Harmonisation of kerbside garden waste collections to be rolled out across North Northamptonshire

The opt-in, year-round service will have an annual subscription fee of £40 – and is scheduled to start from Monday, April 3, 2023.

The council will soon start preparing to roll out the service across the North Northamptonshire area.

Cllr Graham Lawman, the Council’s Executive member for Highways, Travel and Assets, said:

“The costs of our services are rising along with everything else and need to be paid for, whether the charge is direct or indirect and we believe that charging an appropriate rate across the whole unitary area is the fairest way of running this service – creating the most cost-effective and sustainable solution. I am sure that this will be well received in the former East Northants Council area as they will no longer be paying more than elsewhere.

“We have also taken the opportunity to enhance the home compost bin scheme and we will be offering to all residents the on request sack collections for those who do not want or need a bin.

“Further details of how it will run will be published soon, giving people sufficient time to sign up.”

Cllr Jason Smithers, Leader of the Council, said:

“This is the fairest way of running this service and I look forward to it being rolled out across the North Northamptonshire area – harmonising the provision for all.”

What do I do now?

Exact details of how the service will work will be released in the coming weeks.

It is anticipated that people will be able to join the scheme from early January 2023, allowing them plenty of time to sign up to the service before it starts.

People who currently have their garden waste collected should continue to put their bin out as normal until notified otherwise.

Those living in the former East Northants area

Up until now, people living in the former East Northants district area have had to pay an additional annual charge of £55 for their collections, while the remainder of the council area have not.

To acknowledge the historic disparity in charging for green waste collections, the council has decided that existing subscribers will be offered a first year £20 discount at their next renewal.

This discount will be for the first year of the scheme only. After this the annual cost will align with the rest of the North Northants area at £40 a year.

When the new service starts any new subscribers in East Northants will pay the new charge of £40.

I live in the former Wellingborough area – what do I do?

The normal winter pause will apply this year in the former Borough Council of Wellingborough area with garden waste collections stopping in November and restarting in spring 2023.

If your garden bin is collected the same week as your recycling the last collection will be in the week commencing Monday, November 7. If your garden bin is emptied the same week as your recycling the last collection will be in the week commencing Monday, November 14.

Garden waste collections are due to start again in the weeks commencing Monday, March 13 and Monday, March 20, 2023.

Residents will have to subscribe to the new paid-for service to be eligible for collections from April 3, 2023. The service will then run all year round with a brief pause of two weeks over the Christmas period.

Further information

Some additional information is available on the council’s website.