Jump to content

Brown bin collection - Council starting to charge?


Recommended Posts

I have heard a rumour that the Council plan to introduce an annual charge for the large brown organic waste bins on the basis these are used mainly for garden waste. The small brown, food waste, ones will still be free.


I was told this will be effective from 1 April but I can see nothing on council web site and don't seem to have had anything through the door. Has anyone else heard of this?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was also told by a (brown bin) man from Veolia. Charge of ?60 or ?80 annually. It looks like the council is planning a number of 'surprise' (never mentioned in the community charge leaflet) charges. So the leaflet will be (in so far as it states % rises) a lie - as the actual rise for many people will be higher (but because you can choose not to have garden waste collected, I suppose treated as discretionary). That's why I started a thread on Tooley St and trust.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

tomskip Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Good. Hopefully people will get rid of their

> hideous large brown wheelie bins now and the

> streets and pavements will look a bit nicer.



It's the bright blue ones which are the real eyesores.


At least green and brown are colours which occur in nature.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Will be interesting to know if this also applies to collection of the garden waste bags? I assume it will have to, otherwise everyone will just swap to those. We don't have a brown bin but we do use the bags a few times a year. How will that be provided for?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We don't have a brown bin but we do use the bags a few times a year. How will that be provided for? You either pay an annual fee to have garden waste collected, or it isn't collected. As it was explained to me by the bin man. How they keep a record of who has paid is moot, of course. Indeed the management of this will cost more than they gain, particularly as they will have to provide everyone with the larger kerb side caddies - the kitchen caddy doesn't hold enough.


But this is still rumour and innuendo at this time, even if they are to start charging in April - as the householders know nothing official.


(And wouldn't, if it isn't true, of course!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Penguin68.


I'm sure that will be what they suggest - but it seems insane to charge someone who has 2-4 bags a year (mostly of leaves that blow into our front drive) the same as someone who fills a brown bin with grass and other garden stuff more regularly. Agree it will just lead to people dumping garden waste or mixing it in with other rubbish.


And edited to add, at the risk of picking an edge case to make a point - does that mean Southwark won't be collecting Christmas trees in January unless people have specifically paid for the brown bin collection? I can see that being something of an eyesore...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

tomskip Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Good. Hopefully people will get rid of their

> hideous large brown wheelie bins now and the

> streets and pavements will look a bit nicer.


Couldn?t agree with you more

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We don't have a brown wheelie so we use the paper sacks (plus a compost heap in our garden). I'm sure it must be possible to work out a fair way to charge people for garden waste collection. What did we used to do before the brown wheelies?


Hopefully they can recycle all the old brown bins into smaller kerbside bins which people can keep outside their kitchen doors and therefore off the pavements/front gardens. We (family of 4 adults) put out one small bag of food waste per week, so even our kerbside caddy is never full. I'm aware I'm sounding like a right smugarse here, but we need to think hard about reducing waste generally.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I heard that, if you paid the fee, you would get a sticker for the brown bin. The paper sacks would continue but would need to be purchased.


I can see the logic in charging for what is effectively a garden waste service but there needs to be some advance communication about this and the implication thought though and explained.


Probably worth checking with local councillors, I may put something up on their thread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

People living in LB Lewisham have had to pay for a brown bin garden waste collection for a couple of years now. Can't remember exactly how much- ?60-70, but it is only collected for part of the year (not much call from Nov to Feb, for example).


People with low need for this service seem to: hide their garden waste in among their household waste / acquire Southwark paper garden waste bags and leave them in the street / use normal bin bags and dump it in the street / or, like our near neighbours, throw it over the fence into the alley - presumably on the basis that if THEY can't see their garden waste then it doesn't exist. Oh, and very occasionally, people load up their car and go to the tip.


Lewisham council tip is more restrictive than Southwark - no rubble, no soil, no DIY waste - so it's a wonder they still take garden clippings. Christmas trees - if you live in LB Lewisham, there is no collection from homes - you have to drag your sorry tree to the nearest municipal park where they are eventually collected. But of course, some people find it easier to just dump them in the street. And others have a bonfire with them (in their gardens, not the street, though that wouldn't surprise me either).


Bulky waste collections - ?15 for three items (quite a restrictive list) in Lewisham (fridges are ?30, mattresses free, though people still dump them in the street); ?16 for 10 items in Southwark.


