Garden waste collections restart next month have you signed up?

Thursday has seen temperatures peak at an unseasonably mild 16ºC in Flintshire

The outlook for the weekend is also looking very good with sunny spells and a significant absence of wet weather.

The relatively warm weather, for the time of year, is having an effect on grass with many lawns looking like they may need a trim pretty soon.

Wheeling the lawnmower from the shed for its first outing of the year comes with its issues, namely what to do with the grass cuttings from freshly mown lawns?

The obvious answer is to stick them in the brown bin the council provides if, of course, you are signed up to Flintshire Council’s £30 a year garden waste removal service.

But, even that won’t help get your garden waste moved for the next couple of weeks as the service doesn’t resume until the beginning of March.

Flintshire Council’s Cabinet recently agreed on the continuation of the charging policy for 2019 and beyond and that the current cost of £30 per bin will be frozen for 2019.

The ‘opt in’ garden waste service began in April 2017 – 33,871 households subscribed to the service last year which helped to boost the cash strapped local authority coffers by more than £1m.

The ‘new’ service is also saving around £130,000 a year due to a reduction in the number of vehicles and operators required for garden waste collections.

Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Streetscene and Countryside, Councillor Carolyn Thomas, said:

“The actual take-up marginally exceeded our financial target which means that we can potentially look into technology-based systems which offer a more efficient method of registering a bin to a property.

This will speed up the management and payment process and will remove the need to issue stickers each year. We are recommending that options for this are considered and introduced in time for the 2020 season.”

It was also recommended, “after careful review” that no reduced rate will be offered to residents on benefits.

“It would be difficult to provide such a discount without passing additional costs onto other non-eligible residents and the management of such a system would be costly and time-consuming in carrying out checks.” The Council said.

For those residents who want a kerbside collection service and are yet to sign up you can do it online here: FCC_WastePayments or by phone on 01352 701234 or at any Connects office.

Collections will start from 1 March and have been extended to include any late leaf fall until to 15 December when Christmas collections start.

Cllr  Thomas added:

“The Council also operates five Household Recycling Centres at Mold, Buckley, Greenfield, Sandycroft and Oakenholt which receive garden waste throughout the year.

Advice and further information on home composting and waste and recycling services can be found on our website.”

Garden Waste Collection FAQ’s https://www.flintshire.gov.uk/en/Resident/Bins-Recycling-and-Waste/Garden-Waste-Collection-Service.aspx