A meeting of the Cabinet on Wednesday (November 28th, 2007) gave the go-ahead for the chargeable garden waste collection scheme, which has already been trialed in some areas of Ashfield, to now be available to approximately half of the district.

Councillors heard how the successful trial scheme, in operation since 2005, had generated a positive response from the public, with many requests for it to be extended.

Deputy Leader of the Council, Cllr. Austin Rathe told the meeting:

“This has got to be a step in the right direction for the Authority, based on positive feedback from the public. By extending the scheme in this way we can see how it is developing. It is important that people are given a choice.”

The garden waste scheme will be offered to 26,000 households across the district. Households that qualify to take part in the scheme will be contacted in January with full details and will see collections commence in early March.

Head of Neighbourhood Services, Edd de Coverley, said:

“I am delighted we can extend this scheme to more households in 2008, as this year we collected over 300 tonnes of garden waste for composting, and next year we hope to collect over 1,000. Thank you to everyone who has supported both this and our other recycling services.”

The garden waste scheme is the Council’s latest addition to a range of recycling initiatives designed to increase the district’s recycling rate to 40% by 2010.