South Gloucestershire’s new green waste collection programme has proved far more successful than predicted – and far sooner than thought.

The Communities Committee made the changes to the service to meet a £1m savings target – which would have needed 22,500 households to sign up. Figures now show that nearly 30,000 households have paid to be part of it, in under a month.
Lib Dem Communities spokesperson Councillor Claire Young said: “With other services under threat, it’s great that the new garden waste service has already hit its target.”

She added, “It’s important that we deliver a good service to the residents and any initial problems are overcome. I’ll be watching closely to make sure that’s the case. Missed bins or long waits on the phone are unacceptable. The good news is that the same in-cab technology that tells the crews which houses have subscribed to the green waste service will also help cut missed bin problems.”

The Conservative councillors on South Glos are being challenged to unveil their hidden cuts when the programme is next discussed on June 4th. Chris Skidmore MP presented a petition, which means the waste service has to be debated – which will give the Tories another chance to tell residents what they would do instead.

Cllr Young said: “So far, Tories have voted against bringing in the charge and failed to vote on freezing it. Their only idea was an uncosted suggestion that we could collect bins to 10 o’clock at night. They’ve got to come clean on waste – do they have any proposals for residents? Or are they just the party of no?”