Anglesey residents could be charged £35 a year to have garden waste collected

Gardeners on Anglesey face having to pay £35 a year to have their green bins emptied if new proposals are adopted.

The island is the only authority in north Wales to not currently charge for the fortnightly collections of garden waste, but decision makers now plan to introduce the annual levy from April 2021.

The plans will be debated by the council’s Corporate Scrutiny Committee on Thursday, but is expected to generate between £350,000 and £490,000 a year, depending on expected take-up of between 30-40% of households.

If adopted, the £35 a year annual charge would entitle households to 26 collections of a 240 litre wheelie bin, for grass and other garden cuttings, with options to pay online or over the phone.

The report, to be debated on Thursday, states that it will still be possible for people to take their own green garden waste to one of the household waste recycling centres at Penhesgyn and Gwalchmai, but should not be placed in the black general waste bins.

The charge is said to be part of the new  £40m waste collection contract with Biffa, with the eight year deal coming into effect next April.

Biffa’s workforce have been collecting the Island’s waste and recycling since 2007, but the renewed deal will cost the authority an extra £800,000 a year as well as having to purchase a new fleet of vehicles and equipment which will also cost an additional £500,000 per annum.

It’s expected that between 30% and 40% of the island’s households will take-up the new service when implemented, creating two jobs within the authority to set-up and maintain.

All other north Wales authorities already charge for the service, between £25 in Wrexham and £35 in Gwynedd and Conwy.

The report notes, “Similar to all other local authorities in North Wales, the Executive decided that the Contract would specify that a new chargeable Green Garden Waste collection service would commence from 1 April 2021, ending the current free service which has been in place for several years.

“This is in- keeping with the Welsh Government’s waste Collections Blueprint (part of the national waste strategy – ‘Towards Zero Waste’), and their recommendation to Welsh local authorities that they should apply a charge for collecting Green Garden Waste.

“The proposed fee of £35 is a contribution towards the cost of providing the service which currently falls on the Council’s budget to fund.

“If the proposed fee was reduced by £5 and based on 10,000 collections, this would reduce the income generated by £50,000 which would have to be funded from the Council’s budget. i.e. through an additional increase of £1.59 in Band D Council Tax (this is based on the 2020/21 taxbase).

“A £5 increase in the fee, from the proposed level would result in the rise in Band D Council Tax having to be £1.59 less than if the fee was £35 provided the same number of users signed up at the increased price.”

The plans will be discussed by the Corporate Scrutiny Committee on Thursday before being passed on to the Council’s Executive for final approval.

By Gareth Williams – Local Democracy Reporter