Midlothian Council has approved plans to continue the chargeable kerbside garden waste collections. (Brown bin)
At the full council meeting on Tuesday, it was confirmed the scheme had generated a net income for the council of £591,178 in 2019.
Councillors agreed the service should be offered to residents again in 2020, with the charge remaining static at £35 per bin.
The kerbside garden waste collection service operated very successfully last year. The service had 18,516 garden waste bin collection requests, with 99.7% of all collections being completed on time as expected.
Residents can sign up and pay for next year's service from early January 2020. As part of the council’s ‘Digital by Design’ vision, payments for next year's service will once again be online via the council’s online payment portal.
For those who do not have access to the internet, assistance and advice will again be available at all council library buildings through the provision of an ‘Assisted Online’ service. The council also aims to recruit members of the voluntary sector and staff within local community hubs to assist residents to sign up online. In 2019, around 2000 residents visited their local library to receive assistance with paying online.
Residents who opt-in to the service will receive fortnightly collections of their garden waste from mid-March to mid-November. Householders are encouraged to sign up early in the payment window, open from early January – 20 February, so as not to miss their first collection.
