Garden waste service set to grow

More residents can soon take advantage of East Hampshire District Council’s kerbside collection of green waste as the council moves quickly to extend and improve the service.

Currently more than 10,000 residents take advantage of the monthly collection of grass cuttings and garden clippings from people’s homes.

With two lorries dedicated to the service it is struggling to meet demand and has more than 1,000 households on a waiting list.

The council now plans to launch a third crew, opening up the collection to a further 5,000 households.

It will also strengthen the existing service and enable the council to clear the current backlog of uncollected garden waste bins.

Cllr Richard Millard, EHDC Leader, used an Executive Order, a process that fast-tracks the council’s decision-making process, in order to launch the new service as quickly as possible.

He said: “The Green Waste service is a popular and successful innovation from EHDC but it has not been operating as efficiently as it should.

“Introducing a new round will let more people sign up to the service and allow us to get our existing collections back on track.

“While we only have two crews on the service it has no room to grow. We believe there is sufficient demand for the service to launch a third round, allowing another 5,000 households to conveniently dispose of the green waste they collect from their gardens. No more trips to the tip!”

Garden Waste customers pay £74 a year for a brown bin and £49 for a green sack, which is emptied once a month all year round.

You can register your interest in a garden waste licence on the council's website: www.easthants.gov.uk/garden-waste