There has been an angry reaction to news that Ealing Council is planning to charge for garden waste collections.

Proposals, which were given the go-ahead in Cabinet last night, are to charge residents a £40 annual fee to collect garden material on a fortnightly basis.

To be introduced in April 2012, the fortnightly service will be available for a subscription, with a 25% discount for over 65s and those in receipt of means-tested benefits.

Under the new scheme, residents will be provided with either reusable hessian bags, a wheeled bin or 50 biodegrable sacks for a £40 annual subscription. The green waste collected from homes will be then be composted.

Cllr David Millican, Conservative Group Leader, said: “It is outrageous that Labour will charge £40 a year to collect our garden waste and then only fortnightly.  This is a Labour choice and not a Conservative choice.

''Our borough is the Queen of the Suburbs and we want to encourage more people to improve their gardens and do their bit for the environment.  This £40 tax will stop a lot of people recycling their garden waste.”

''Labour’s has chosen to implement this tax as they say it will remove the cost of the garden waste collection from the Council Tax payer who does not benefit from the use of the service (i.e. those without a garden).  However, this is nonsense.  Is Labour really saying that that people without children should not be paying for schools?”

But Bassam Mahfouz, cabinet member for the environment said the garden waste charge will mean waste collections can stay weekly:

'' The new charge will simply cover the cost of running a new service, can be split over the year by direct debit and importantly will have a discount for older residents across the borough.

''It will be cheaper than near-by charges by Richmond or Kingston and many of the other London boroughs that have a paid-for garden waste service, none of whom have faced any issues with fly-tipping as a consequence.

''We will continue to collect real Christmas trees from all households for free every January and residents will have the option to take their garden waste for free to one of our Recycling Sites or to take up our a discounted compost bin and do the green thing by compositing their garden waste at home.

''We did not wish to re-introduce a paid-for service for garden waste collection, but given the current demands facing us as a council, which means we will NOT have to introduce fortnightly collection for all waste and recycling for all households as other boroughs are.''

Further information on recycling can be found at www.ealing.gov.uk/recycling

What do you think? Discuss on the forum.

14th September 2011