Price gouging councils

[Gerry557]

Rant mode - On!

Just found out that the price charged by the council for the garden bin is almost doubling.

I have decided, on principle, (to cut my nose off) that I am going to cancel my direct debit and request they collect my bin.

Another council who provided the service free decided to introduce a charge. I cancelled that one too. There wasn't much in this and I informed them that it would be black binned. It was actually composted in the woodland but don't tell em. They later relented as the costs of clearing up from fly tippers and more black bin rubbish offset the income from the charge and they weren't meeting their waste reduction targets. They also had a problem with what to do with all the returned bins.

I know that some are struggling but it looks like price gouging to me. I think it sends the wrong message and if I'm complaining what are the others who are not so well off going to do. Probably black bin or fly tip too.

Rant mode - OFF!

[kempiejon]

I've been doing some aggressive pruning before the growing season, including the willow tree in the back garden and neighbours conifers marking our boundary. As per neighbourliness and I think the rules they allowed me to put the branches from their side in their garden bin. IN fat said I could put my green waste in there too. Well there must have been several months worth so I took it in one of my several booked appointments to the Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC). Seem easier than dripping it in over the next few months.
The £50 per year round here for collection isn't really worth it as I can compost and use chipping for mulch most of my stuff but the big jobs still need taking to the HWRC. Which this time had the advantage of me coming back with a few good lengths of timber that I'll repurpose that someone was getting rid of.

[dealtn]

Rant mode - On!

Just found out that the price charged by the council for the garden bin is almost doubling.

I know that some are struggling but it looks like price gouging to me.

So how much?

[Tedx]

Mine has gone from £35 to £50, so not doubling but way above inflation. I think I'll pass.

[Gerry557]

It was £20 when started but was difficult to pay. Why they couldn't just add it to the council tax I don't know.

Jumped to £40 which was cheaper than the full price on a direct debit. Which made it a bit easier to pay but it's a separate thing.

Now it's going to £75, it didn't specify if this includes a discount for direct debit so it might be more. They have changed the collection day to the same as the other bin day. I don't know why it didn't start that way to begin with or maybe there is a new bin day alignment charge of £35 and the garden bin rate is static

It's not even a year but 7 months. That's a decent rate of growth if it was dividends.

[DrFfybes]

It was £20 when started but was difficult to pay. Why they couldn't just add it to the council tax I don't know.
.

Because people would go on the internet complaining that they lived in a flat and were paying for someone else's green bin?

[Hallucigenia]

It was £20 when started but was difficult to pay. Why they couldn't just add it to the council tax I don't know.

Because increases in council tax are restricted in law to <5% (without a referendum), which means it's not easy for them when there's been 10+% inflation. And I don't think people quite realise how Whitehall has been dumping on local councils - over the 2010s the central government grant was cut by 40%, but they still had to deliver lots of statutory services which means anything non-statutory gets squeezed.

[clissold345]

My garden waste was £51-50 last year, it's £54 this year. "Your new subscription is valid from Monday 5th February 2024 until Friday 6th December 2024."

[Tedx]

It was £20 when started but was difficult to pay. Why they couldn't just add it to the council tax I don't know.
.

Because people would go on the internet complaining that they lived in a flat and were paying for someone else's green bin?

Hmmm. We don't have any kids yet I have to pay for others to be educated. Etc.

[clissold345]

From an article in The Times (updated July 14, 2023):

"Council tax revenue is used to fund a number of local services which may include:

- Libraries
- Sports centres
- The fire service and police
- Refuse collection
- Road repairs
- Street lighting
- Social care

It also covers environmental health, trading standards and administration such as local elections and records of births, marriages and deaths."

[bungeejumper]

Ours went up from £50 to £66 last year. Can't wait to see what this year's price will be. But cunningly, the council doesn't tell us what the charge will be until a couple of weeks before the collection year starts. (June 30, the peak of the season.) No pressure, then.

I have this vague idea in my head that councils' green waste collections go toward their general recycling targets. And that, in the past, it translated into cash bonuses for the town halls. If there's one thing that hurts more than being charged £200 for three bins (yes, we do have a lot of garden), it's the suspicion that the bastards are getting rewarded twice over.

Stop press: Wiltshire Council have finally decided to give us food recycling bins for the very first time! Until now, we've been told to dump all our fox and rat and squirrel fodder into our grey bins, so that it can go into landfill, where I'm sure it won't release any methane at all. But hey, even the stoniest councillor's heart knows what's ethically best.

