Stirling’s Councillors have adopted a new household waste and recycling policy which includes a 100% concession scheme for the new Garden Waste Permit*

The £35 annual opt-in charge for garden waste collection will start on 19 April and will support the Council’s drive to improve its household waste collection services.

Residents in receipt of a council tax reduction will be eligible to receive their permit for no charge, along with those who receive a garden maintenance service.

A household with someone who is ‘severely mentally impaired’ may also qualify for the concession.

Almost 7,000 of Stirling Council’s householders will be entitled to the free service and will receive their permit directly.

The new policy consolidates the current practices of the Council’s waste and recycling services to households for ease of reference and transparency. 

There are only four areas of current service provision which will change under the new policy:

• A household of five or more, rather than a household of six or more, with excess non-recyclable can apply for their standard 240L grey bin (general waste) to be swapped for a larger 360L grey bin.
• Households with more than two children in nappies will now be able to apply for the non-hazardous healthcare waste collection service – an additional 240L grey (general waste) bin.
• From April 2021, and once the current stock is depleted, the Council will no longer provide food waste caddy liners from Council buildings. Residents can put food waste in their caddy loose, line their caddy with newspaper or kitchen roll or purchase compostable liners from supermarkets or online.
• As part of the current standard household waste and recycling collection service, contaminated recycling bins are not emptied. Whilst the Council would encourage contamination to be removed, residents can now request a chargeable uplift for a contaminated bin. 

Members of the Environment and Housing Committee approved the policy following a vote last week (11 February).

Convener of the Committee, Cllr Jim Thomson said: “The new waste policy brings together all the existing customs and practices of the waste service in one document which will be important for public awareness, clarity and enhanced service delivery to residents.

“I am pleased to see the policy include the 100% concession for the new garden waste permit for eligible households and we will shortly share more details with residents about this.

“While there aren’t significant changes to existing practice in the policy, I welcome the fact more households with larger families will be able to apply for a larger grey bin.”

The policy reflects the changes to the Council’s Waste Transformation Programme that was approved by Councillors in June 2020.

Almost 70,000 new grey and brown bins have been delivered to households (as of 10 Feb) as part of phase one of the transformation.

Vice Convener, Cllr Danny Gibson said: “There are a number of transformative changes taking place in our household waste collections, including the rollout of the new grey and brown bins, so it makes sense to create a new policy that takes these into account.

“Public feedback has helped us shape the changes to our household waste and recycling services, and we are committed to continuing engagement with residents during the transformation programme.”

Along with the policy, the committee report also includes a list of waste and recycling requirements for the public, such as container presentation times, contamination guidelines, collection of missed bins, assisted collections and bulky uplifts.

To view the report, the policy and guidelines, please click here to download the agenda papers. 

A recording of the Environment and Housing Committee meeting is available to view on the Council’s YouTube channel

*[Comment from Councillor Martin Earl on this press release from Stirling Council]

Four members of the committee ( myself included) voted against adopting this set of policy proposals as we felt there were still too many discrepancies and areas of that had not been given due consideration.

There was particular concern that the policy contains no minimum service standards, no information on a complaints procedure or  on what materials would be considered ‘garden waste’ as brown bins without permits will only be emptied if they contain food waste. There were also concerns regarding having to pay to have a contaminated bin emptied when other people could be responsible for that contamination. We also wanted to see a commitment introduced into the policy requiring consultation to be held BEFORE changes to collections are implemented – as has been the case with the move to 4 weekly grey and blue bin collections planned for July.

Continue reading “Not all councillors in favour of Stirling Council’s new household waste and recycling policy” →