Summer measures for garden waste collections
Last updated | 19/06/2008
Perth & Kinross Council has announced today it is bringing in short-term measures for Summer 2008 for its successful kerbside garden waste collection.
Since 1999, the Council has operated the scheme whereby garden waste is collected in brown lidded bins from households. Increasing participation in the kerbside collections over the years has seen a high level of garden waste collected – up to 15,000 tonnes per year.
With an ever increasing number of households joining the scheme and with exceptionally favourable growing conditions this summer, there has been an unprecedented increase in the amount of garden waste collected in Perth and Kinross over the past three months.
In some areas of Perth and Kinross, the increased volume of waste being put out for collection has meant that legal load limits for the refuse lorries are being reached. Collection crews are doing everything possible to maintain a full collection for all householders, and in the short term, for the rest of this summer, households with existing brown bins will continue to receive a collection.
However, in areas where refuse collection vehicles are at capacity, it will not be possible for the remainder of the summer to provide householders with new or additional garden waste bins. In the other areas, households new to the garden waste scheme will only be provided with one bin per household.
It is anticipated that the situation will resolve itself during the autumn and winter months when levels of garden waste in these areas naturally begin to drop. At this point, the normal service of providing households with new or additional brown lidded garden waste bins will resume.
Perth & Kinross Council is, in an effort to prevent this situation from happening again, currently looking at improvements for next year as well as any short term measures required to increase collection capacities this year. The options being considered include local storage facilities for garden waste and the employment of a seasonal crew over the growing period to cope with the increased demand and use of the service.
Households with excess garden waste that cannot be picked up by the collection over the summer have other options for disposing of it. The Council, in partnership with the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), is offering a range of discounted home composting bins. These can be ordered online at www.recyclenow.com or through the phone orderline on 0845 077 0756.
Composting garden waste at home, along with uncooked fruit and vegetables, teabags/coffee grounds, egg shells and even small volumes of cardboard, produces a free end product that can be used as an efficient soil improver or mulch, and can be the foundation of a healthy organic garden.
Garden waste can also be deposited at any of the Council's eight Recycling Centres.
If you are looking for a brown lidded garden waste bin, please contact the Customer Service Centre on 01738 476476 to check you are within a participating area. For the location of your nearest Recycling Centre you can contact the customer Service Centre, email recycle@pkc.gov.uk or visit the Household Recycling pages on www.pkc.gov.uk/wasteandrecycling