But wait.....: The new food bins won't be arriving until the end of 2027. Apparently the council can't start collecting food waste before then, because its contract with the disposal company has another three years to run, and it can't be amended in mid-term. If I ever find out which clueless wazzock put his signature to that deal, he'll be getting my little contributions through his letter box. And I might not just be talking about letters.

BJ

[the0ni0nking]

Sorry - am I missing something? You get charged more to have a specific "garden" bin?

I have a grey bin (general), a green bin (recyclable) and a brown bin (garden).

I'd make it like Spain - big bins in the street collected way more regularly than in the UK and no wheelie bins to be seen.

[Lootman]

Because increases in council tax are restricted in law to <5% (without a referendum), which means it's not easy for them when there's been 10+% inflation. And I don't think people quite realise how Whitehall has been dumping on local councils - over the 2010s the central government grant was cut by 40%, but they still had to deliver lots of statutory services which means anything non-statutory gets squeezed.

Councils always complain that they need more money. During the Blair years councils were positively imperial, setting up new departments like the much derided diversity offices. So the 2010 onwards "austerity" is best seen in the context of the prior excesses.

Councils need to get back to their basics, like fixing the roads. And not act as welfare providers. Sports centres can be run privately and should be sold off. Libraries are a luxury in the internet age.

But all that said, rubbish collection is a core function because it is a public health issue, and I am fine with LAs charging for it.

[Tedx]

It was £20 when started but was difficult to pay. Why they couldn't just add it to the council tax I don't know.

Because increases in council tax are restricted in law to <5% (without a referendum), which means it's not easy for them when there's been 10+% inflation. And I don't think people quite realise how Whitehall has been dumping on local councils - over the 2010s the central government grant was cut by 40%, but they still had to deliver lots of statutory services which means anything non-statutory gets squeezed.

Not to mention the arrears situation. In my wee county in the NE of Scotland (pop 97.000), the Council Tax arrears stand at an eye popping £17.5 million.

[Lootman]

Because increases in council tax are restricted in law to <5% (without a referendum), which means it's not easy for them when there's been 10+% inflation. And I don't think people quite realise how Whitehall has been dumping on local councils - over the 2010s the central government grant was cut by 40%, but they still had to deliver lots of statutory services which means anything non-statutory gets squeezed.

Not to mention the arrears situation. In my wee county in the NE of Scotland (pop 97.000), the Council Tax arrears stand at an eye popping £17.5 million.

I guess that you cannot get money out of those who don't have any.

But for those like me who subscribe to the "starve the beast" philosophy to reduce excessive government spending, a tax strike can be the only way of constraining LA budgets. Because the central government sure as sheet has not done that.

[the0ni0nking]

I do wonder about the benefits of making AoE orders as a wider solution - if people are not able to budget accordingly then put AoEs on them to pay their council tax and utilities.

People seem to becoming more and more inept at managing their finances so - for some - the less take home pay they have the better as they might chose to spend it on cigarettes and alcohol as opposed to food and electric.

Similarly re benefits - take chunks out to pay for key bills. (I know landlords can apply for HB to be paid direct but assume the same doesn't apply re utility companies to pay their bills out of benefits).

After all, we're all now paying the SOs to cover those that won't/don't/can't pay on their utilities.

[JohnB]

It was actually composted in the woodland but don't tell em

I hope that was your own private woodland, In the woods I help manage we hate the dumping of garden rubbish, it introduces invasive species and organic matter and upsets the natural balance.

[88V8]

No one with a decent size garden needs a bin.
Compost... and an annual bonfire for the non-compostables and pernicious weeds.

I must admit I could shred more and burn less, but the time and the noise....

V8

[Laughton]

I must admit I could shred more and burn less, but the time and the noise....

Ah yes. I invested in a shredder (we have a lot of hedge) to connect up to our ride on lawn mower....but after one use my wife refused to let me use it again because of the noise. That reminds me, must list on ebay in the hope that a gardner with a more understanding spouse might be interested.

Council tip now charge £5 per tyre so have tried to make a flowerpot feature of those old ones when lawn mower's needed replacing. Not too bad when stacked and planted with hanging basket plants but not so attractive during the winter.

[88V8]

Council tip now charge £5 per tyre so have tried to make a flowerpot feature of those old ones when lawn mower's needed replacing. Not too bad when stacked and planted with hanging basket plants but not so attractive during the winter.

If in a sunny spot a stack of tyres is a good way to grow early potatoes.
The 205 x 14s from my TR6 ended up in that ignominious fashion. Although ride-on tyres might just give you a packet of crisps.

V8