When Southwark is as bad at refuse and recycling as Lewisham, you'll have my sympathy. Until then, I shall continue to dream of Southwark's waste and recycling paradise...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

slarti b Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I heard that, if you paid the fee, you would get a

> sticker for the brown bin. The paper sacks would

> continue but would need to be purchased.


Thanks - that at least seems to manage the position for people who only need to use the sacks a few times a year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

peckman Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> My bugbear is the size of the bloody things.

> Annoyingly if you have three they are just to big

> to line up neatly on an average front garden .

> Surely they should be smaller to account for you

> are using 3 separate bins



You can ask for a smaller bin for some of them.


I have a smaller green bin than the standard size, as I don't have much landfill. Just contact the council.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are cases to be made for differential charging for different services (although as I've sent no children to be state educated maybe I should have a discount - oh, it doesn't work like that?) - what I object to is to receive a very short letter from the council making claims about the levels of charge rise - which implies some sort of like for like comparison when (and if) they plan to increase the costs to me of the services I take from them over and above that level, because I could choose not to have garden waste removed (waste which they then compost for their own use!).


That (if that's their intention) is (or would be) simply duplicitous. The trouble is that I have so little trust of Southwark that I am quite happy to believe that they will lie and obfuscate in this manner. It's what I have come to expect. I hope the rumour is wrong - (which is not to say that I wouldn't wish them to make a case and debate such a change - just that the implied manner of what they are doing would sicken me if the rumour is true). The fact that none of their elected lackeys is prepared to bell this particular cat (either through their own ignorance or policy) really says it all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Regarding asking the council for a smaller bin. Will they also take the bigger bin away?


I only have a large brown bin, so I use that for food waste. But as someone points out that does mean its only ever got one or two compostable bags of food waste in it. Not sure the collection guys like that, they often don't pick them out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think Southwark Council must have committees whose soul purpose is to dream up new schemes to raise money.

Most of these are aimed at Motorists, Parking and the like.


But we are told not to Pave over our gardens to improve drainage,

Encourage the growth greenery for insects, butterflies and Bees.


Then Ban the burning of garden waste with the possibility of Fines.

Then.. If we put garden waste in our garden waste bins we will now be charged.


Good Old Labour run Southwark Council.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • I agree with the posts that housing is an urgent need in Peckham and throughout Southwark. But as Alice says, it’s the percentage of social / affordable housing that matters. In October last year, there were over 4,200 households on the Council’s waiting list for housing in Peckham alone (over 17 thousand across Southwark). But the developer is only offering 35% affordable housing (which means that 65% will be unaffordable). Both Southwark Council and the GLA say that a big development like this should provide 50% affordable housing.   Re-development of the site is a great opportunity to make the town centre “cleaner, safer and more sustainable and welcoming” (borrowing Nigello’s great words). Is this dense development going to do that, when it provides no real green and open space where people can spend time outside and nature can help us tackle the growing problems of climate change like absorbing flood water, cooling the air on baking summer days? Are 7-storey buildings along Rye Lane (where the average buildings are 2-3 storeys) going to be welcoming to users of the town centre? How will the development impact on Peckham’s economy? Currently there is busy daytime commercial activity of shops providing for different demographics and needs including a rich offering of international groceries and other products, alongside a thriving night-time economy. I can’t see anything in the proposal that suggests how it will enhance and empower the local economy. Yes please, let’s have a great development on this site that enhances the town centre. This means not letting the developer get away with packing people into dense blocks that turn their back on the town centre and which will be a recipe for urban decay in the long run. Peckham deserves better than this!
    • You know when you are wrong but think you're right because the internet etc? Read it and twist it how you want if it makes you feel better. I use a card as well as cash. You are pro jumping the gun and pro cynical. Yeah,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
    • Using cash is a good way of budgeting for some, if they don't have the cash in their pocket they can't buy things they may not need.  Financial institutions are keen to get us to all use plastic and credit because its harder to spot when you are at your limit and debit equates to interest which is how they make money. So dear Sephiroth, before you slam people for being pro cash, maybe think about why they are and not just view the world from your limited perspective 🤔 
    • The card machine in the dry cleaner's wasn't working, so the guy asked my husband to go to the cash till and withdraw some money....
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...