A Kent council is introducing new charges for those who throw away more food and garden waste than others.
Medway Council’s cabinet has agreed to implement a redesigned waste collection service which will see residents pay £40 for the authority to remove some organic waste.
The plan, to be introduced next spring, would change the rules around bin collections for food and garden waste.
Residents will get one 240-litre wheelie bin, or two brown sacks, and a 23-litre food waste bin collected for free, but anything over that will cost more.
People will be able to sign up for an additional brown bin to be collected weekly, but it will cost them £40 per year.
Medway Council is the only authority in Kent to offer a free weekly food and garden and waste collection service, and one of only 10 across the country.
In Kent, all 12 borough and district councils have subscription services ranging from £49 per year in Dartford to £68.52 in Thanet for fortnightly collection of organic waste.
At a cabinet meeting on July 9, Cllr Simon Curry (Lab), portfolio holder for climate change and strategic regeneration, said he was confident residents who needed the service would subscribe and, because of the council’s financial position, services such as this would incur a cost.
He said: “We provide a better and more frequent service than most other local authorities, but we’re adding to that for those people with larger quantities of material.
“There is a cost associated with it and, as colleagues know, we’ve got a huge financial problem with the council at the moment. We’re trying to resolve it, and here, if we are introducing something which is needed as a service, it’s going to cost a little bit to pay for.”
Cllr Teresa Murray (Lab) said the plans were also about fairness, as residents who live in flats generate less organic waste than others and those who would require the new subscription were currently using a greater share of the waste collection service for the same price.
The report did raise the possibility of residents avoiding the new charge by mixing any additional garden and food waste in with their regular bin bags. If that were to happen, contamination costs could end up costing the council.
The council believes only a small percentage of residents produce enough organic waste to need an extra wheelie bin, however it reckons if 2% of those residents pay the extra charge and the remaining 98% stick to the free service but mixed their organic waste in with their general waste, it could result in up to £10,000 of contamination costs for the council.
However, the report argues the lower relative cost compared with other authorities should encourage residents who need the service to subscribe.
The collection redesign was brought to cabinet to give council officers time to prepare the new scheme and get it ready for a spring 2025 launch, with collections beginning in May or June – although this depends on contract negotiations with Medway Norse and other organisational work.
The redesign is part of a wider restructure of the council’s waste strategy which is currently under development.
The plans were agreed unanimously by Medway Council’s cabinet and a detailed implementation plan will now be designed by Cllr Curry and the authority’s director of place, Adam Bryan.