Ealing Council Reduces Garden Waste Service

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Collections will now only be made for nine months a year

Ealing Council wheelie bins

February 22, 2024

Ealing Council is to reduce the months in which its garden waste service operates in the coming year.

It announced the changes in renewal notices that were sent to subscribers to the service as they will need to make their annual payments by the end of March to continue getting their green waste collected.

The charge has been increased to £96.50 per annum or £73.80 for those over 65 or on means tested benefit plus the service will stop for three months at the beginning of December meaning that the last collection for most people will be in November with no further taking place until March 2025.

The council has justified the change by saying that collection rates during the winter months are low. Christmas tree collections will still take place during January.

The move has led to criticism from some local gardeners who say there are ample cuttings to be collected during December, January and February.

If you want to subscribe for the service, you can do so through the council’s My Account customer portal. Go to www.ealing.gov.uk/myaccount to register a new account or sign into your existing account and fill in the garden waste collection service form.

If you need help you can call customer services on 020 8825 6000, 9am to 5pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday and 10am to 5pm on Wednesday.

Ealing collects garden waste every second week and says it is taken away to be converted into high quality compost.

A council spokesperson said. “We have benchmarked our garden waste collection service against other local authorities, which identified that that councils are increasingly moving to a three-season service. The service pauses in the low growth winter months after leaf fall, when it does not make sense to spend precious council resources on collecting significantly lower amounts of garden waste.

“Tonnages of garden waste collected during the winter months of December, January, and February on average constitute approximately 13-15% of the total collected across the year.

“The council spends 70% of its budget on adult and children's social care, which are statutory services required by law. The garden waste service is a discretionary service that councils are not required to provide, and which costs us a substantial amount each year, even after resident subscriptions. Moving to seasonal collections will help pay the cost to the council of providing the service as we can no longer afford to subsidise it for those lucky enough to have gardens.

“If needed, garden waste can still be taken to the household waste and recycling centre in Greenford over the winter months and disposed of for free. We also offer compost bins at a subsidised rate.

“Some residents have asked for information on how else they can dispose of leaves. Residents can request equipment or sacks to help clean their street, including for street leaves. Residents can subsequently arrange a collection of full sacks.” 

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