Brown bins will be reduced to fortnightly collection in East Renfrewshire after councillors approved a £350,000 cost-cutting proposal.
The garden waste permit scheme, now in its fourth year, provides permit holders with 50 weekly collections of food and garden waste throughout the year for a one-off annual fee of £52.20.
Food waste collection remains a statutory service and is collected from brown bins without the need for a permit.
Almost all local authorities in Scotland either charge for garden waste collection, which is a non-statutory service, or don’t offer such collections.
Councillors were told that East Renfrewshire is the only local authority that continues to offer a weekly garden waste collection.
A report detailed that the estimated cost of providing a weekly garden waste collection in 2025/26 is £1.9 million and, while around 22,800 permits were sold this year, the forecast income from permit sales is £1.2m.
This is, the document added, £700,000 less than what it costs to run the service. To reduce costs, councillors have agreed to change the frequency of brown bin collections to a fortnightly service from 2025/26. It now brings East Renfrewshire into line with its neighbours.
Permit holders will now receive 25 collections throughout the year with the council set to bank around £350,000 which will contribute to the overall savings needed to be made in the year ahead.
The officers’ report says a decision had to be taken now to allow enough time for a fortnightly collection to be introduced from next May.
Further information will be issued ahead of the permit renewals period in May. There will be no increase in the cost of permits for 2025/26 which will remain at £52.20 but residents will see collections halved.
The scheme remains opt-in and anyone who doesn’t require their garden waste to be collected can still use their brown bin for food waste. People also have the option of purchasing additional permits.
East Renfrewshire leader Owen O’Donnell has previously warned that the council is facing significant challenges to close a projected budget shortfall of £15m for 2025/26.
He said cuts to services would be required to help cover the financial black hole and this would impact the services the council delivers to members of the public.
“We are determined to navigate the tough choices we have to make,” he added earlier this month. “The council has set up a cross-party budget strategy group to support transparency and build a consensus. This collegiate approach has worked well over the last two years and I am sure that will continue.”
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