- It encourages recycling of green waste
- It is a system in situ, that people are used to.
- It is probably fairly popular.
- Replacing it with a new system would be likely to have a number of one off costs (e.g. taking in old bins and giving out new ones)
- Not collecting garden waste for free may divert it to landfill (again contrary to the waste hierarchy) or lead to more flytipping.
The disbenefits I can see are:
- It could be seen as reducing the incentive to waste reduction, which is contrary to the waste hierarchy concept.
- Home composting would be a more environmentally friendly and cheaper alternative than the Council collecting the waste.
- It is fairly expensive for the Council, as the Council has to pay to dispose of the waste, despite collecting it for free.
- It can be seen as unfair that non garden owners are effectively subsidising garden owners.
Incidentally, it also illustrates the importance of legal definitions, which I have emphasised in the Library context. Charging for landfill and dry recycling is not possible since those are defined as part of a local authority's legal duties.
1 comment:
The changes to Brent's waste collection changes are looming ever closer and I am very unhappy about the situation. As one of the few residents along my street to use the various bins appropriately, I feel the idea of charging for garden waste collection as a contribution to making Brent a 'cleaner, greener borough' an absolute anathema. Because of the ever increasing, prowling fox problem in both day and night, I will not be using the small smelly food bins, nor will I be able to afford the green bin collection. I could pave over the garden I have created and nurtured for the last 15 years and solve the problem or I could bag and dispose of it in the landfill bin despite being told that is forbidden. I think it is also forbidden to fill landfill with dry goods that could be recycled but that happens every day without council intervention.
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