Forums Forums Wirral Information Wirral Council Garden Waste Bins

Hey ho ! Cost of garden waste bills gone up to £40 for one bin or £65 for two bins.

Yet again, overdosed on the inability for understanding that people are either not prepared or unable to pay so much, so I assume half empty trucks wizzing around Wirral is a cost cutting exercise.

In total I (and others) will have to find £200 in the month of May for Wirral Council, including council tax. I don't have that amount spare. Thanks for the offer.

Any suggestions. Green bin maybe ?

Do you have a compost heap/bin? That would save a lot of stuff needing to go in the brown bin. I keep promising to get one myself, I had one before we moved and it worked reasonably well. Council usually have offers on too.

You have a lovely garden there Granny, looks huge alot of upkeep needed for that me thinks. Mine is not that big so what I do when I have lots of bushes etc burn them in an incinerator bin. You have to pick your time of course , usually in the evening making sure no washing out on lines then away I go.

Another idea would to go to the tip with your garden waste and use the brown bin either for a water butt or a compost bin.

I got an oil drum from Mc Coys in Rock Ferry.Told them I wanted to use it as a fire bin & they put the holes in,only cost me £10 & I can burn stuff in it & the rest I put in the green bin

That's a good idea Star, my incinerator bin is pretty beat up and I was thinking of buying a new one, I'll pay them a visit myself thanks for that..

Green bin is good granny, we bin bag ours and put in green bin.

will not be paying again for this,green bin,tip,or road side bins if it's good enough for dog do its good for my grass,or in the clownhall bins or steps

I've always used green bin,all garden clippings etc bagged. It would take me at least 6 months to fill a brown bin.Lets face it the Council don't recycle after cutting verges,parks etc,the cutting are just left to rot . Love your garden Granny,glad I don't have to maintain it though.

Lots of welcome replies. Thanks.

There are times when there isn't so much to get rid of but other times masses.

I have got a compost bin, which I used religiously for a number of years. Put all the vege peelings in, old fruit, thistles , leaves etc. as instructed. However, I never got any compost. It never got high enough to the level of scooping it out. It turned out that I had what must have been the fattest rats and mice in the whole of Wirral. They were getting in from underneath and having a real feast.

In the past I have had bonfires , particularly when wanting to get rid of dead wood and branches but next doors trees are hanging over to the point of it being a dangerous pastime now.

I have also had a burning bin many years ago and that did work well, until the bottom burnt out, but I think that might be the better option now, and then I can throw the grass cuttings at the top of the garden. Not sure how that will run in preventing green house gases. Anything difficult can go in the green bin.

So in all, everyone has given some great ideas. A combined effort and really appreciated.

Yes , it is a large garden and probably getting too much for me these days. Hedges and tree pruning are the greatest problem as I don't trust myself on ladders any longer.

Thanks again.

You can compost everything that comes from your garden. This is what the council does with it anyway. By parting with garden waste you are throwing away fertility and impoverishing your soil.

I made three large compost bins out of gravel board for my wife's allotment, and they work in rotation. Nothing organic gets thrown out, and she buys no compost. The trick is to make them big enough to heat up, and to turn over the contents from time to time. Your garden looks big enough to do the same. A shredder would speed the process up but we don't have one. Pernicious weeds like 'mares tail' gets burned.

For kitchen waste, you obviously need a vermin proof container, but that too works well for us. It is kept in an outhouse, and insulated with an old duvet to keep the temperature up.

Pay for one bin and share the cost and the bin with your neighbour?

Managed to convince one of my gardening customers to have a compost heap because they weren't too bothered about garden (bit of a recluse who never went in it). Considering have been putting grass cuttings on it for the last 5 years its hardly grown in size. Also gets the occasional bag of grass from other gardens. One or 2 customers I just put it in bin bags and in green bin.

Captain, that is a good idea as a lot of the stuff like ivy comes over from their garden anyway, BUT who would have the bin ?

People say that we should put newspaper in with a compost heap. Is that correct ?

Where do the Council take the contents of the brown bins? Do they make any money out of it?

Merseyside have two main composting sites for public waste one of which is Bidston, I presume the other is at Gillmoss now.

A bit more presuming is that it is fast-composted which means methane production will be minimal so the only product will be compost. I'd imagine much of the compost will go for council uses and will offset the cost of the use of the facility.

At one time this composting was done at Warren's nursery, Thingwall and you used to be able buy it, or sometimes it was free but times have moved on since then.

Thanks for that D.D.

The Council say no more than it is contracted to an authorised composter. What they don't say is that one used to be able to obtain free bags of compost from the Council: bet you can't now, just go to a Garden centre and buy it, cost added to the new cost of the bin.
Are'nt the Council obliged to take out rubbish anyway?

I knew the reasonable introductory price for garden waste would not last. I ditched the brown bin and bought a composter when they introdced the charges. Its enough to take care of the years grass cuttings and few extra bits. I only have to go to the tip once a year when I cut back the summer growth.

Granny, have you had a letter from the council? I have not had a letter or an email and nor has my neighbour but the current ones only run to end of May, perhaps the council are saving money on postage!

Good morning Salmon. No, I have not had a letter from them, only a reminder, by email.

Which is another point. If we paid online we used to get a £5 reduction, but this time, there is no mention of that either.

Interesting as I have had no email either. I always pay online . Thanks Granny , as you say no suggestion of an online discount either.

Salmon, my email came through into my 'promotions' box. Don't know why, but you may find yours there or somewhere else. (even Spam)

Thanks, Granny, I have looked all over and found nothing so I went on line and renewed it. I must admit I get a lot of stuff into spam which I just delete without looking so maybe it did come in there.

Looking at various Councils throughout the country, some charge ,some don't . Some charge less ,some charge a bit more, like one borough in London where it has just been introduced at £50.

Some collections are every week as in Stockport (and at the same time free), Northumberland, parts of Wales and East Yorkshire are free for collections. Some authorities charge for a second bin to be emptied where the first is free.

St. Helen's are only just beginning to charge for this service at £35.

Less people seem to be happy to pay for the service but at the same time in other areas, it's seems the increase of dumping garden waste on street corners and parks has increased.

Strange that Wirral Council, which at one time had the fourth highest council tax in the country, (Liverpool being the top of the list) at the same time has been one of the first to introduce this revenue grabbing service.

Begs the question, what does or has Wirral actually spent it's money on over the years ? No wonder funding has been cut more to some councils than others, ours were way OTT in the first place.

I know where my money goes, one week of my pension now goes on my band D council tax because I've been told I'm not eligible for 25% discount.

we pay more Council Tax in Wirral than many other places, including the London borough of Barnet ...about £200 a year cheaper.
D £68,001 - £88,000 £1,154.70 £280.02 £1,434.72

Just looking at Barns in the borough of Richmond . A place known for it's swimming pools of the rich and famous.

D
£68,001 to £88,000 .

Richmond Council Tax £1,358.52
Greater London Authority £280.02
Total £1,638.54 (just about the same as Wirral)

Just to put the icing on the cake.
D Westminster City Council 408.12
Greater London Authority 280.02
Total 688.14

However, Westminster has always been the cheapest in the land

Chester.. Band D £1379

I think somewhere on wiki someone posted that when the charge for garden waste bins was first introduced, a new position in charge of the garden waste bin collections was appointed by the council with a wage of £30,000?

I can well believe that Derek. A degree in something or other needed.

Who did all these types of jobs before kids went to University in droves ?