Bolton could face higher waste costs after dropping plan for green bin charge

In December last year Bolton Council announced that a proposal to bring in a £45 charge for 25 annual green bin pick ups was “dead and buried”.

But a meeting of the council’s cabinet at the end of September heard a report which suggested the authority may end up paying higher costs for waste disposal, partly because of this.

Cllr Martyn Cox said: “What this report is trying to resolve is when local authorities introduce a green levy or a green charge, they then expect the amount of green waste that they send to recycling to reduce.

“And they therefore will get a reduction in costs.

Waste disposal across Greater Manchester was under discussion(Image: Bolton Council)

“And we would get a subsequent increase if we are one of the authorities that does not have a green levy.”

Former Conservative group leader Cllr Cox had been addressing a cabinet meeting discussing the GMCA Revised Levy Allocation Methodology Agreement for Waste Disposal.

The initial consultation on charging for green bin collections across Bolton had sparked a widespread backlash in October 2024.

Other authorities, like nearby Chorley and Blackburn with Darwen, already charge for garden waste pickups.

By December Bolton Council announced that the proposal had been abandoned after receiving an extra £3M funding from Whitehall as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement.

But the most recent report put before the council cabinet said that costs for all kinds of waste processing could be impacted by other council’s bringing in green bin charges.

The report said: “An adjustment mechanism has been introduced to take into account the potential impact of the introduction of garden waste charging by some districts on the tonnages of garden and residual waste received at HWRCs.

“This mechanism involves the monitoring of waste tonnages to ensure that districts not introducing charging for garden waste services do not pick up additional HWRC costs.

“Where charging for garden waste impacts tonnages received at HWRCs, the variable cost of handling and treating the additional tonnage will be passed back to the relevant district or districts using the operating contract haulage and treatment rates.”

In response to Cllr Cox’s question borough treasurer Graham Wilson said that the costs could in fact end up coming back to Bolton.

He said: “In theory if you introduce a charge, it can affect people’s behaviour.

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“So, in theory it could lead to individual households no longer separating out their green waste and putting it in general waste, which would then go to a waste incineration site or a landfill site.

“That could have two impacts one that recyclable waste tonnage would increase, but also biowaste tonnage, those that can be recycled, would reduce.”

Mr Wilson said that Greater Manchester waste had contractual arrangements with various recycling centres.

He said this could cause a change in the charges with could have “negative consequences” for a council like Bolton that does not charge for green waste.

Source – INDIA TV