Latest News

Explaining changes to waste and garden waste collections

Published: 12/02/2018

Flintshire County Council is introducing changes to its waste and garden waste services because the Council needs to meet Welsh Government waste recycling targets and must tackle the major budget challenges which are being faced by all Councils, given the continued period of austerity. 1. The Garden Waste Service. In order to meet the cost of the garden waste service - from 1 April, there will be a £30 per year charge for the service which will continue to operate from 1 March to 30 November each year (There will be no additional charge for the collections made in March of this year). If you would like us to continue to collect your garden waste bin, you can find registration details online at www.flintshire.gov.uk/gardenwaste or you can call us on 01352 701234 to sign up for the service. If you prefer, you can take garden waste to your nearest Household Recycling Centre (HRC) free of charge or, if you have the space, you could compost it at home. Information on how to compost can be found on www.flintshire.gov.uk/gardenwaste or by visiting your local Connects centre. In order to accept the garden waste material, the Council’s HRC sites will be operating summer opening hours from 1 April and will be open from 10am until 6pm seven days a week. These extended summer hours run until 30 September 2018. 2. Side Waste Enforcement. Many residents are really committed to recycling their waste but there are some who still do not and this severely impacts on our recycling performance. From 1 March 2018, we will be starting to visit residents who leave out extra side waste with their black bin to encourage them to recycle and to advise them what can and cannot be recycled. If our help and advice is ignored and people continue to leave side waste, a £75 fine could be issued. Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Streetscene and Transportation, Councillor Carolyn Thomas, said: “These matters have been debated at length and neither has been an easy decision, tough choices have had to be made due to the continued UK Government’s regime of austerity. The Council is not legally obliged to collect garden waste and many other Councils have already introduced such a charge. We do however need to meet strict Government targets on recycling household waste to avoid getting fined – money which we think is much better spent on providing necessary, statutory services such as our children’s education and social health care to the elderly and vulnerable residents of Flintshire. Advice on what to recycle is readily available on the Council’s website or by visiting one of our Connects centres.”