Councillors agree to introduction of charges for special collections of bulky waste
04/06/08
Aberdeen City Council has agreed to introduce a fee of £20 for special collections of bulky waste.
Resources management committee members have voted to bring in charges for uplifting items like garden, DIY, and similar wastes from city homes to meet a budget commitment to save £300,000 annually on the service.
The cost of uplifts, which totalled almost 25,000 last year, is currently met through the council tax – but fewer than a quarter of households benefit from the service by asking for free collections. Under the new arrangement, only those who use the service will pay for it.
As part of the annual budget review process, it was identified that the cost of providing the free special collection service, as well as the high standard of weekly and fortnightly collections already enjoyed by Aberdeen residents, could not be sustained.
Concerns have been voiced that the move may lead to a rise in fly-tipping but a report to the committee said there was no evidence to suggest that will be the case. Aberdeenshire Council has operated a similar scheme, charging £20.30 for four items, for a number of years and it has not resulted in major fly-tipping problems.
Close monitoring of fly-tipping will be undertaken following the introduction of the charges, and measures will be put in place to deal with the impact.
The committee agreed that the new fee should be introduced as soon as possible after 1 July.
The most common fee will be £20 for the collection of up to four items in one visit. A 50% discount will be available for people who fall into agreed disadvantaged groups.
The implementation of the charging scheme will initially be via a contact centre booking and payment system, and a walk-in service at the Podium.
The charge will be reviewed annually, with effect from 1 April 2009. The extra money raised is not expected to cover the full cost of the service but the charge has been set to balance the impact on householders and the need to recover costs.
It is hoped that the introduction of charges for special collections will also focus residents’ minds on the impact of their purchases and on the costs of disposing of waste. Charging will potentially open up the opportunity for some items to be passed on to re-use schemes operated by social enterprises such as Instant Neighbour and the Creative Waste Exchange.
Aberdeen City Council and SITA provide four recycling centres, which will still accept bulky items free of charge if delivered by householders.
For the calendar year 2007, Aberdeen City Council provided 24,578 “two articles free” collections. These included the collection of material which was crushed and sent to landfill, fridges which were taken to a special decommissioning plant for CFC/HCFC gas removal, and white goods which were delivered to a local scrap dealer to be stripped down for recycling.
If you have any queries regarding this, or any other news story, please contact Aberdeen City Council on: 01224 522000.
