Maidenhead & Windsor

Sign up for new Windsor and Maidenhead green waste scheme. 10% discount for residents who sign up for two years

A convenient new low-cost collection service for grass clippings and other green waste will soon be under way in the Royal Windsor and Maidenhead Borough and gardeners are being encouraged to sign up as soon as possible.

The new fortnightly kerbside service – catering for Windsor and Maidenhead residents who want a regular, dependable green garden waste pick-up in addition to their normal weekly refuse and recycling collections – starts on Monday November 3 and costs just 66 pence a week (£29 a year).

There is even better news for residents who sign up for two years and pay in advance – a welcome 10% discount which means they pay only £26.50 a year (£53 in total).

Lead member Cllr Alison Knight said there was an undoubted demand for a regular green waste collection – 62% of residents who responded to a recent market testing exercise said it was a good idea.

She added: "This is an exciting and very welcome addition to the council's range of recycling services. More and more of our residents are keen to play an active part in helping to cut the huge volume of waste we send to landfill every year and this service will be a great bonus.

"For a modest fee – and even cheaper if residents sign up for two years – we will organise for garden waste to be taken away every two weeks, turned into compost and be of benefit to even more gardeners in the future."

Cllr Knight stressed that the new Windsor and Maidenhead service would not affect the council's normal weekly refuse collection – it would be an extra option for residents who need a regular and efficient way of disposing of their garden waste.

Cllr Paul Etherington, chairman of the sustainability panel, said: "Around 16% of waste currently put into wheelie bins comes from gardens and could easily be recycled. Instead, it is costing the council £370,000 a year to dispose of at a time when efforts are being made to minimise council tax rises. This can't be good use of taxpayers' money.

"With the escalating cost of sending waste to landfill – about £58 a tonne – and the government's hefty financial penalties if we go over our limit, we must find new ways of encouraging local people to recycle even more.

"Thanks to the efforts of our residents, we already have a creditable recycling rate but the council must push for even more – and here is a cost-effective, efficient way of diverting garden waste from being dumped in expensive and unsustainable holes in the ground."

Joining the fortnightly Windsor and Maidenhead green waste collection scheme couldn't be easier:

· Call the Customer Service Centre on 01628 683801 to register and pay the fee – either £29 for one year or the 10% discounted £53 for two years
· A 240-litre green wheelie bin will be delivered to each subscribing household before the service starts on 3 November, along with an information pack that sets out the collection dates and how to make the best use of the bin
· Veolia, the council's waste contractor, will collect the green bin on the same day every two weeks.

The new service can accommodate a limited number of households to start with, so gardeners are being encouraged to sign up as soon as possible as demand is sure to be very high. First come, first served!

Green waste can also be taken to the council's household waste recycling centre at Braywick, open seven days a week between 8am and 8pm (April to September) and 8am to 4.30pm (October to March). The council's bulk green collection service can be booked on 01628 796844.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead