An additional free collection of garden waste will be made by Liverpool Council after a mix up over when the old system would end.
From Monday 18th April, residents must be fully registered with the new £40 annual scheme to have their garden waste collected. Liverpool Council had initially said on its website that free collections for all city residents had now ceased ahead of the new charge.
Now, the local authority has said one final free collection will be made for all citizens from next Monday. In a tweet, the local authority apologised for the “confusion and inconvenience.”
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One resident in Fazakerley told the ECHO that neighbours were "fuming" that their bins hadn't been collected and hadn't been communicated to them, despite every house leaving their bin out for collection. The new charge has proved deeply divisive and the council faced a barrage of criticism and questions on its social media pages after it was approved by its full council earlier this month.
Those who do not wish to take part in the scheme can keep their bin if they want to opt into the scheme at a later date, or have it removed. Those wishing to have their bin collected from April 18 must ensure they are registered by Friday April 8.
More than 4,000 households have already signed up for the scheme with Cllr Abdul Qadir, cabinet member for neighbourhoods, telling a committee earlier this month that for the scheme to break even, a 33% take up is required, the equivalent of 49,000 homes across the city. Around 1,300 people have signed a petition calling for the charge to be scrapped altogether.
In a further tweet, Liverpool Council has said green waste bins should be presented alongside blue recycling bins if they are due for collection on Monday. It added that those who did not have their green bin collected this week will be picked up during their scheduled blue bin service from Monday 11th April.
Liberal Democrat Cllr Richard Clein has opposed the green bin charge from the outset and said it was good that the council had listened to concerned residents. He said: “Clearly what I’ve said in relation to the response I’ve had from residents has had an impact and thankfully the council has listened.
“This is yet another example of how the council communicates, putting things out on social media and people don’t always go on there to get their information. We’ve had hundreds of letters on this and it’s good that they’ve listened but the communication has been appalling.”
