Thousands of people sign-up to brown bin collection scheme

More than 5,000 people have signed-up to a garden waste collection scheme in Blackburn and Darwen.

The authority has seen a surge in new subscriptions in recent weeks as gardeners prepare for the first collection of the year in March.

As well as helping residents dispose of garden rubbish, the scheme is also beneficial to the environment with all waste collected sent for composting and turned into a soil improver instead of being disposed of in a landfill site.

The Council had to make the difficult decision to either make a nominal charge to cover the cost of collecting garden waste for those that want it or stop providing the collections due to unprecedented budget cuts.

As an incentive to sign-up early, residents have been offered a discounted rate of £20 – if they register before February 1, 2017.

Since the end of the last collection cycle, the council has received requests for more than 300 new garden waste bins, many from customers subscribing for the first time.

Cllr Jim Smith, Executive Member for Environment, said:

We know that this is a service that people really value and are pleased that people are signing-up to enable the service to continue.

I would like to encourage any residents who are thinking about subscribing but have not yet committed to act quickly to ensure they don’t miss out and benefit from the discount.

If you sign-up to the service after February 1 the price will be £25 per bin. You can dispose of all of your garden waste using this service. The scheme is optional.

Those who subscribe to the scheme will receive a bin identification sticker for each garden waste bin, which will be collected every two weeks from March-December.

The price covers:

• A large brown garden wastebin(s) delivered to you (if you don’t already have one)
• Collection every 2 weeks except during December, January and February. You will be sent a collections calendar when you sign-up.
• You can sign up for this service via your MyBwd account or by using the form online at: www.blackburn.gov.uk/Pages/Brown-bins-for-green-waste.aspx

If you do not have internet access you can use the free computers at Blackburn and Darwen town halls or libraries.

 You can put these items in your brown bin

• grass cuttings
• hedge clippings
• leaves
• branches
• weeds
• dead plants
• flowers

Please don’t put these items in your brown bin:

• plastic bags
• plant pots
• stones
• rubble
• soil
• household rubbish
• food

For more information about the scheme visit: http://www.blackburn.gov.uk/Pages/Brown-bins-for-green-waste.aspx