DDC introduce subscription charge for garden waste collection

Dover District Council is making changes to the way it collects garden waste - with the introduction of a subscription charge for the service from 2 April. The rolling out of a chargeable service will ensure that residents across the district have access to garden waste collections, and only those who choose to use it will have to pay for it.

The yearly charge will be introduced from 2 April, and the charge for collections from April 2012 to March 2013 will be £40 - around £1.60 per fortnightly collection. This will allow residents to place up to six bags of garden waste out per fortnightly collection.

The scheme was given the go ahead at Cabinet yesterday (Monday 6 February). All residents will receive an information pack at the beginning of March with full details of the scheme, and information on how to subscribe for the year.

Cllr Nicholas Kenton, DDC Cabinet Member for Environment, Waste and Planning said: "The introduction of these changes means that households across the district will be able to access garden waste collections. To enable the Council to offer this service, within the current budgetary constraints, we have decided to introduce a small annual charge for those who wish to subscribe, which means that only those residents who use the service will pay for it."

Please note that residents who have not subscribed to this service will have to make their own arrangements from April onwards to dispose of their garden waste.

For more information, visit the DDC website at www.dover.gov.uk, email waste@dover.gov.uk or call 01304 872428.