Effort to stop garden waste charge fails
Attempts to stall unpopular plans for a garden waste charge and four-weekly bin collections have been narrowly defeated.
At a recent full council meeting Tory group leader Councillor Neil Benny said introducing a £35 charge for collecting garden waste would increase flytipping.
And he argued that there was no evidence collecting grey and blue bins four-weekly would increase recycling rates and said: “Flytipping is an offence and people should be rightly punished but it is understandable that this process will increase flytipping. People will also burn waste in their gardens.”
Councillor Benny added the council needed to “get to grips” with why Stirling Council’s cost per household for waste collection had been around £130 against a Scottish average of around £68 and said the case blaming frequency of collection had not been made.
He added that frontline waste collection teams were unfairly being left to “bear the brunt of unpopular and unwelcome” policy decisions and that residents weren’t even clear what was considered garden waste and what was food waste, both of which go in the same bin.
“The lack of consultation has seriously dented Stirling Council’s reputation” said Councillor Benny.
Fellow Tory councillor Martin Earl added: “Falkirk is the only other authority to enter into four-weekly landfill bill collection. Flytipping there rose from 1612 cases in 2016 when it was introduced, to 2096 in 2019. Recycled waste fell from 54 per cent to 53 per cent and landfilled waste rose from 40 per cent to 43.8 per cent, so the case has not been proven.”
The Tories had lodged their own motion to halt the changes, however agreed to back an amendment suggested by Green councillor Alasdair Tollemache and seconded by independent councillor Rob Davies, seeking a three month “pause” in order to consult the public and review any potential alternatives.
Councillor Tollemache said: “Stirling Council does need to make changes to its waste collection but the way it was done was counter-productive. We need to increase recycling and re-use and there’s the prospect of reducing the frequency of collection. Instead of four-weekly straight away it could perhaps be done in a staged way - perhaps three weeks. I’m not against change but I’m in favour of a review and proper consultation.”
Environment and housing convener Councillor Jim Thomson (SNP) said, however, issues with the waste service stemmed back several years and predated the current council administration. An initial restructuring exercise had failed to make the expected £800,00 savings, requiring a rethink. The council, along with other Scottish local authorities, will also have to achieve a 70 per cent rate for recycled waste by 2025.
In terms of garden waste, said Councillor Thomson, Tory-run Perth and Kinross Council charge £35, while some other councils did not collect it at all.
SNP councillor Susan McGill said the changes were no excuse for flytipping adding: “We don’t change the drink driving laws so people don’t break the law. Flytipping is a crime. I know change is difficult but recycling targets are going to have to be achieved. We are in a climate emergency. Until we make people change sometimes they won’t.”
Fellow SNP councillor Graham
Houston described suggestions people would drive to Carron Valley instead of their nearest council tip with garden waste as “nonsense” and said any staged introduction towards four-weekly collections would be “a nightmare” in terms of changing calendars, rotas and routes.
Environment vice-convener Councillor Danny Gibson (Labour) said: “Consultation is always thrown up as if somehow if we consulted everyone about difficult changes that might be challenging and unpopular, they would feel better when we had to do it anyway.
“Is there something so unique about people in Stirling that they can’t cope with or adopt something that has been introduced in Perth or Falkirk?”
Council leader Scott Farmer said it would be “ridiculous” to go out to consultation on one option.
He added: “It’s not a straw poll. We are there to show leadership and examine the complexities. We need to make these changes however unpopular they may be in the short run.”
Councillors voted down the amended motion by 11 votes to 10.
This process will increase flytipping. People will also burn waste in their gardens