Green bin, to pay or not to pay?

Hi all, last year my council changed the rules and we now pay to have our green bin ( garden waste) collected. I don’t mind in principle after all why should others pay for a service they don’t use? But there is no reduction in council tax so it’s a bit cheeky. Last year it was £36 for a year but this year it’s £52. That’s for a fortnightly collection all year round but is it worth it? I certainly won’t fill a bin all year round. What do others think?

 

I suppose the real question is what will you do as an alternative?

We have always had to pay for our garden waste and for quite a few years regularly filled the two bins we paid for, one bin most collections (fortnightly) and more often than not both.

We decided last year to reduce to one bin and also try compost/brash and log pile as much as we could at home. We didn’t use the bin collection very much and OH decided he would be happy to go to the tip with any green waste, if and when needed so this year we are bin free. The charge is £60 per bin this year.

Our green waste tip is only a couple of miles away and we can go at anytime and avoid the busy weekends. They are also very helpful so if OH is on his own they will help unload.

 

I also think it's a bit of a cheek really considering the amount of CT we pay. Ours is also emptied fortnightly and this year was £42. Can't recall properly but think it was around £36 the previous year. It's emptied all year round though, no breaks.

 

I fill my green bin easily through out the time of year they actually do collection. We have no collection in December and January, so roughly 20 collections per year. Without the bin I would have to go to the tip every fortnight. That is a 12 mile round trip, so petrol cost of roughly £2. £2 x 20 = £40. For me it's definitely worth paying for the bin.

 

My fortnightly collection is going up to £70. Plus another amount to "purchase" a bin if the house doesn't already have one.

I moved from an area that did weekly collections, plus a free bin.

My new garden is much larger, so I treasure these collections, and fill the bin. My neighbours are good, in that if their bin isn't full, I can top it up.

I accept that I should pay extra for the collection, but only if the council don't charge me for any of the other services they provide, that I don't use.

As for you @Debs64 I think you have a good deal.

Edited to add.
I should have said, I also have two dalek compost bins (both currently full) and a woodpile for bugs, etc.

 

We pay £50 per bin, fortnightly collection, and we have two bins. We have a large garden, and nearly always manage to fill both bins. It’s worth it to us as it does give us an incentive to keep up the tidying through the winter. Not getting any younger, and it is a big bonus not to have to fill bags and load them into the car for the tip.
We did also have an episode when I opened the car door when it was full of bags of prunings, and a mouse jumped out! At least now I don’t have to worry about introducing ants, spiders and other creepy crawlies into the car!

 

Everyone is different, I have a bin and have always paid around £40 a year for a fortnightly collection.
I have space to put compost bins and stack logs to rot down.
I do use the bin for stuff that doesn't rot very well or roots of perennial weeds.

Hedge clippings and grass cuttings get composted.
I have neighbours who share a bin, they really only have grass cuttings but won't make a small area in the garden to rot them down.

 

I 'share' a green bin with a neighbour so we pay £25 each/pa.
The bin is registered in her name.
Green bins are collected weekly throughout the year here (atm) so one week she uses it, the next week I use it then leave the bin for collection outside her house.

 

With the money my council charge, I decided to instead use that money what I saved by not using one to invest into a hot compost bin, this gives me a 1000 litres of compost per annum.

 

Just a few weeks ago we paid for this year's green bin subscription at £61 approx. We had a start date for last Wednesday. Then we got an email to inform us they are on strike and won't be collecting. Our council is in meltdown. So we have still got piles of green waste around the side of the house. Sick of it now. The pay/terms of a few hundred bin men is affecting 1 million residents.

So if you are getting a collection you are lucky.

There is now a petition to get a refund on the main council tax too as no recycling waste at all is being collected - although we are allowed to put out a black bag next to the general wheelie and therefore paper, tins and glass all goes in general waste. A complete mess here.

 

I was going with the "natural hedge" idea but have now decided I want the space to grow more plants. So I've been laboriously dismantling it all and cutting up the smaller stuff for the green bin, whilst keeping the bigger logs for a more compact log pile. I don't drive so going to the tip is not an option.I shall be feeding it all out into the green bin over the next 3 or 4 collections! The first lot went this week and the bin was really heavy.

This was all from a major clearance a few years ago after letting the garden run riot and fill up with bramble and sprawling buddleia. I should be able to keep on top of it better in the future, until I get too old and have to pay someone.

My council also offers bag collections, where you buy a set of 10 bags and then book a collection when you've filled some.

 

I am another who shares a green bin with my neighbour. My neighbour gets council tax discount and this applies also to green bin collection, so she pays and I reimburse her. £22 fortnightly collection but they do stop over winter.

 

We don't have to pay extra for our green bin, but if we did, I probably wouldn't. I compost most of my garden waste so all that goes in the green bin is the things I don't want in my own compost - brambles and ivy that root from tiny bits even if you shred them, thick weed roots like dandelions etc and their seed heads if I don't catch them earlier, and knarly twisty woody branches, roots etc that won't go through my shredder (straighter ones get cut into shorter lengths and stuffed under the hedge for the invertebrates). All of that I could either take to the tip (it's fairly close) or bag up for the general waste bin (it doesn't go to landfill apparently). And a large amount of my green-bin-filling is in the months where they don't collect it anyway. It's full now with all the winter's brambles etc (they never seem to stop appearing under the fences and in the hedge - I think the birds bring the seeds) , first collection next week.

 

Compost most material but use waste recycling *depot 1 mile away for woody excess. Green bin (its brown actually) would cost c£60 for 20 collections but needs chopping to fit(no branches bigger than 40mm) .Rarely get noxious weeds but would use grey refuse bin for couch or dry before composting; simply cast upon barrow sieve for 10 days- then good to go in.-
* they sell back the best 'rubbish'; such as fully fitted Hozelock reels, water butts, clay pots, hand tools, lawn mowers just for a pound or 3.- W.H.Y.