Calls have been made by a local council for Westmorland and Furness Council to reconsider the recently introduced garden waste subscription and look to use the opportunity to introduce the required Food waste kerbside collection as a combined garden and food waste service using the same bin following changes national rules that require councils to introduce the kerb side food waste collection.
Members of Clifton Community Council discussed the issue this week at a meeting and considere the £60 annual subscription charge introduced by Westmorland and Furness Council to be a backwards step, likely to result in unintended consequences leading to increased long-term costs for the council and tax payers, Members of Clifton Community Council also consider the move a missed opportunity in light of the Council’s climate and recycling objectives that will see more garden materials thrown into general waste and the recycling opportunities lost as a result of the charges.
Clifton Community Council members raised concerns over the inevitable dumping of garden waste and raided concerns about the likely impacts of people dumping garden waste such as grass cuttings on to land near agricultural fields and the risk this posed to cattle.
Councillors recognised that, whilst garden waste remains a non-statutory service, recent Government updates allow for a combined food and garden waste collection food waste being a statutory requirement for all councils to now provide from the start of April 2026 but Westmorland and Furness Council is one of a handful of councils with a deadline extension for implementation until 2034.
Members of Clifton Community Council believe that the food waste collections could have been introduced using existing garden waste bins as a combined collection providing an efficient, cost-effective service with no additional costs to the council and enabling the use of waste for energy and fertiliser production to support local sustainability. While also eliminating the £60 charge for garden waste for households across the Westmorland and Furness district.
Clifton Community Council members voted to call on Westmorland and Furness Council to review the introduction of the garden waste charge and, as part of waste harmonisation by 2027, explore the implementation of a combined food and garden waste collection, alongside opportunities to utilise collected material for local energy and fertiliser production to support community resilience and offset rising service costs.
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