Why we now charge for garden waste
Why do you need to charge for collecting garden waste?
We're facing unprecedented financial pressure, and we must make £62m of savings in 2024/25 to keep a balanced budget, and our plans include difficult decisions. We must look at other ways of creating income so that we can protect essential frontline services for those residents most in need.
The collection of garden waste isn't a service that we must by law provide, and if we do provide the discretionary service we can charge a fee, and the income from this can then be used to offset other budget pressures and support the delivery of other key services.
Since not all residents need or want the service, to continue to offer garden waste collections we would provide this as an opt-in chargeable service.
80% of English councils already charge for this service, and many have been doing so for several years. The average annual fee across the country is £55 a year, and locally it's £56.
Residents will only pay for the service if they opt in to the scheme, and it remains free for residents to dispose of their garden waste at our household waste recycling centres.
Will this lead to a rise in fly-tipping?
We remain committed to protecting and enhancing Shropshire’s environment. This includes continuing to encourage people to think about the impact of their actions on the environment and to ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ their waste.
There's no evidence to suggest that we'll see any increase in fly-tipping as a result of the introduction of a subscription service. We've spoken to other councils that have introduced similar schemes and they haven't seen an increase. Importantly, fly-tipping is a crime, and anyone caught doing it could be prosecuted and face a large fine.
Why can’t the charge be added to the council tax?
We must provide certain statutory services, and council tax helps to provide these services, but garden waste is a discretionary service, and we can no longer afford to provide the service free of charge.
Since not all residents need or want the service, a decision was taken to continue to offer garden waste collections, but as an opt-in chargeable service. This means that the collection of garden waste won't contribute to future council tax increases – and the cost of providing a garden waste collection service will only be met by those who use the service.