for Mole Valley. This element of waste is biodegradable and causes the most harm in landfill sites. However, collecting garden waste in special wheeled bins from households is a new phase of the District Council's recycling programme. Garden waste was last collected from the kerbside in large quantities in the late 1990s.

Mole Valley District Council Waste and Recycling Manager, Steve Strickland said: "The Council does have an existing limited garden waste collection service at £1 per bag for non-reusable bags. The level of charge makes this not so popular; we have had to look at alternatives such as this kerbside collection scheme."

Cllr Tony Moore, Chairman of the Environment Committee, welcomed the decision. He said: "We have been planning the introduction of a garden waste collection scheme for sometime, but this has been frustrated through the shortage of bulk composting sites in Surrey. Many households are unable to dispose of all their garden waste through home composting and the surplus forms a significant element of domestic refuse. I'm sure that this new facility will be widely welcomed."

DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) has recently awarded Mole Valley £75,000 for recycling performance for 2006/07 and a further £78,000 for 2007/08. The Environment Committee is to/has considered that £70,000 of this reward should partially fund the setting up of the garden waste scheme for the next two years.

The scheme, now agreed by the Environment Committee, has a chance of being operational during this Spring to Summer and will be rolled out throughout the district. Publicity to residents is one of the first steps to be undertaken for this project to succeed.

Article taken from Mole Valley District Council Web Site

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