COLUMN: Get ready to sign up for green waste collection service

by Coun Roger Gambba-Jones, portfolio holder for place at South Holland District Council

You may be aware that South Holland District Council will soon be launching a new pilot garden waste collection service.
The much-anticipated scheme starts on April 4 and we will be launching the sign-up process imminently, so keep checking the web for details.

Signing up will be quick and easy through the South Holland District Council website and I would urge anyone interested to do so as soon as the details are announced to ensure their place. If your household is not currently on a collection route, then you can still register your interest so that we know where to expand the areas as soon as we can.

The two-year pilot will initially be available to 2,500 households with residents who sign up provided with wheelie bins or paper sacks. Collections will be split between Spalding households one week and Holbeach, Crowland, Long Sutton, Sutton Bridge, Donington, Gosberton and Surfleet the next week.

Should the pilot continue to attract households, the areas serviced will continue to be extended by the scheme.

There will be an initial charge of £49 for 24 collections a year and an initial one-off charge of £15 to cover extras including delivery and lease of the bins. Residents who choose the paper sack method will pay £15 plus £5 delivery for ten sacks.

We agreed to introduce the service late last year following on from a survey we carried out in 2014. This saw households surveyed on interest in such a scheme, particularly method of collection and cost.

Around 85 per cent of respondents were interested in a garden waste collection service, with 60 per cent indicating they would be happy with a wheelie bin and 65 per cent prepared to pay around £2 per collection.

So we are giving residents what they want and believe the scheme represents excellent value for money.

Residents wishing to participate on an ad hoc basis or those living in a property which isn’t suitable for a wheelie bin can purchase paper sacks.