£56 annual garden waste subscription charge to go ahead across Cheshire East

By Belinda Ryan - Local Democracy Reporter 3rd Aug 2023

Food waste recycling will formally stop next year in Cheshire East, but residents who pay the £56 green bin subscription won't be fined if they continue to put it in with garden waste.

This July, the environment and communities committee voted to press ahead with the introduction in of the controversial charge to empty garden waste bins for January 2024.

The decision has left Cheshire East with a major headache because, legally, local authorities can't charge to collect food waste, and the council currently collects it with the garden waste.

Cheshire East Council says it had no alternative but to bring in the charge because it needed to raise £4m to fill a funding gap (LDR).

Director of environment and neighbourhood services, Tom Shuttleworth, said: "We recognise, with any service change, there's always a period of adjustment which may see some food waste being placed in the garden waste bin.

"Where this is the case, we won't be looking to take any sort of enforcement action with residents, we will be heavily educating [for home composting]."

When asked for clarification on just exactly what people should do with their food waste after January, he said: "If asked, the position will be, food waste needs to go into your black bin."

The officer told the committee, the council had no alternative but to bring in the charge because it needed to raise £4m to fill a funding gap.

Wilmslow councillor David Jefferay (Independent), said: "It's very much unpopular but I think it's a decision that we have to make. We don't have the luxury of saying let's choose not to do this."

Cheshire East residents will pay £56 a year to put garden waste in the greeen bin (Ryan Parker).

But the Conservatives, who voted against it, asked if all alternative options had been explored.

Poynton councillor Hayley Whitaker (Conservative), said the council should have looked at reducing the green bin service over the winter months as this would have reduced costs.

"It's unfortunate our current slogan's around greener and that kind of thing, because it doesn't look greener," she said.

Cllr Janet Clowes (Wybunbury, Conservative), said the cost of dealing with black bin waste was three times as high as dealing with green waste.

"The reason we looked at producing our own green hub site [which processes garden and food waste] at Leighton Grange, was to prevent us having to pay three other operators to do that work for us which was highly expensive.

Cllr Janet Clowes, Conservative group leader on Cheshire East Council (CEC).

"We built in the free green bin waste collections on the back of those savings we would make," she said.

"If we think about what it costs to transport additional black bin waste, we have to take on board the cost environmentally of haulage."

Macclesfield councillor Ashley Farrall (Labour), who abstained from the vote, was concerned about the unused garden bins which would be left on streets and possibly set on fire.

Seven committee members voted for the subscription charge to go ahead from January and the five Conservatives voted against.

Speaking after the meeting – and stressing he was speaking on behalf of himself and not the council, leader Sam Corcoran told the LDRS: "I will be taking up the green waste bin subscription service and I intend to continue putting food waste into the green bin.