Poole Residents Charged For Green Bins?

Borough of Poole's Cabinet has approved a six week consultation with residents on plans to introduce a chargeable garden waste service.

Borough of Poole is considering proposals for a possible extension of the current scheme so all households can take advantage of the fortnightly collections.

The service is currently available to 22,000 properties in Poole - approximately one third of the borough's households - and is much in demand. Residents without access to the scheme have made continued requests for the council to extend the service to other parts of Poole.

Significant reductions in Government funding for local services and other financial constraints mean the council cannot afford to extend the scheme without introducing a charge for collections.

The current service is available from April to October each year but a proposed borough-wide scheme could operate from March to November to accommodate early Spring garden clearing and the late autumnal leaf fall

As well as introducing the borough-wide opt-in scheme, the council also propose to introcude a policy banning garden waste from black bins.

It is proposed to introduce the chargeable scheme from March 2012 and current plans will see the charge set at £31 per year. Only those residents choosing to have fortnightly collections of garden waste would pay for the service.

Cllr Xena Dion, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for the Environment, Borough of Poole, said:

 "The garden waste scheme has proved very popular in the areas we have been able to introduce it but,understandably, residents in other areas constantly ask when they will receive the same service.

"Unfortunately we cannot extend the scheme without introducing a charge but we hope that by consulting now with residents we will be able to agree an opt-in charge that will see equity across the Borough and provide the much wanted green bins to people in all areas who choose to have one. We also hope that residents who may not use the bins very often would look to sharing them with neighbours and friends as a scheme in which people opt-in would bring greater flexibility than currently."

The consultation will run from Monday 20 June to Friday 29 July and residents will be able to take part online at

www.boroughofpoole.com/gardenwaste and also at roadshows being held across the borough.