By Lucy Ashton and Bill Heaney
Over two thousand residents of West Dunbartonshire have joined together to say enough is enough, according to a press release issued by a community group this afternoon (Tuesday).
West Dunbartonshire Council recently announced that they will introduce a £60 permit to allow the collection of garden waste from brown bins with the following announced on their web page:
“Everyone living in West Dunbartonshire, whether a homeowner or tenant will be required to pay £60 per year per bin if they want their garden waste collected… Those who opt in will be given a sticker to display on their bin.”
This has sparked remarkable spontaneous opposition from people all over West Dunbartonshire who are demanding that WDC think again, just as Aberdeen Council have done this year, announcing that their garden bin charge, which has been dubbed the Garden Tax, will be scrapped.
An online petition has been set up, whilst a Facebook group (Boycott West Dunbartonshire Council Brown Bin Charge) has so far gathered well over two thousand active members who staunchly oppose on principle, as well as on detail, the council’s planned charge.
The Facebook page is only two weeks old yet has seen people of all political persuasions, tenants and homeowners alike, of all income groups, come together united in their exasperation at the council.
They see this as reneging on former policies and introducing a regressive charge on services that previously were seen as ‘green’ and community-minded ways of recycling garden waste.
Comments have largely focused on the iniquity of charging residents, who are often the poorest and least able, many with large gardens they have to tend to, with no thought for their physical or financial abilities.
Many have pointed out that those who share garden space in for example tenement or four in a block properties have no space to store garden refuse without upsetting their neighbours.
Others have gardens which suffer an influx of leaves from properties they have no control over, and therefore are at a disadvantage from others who may only have to deal with their own garden waste.
A member of the group, Marion McIntyre voiced her concern as follows: “How does a pensioner who is still able to potter about their garden… but does not have a car and on a low income…dispose of their grass and cuttings?”
Meanwhile, those who do have cars may take their garden waste to local recycling centres, and an increase in the burning of plant materials makes a mockery of wider commitments to reducing emissions.
Yvonne Clark, one of the administrators of the Facebook group said: “The proposal will have an impact on the Council and Scottish Government’s climate change strategies. Are the people who voted 11:8 in favour of the proposal aware of this?”
Others said that they feel they are at a disadvantage for caring for their gardens at all.
The very operational feasibility of the permit scheme has also attracted criticism.
For example, a concerned member asks what is to stop residents either falsifying permits attached to the bins, or stealing them.
Another member put forward the fear that as bins are put out sometimes a whole day ahead of collection, non-permit residents may simply put their waste into a permit-bearing bin.
This raises the question of systems being put in place to ensure compliance. Will this increase bureaucratic costs and will refuse collectors have to spend time checking whether permits are valid and for the correct address?
Does any of this truly represent a saving when bins without permits but containing only food waste will be collected in any case?
It has also been pointed out that those who simply cannot store or dump their waste will find ways and means to disguise it as household waste by simply bagging it and putting it into the general household waste bin, meaning more refuse going to landfill rather than composting by the local authority, throwing the entire system of refuse collection into disrepute whilst increasing landfill charges.
Furthermore, given that non-permit bearing brown bins with food waste will be collected anyway, it seems this charge is not about increasing efficiency, but adding to complexity of operations where it would be simpler and more cost effective to leave things as they are, considering the numbers of people who will simply refuse to purchase a permit.
For some this is part of a wider decay of public services, and that the time to call a halt is now.
Group member Lorraine Kielty describes the permit charge as a “council tax rise for those with gardens.” Lorraine has also been disappointed at the lack of responses from representatives she has emailed.
“I sent six councillors an email and only the SNP councillor Sophie Traynor has replied. I’ve read others saying they’ve not had replies or even acknowledgements. They’re suppose to represent us.”
Whilst it may seem a minor matter, it feeds into a feeling that decisions made on high are enacted against the wishes of those who elect people to make services better, that this is the thin end of the wedge and that councillors as well as other political representatives have to go back to the drawing board and end this cycle of ‘managed decline’.
Group administrator Yvonne Clark is urging all West Dunbartonshire residents to contact their councillors (as well as MP and MSPs) and express their views to them, and asks that those who object to the charge sign the petition at: https://www.change.org/p/urge-west-dunbartonshire-council-to-revoke-brown-bin-pickup-charges
The group of residents continues to grow and will be making strong representations to councillors, MSPs and MPs in the coming days, weeks and months, with the message, “Bin this charge, and don’t recycle it!”
The Facebook Link to the group is: https://www.facebook.com/groups/392866453501155
Council’s own page regarding Garden Waste and the Charge for Permit, which seems to have been closed down, is at: https://www.west-dunbarton.gov.uk/recycling…/garden-waste/
The Press and Journal reports Aberdeen Council have scrapped their charge which was introduced in 2019.
* This Press Release was prepared in and for the group by Alexandria resident Bruce Biddulph who is also an administrator with the Group.
The Group is open to Public View and editors can contact the administrators directly there as well as view for themselves the level and quantity of objections members have expressed.
Editors can also reply via this email address if further information and contacts required.