Sandwell households can now sign up for fortnightly garden waste collections for £35 a year starting from March 2023.
Residents who actively use the service can subscribe to the 2023 garden waste collection service by completing the online garden waste subscription form.
The £35 annual subscription fee covers collection of garden waste from 27 March 2023 to 22 December 2023.
Sandwell Council must make savings of £15m over the next financial year, so the decision to introduce a charge for the discretionary garden waste collection was taken to protect essential services. The collection fees will enable the service to pay for itself, meaning any increase in operational costs in future years will not have to be funded through council tax.
The council is preparing for its most challenging budget since the beginning of austerity in 2010. This is due to a combination of factors, including the exceptional levels of inflation that are affecting everyone.
Currently, a significant number of households do not use the service and many who do consistently put out garden waste bins that are often half empty. The introduction of a subscription-based service means that vehicles can be directed to those streets where residents are using the service, which will help reduce our carbon emissions by vehicles contributing towards our climate change targets.
Households who subscribe to receive garden waste collections should continue to use their green garden waste bin. Collections will resume over a two-week period with week one beginning on 27 March 2023 and week two on 3 April 2023. A permit sticker will be provided to all subscribers to attach to their garden waste bin and residents who take out more than one subscription will need to attach the permit to each bin.
To sign up for the service or to find out more visit our garden waste webpages. Residents are urged to check the bin day finder closer to the time for the date of their first collection.
Councillor Zahoor Ahmed, Sandwell Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment Services, said: “The introduction of charges for garden waste collections will generate income to help close our budget gap and mitigate increases in the costs of delivering essential services. We recognise the pressures on people’s household finances so feel this is the fairer option for all residents as only those who use the service would be charged for it.
“Charging for garden waste collections brings Sandwell in line with 65% of councils across England which already charge for the service. Our fee is less than the national and West Midlands averages, and we anticipate that approximately one third of homes in the borough will subscribe to the garden waste collection service.”
Apart from subscribing to the service online, residents who have no access to the internet can call Customer Services on 0121 368 1177 weekdays between 8am-5:30pm.
Free disposal of garden waste will continue to be available at the Household Recycling Centre in Shidas Lane, Oldbury (book a slot online), and the council will also work with residents to encourage composting.
For more information, including FAQs on the subscription service, please visit the Council’s garden waste page.