Shropshire Council says residents who have subscribed to its new garden waste scheme should put out their bins as usual this month after high demand caused a backlog in their bin-sticker system.

Over 49,000 people have now signed up for the council’s £56-a-year garden waste collection service, but some residents are still waiting to receive a sticker for their bin which will ensure it’s collected as part of the scheme.

The authority says it’s taking longer than anticipated to send out some of the tamper-proof labels due to the high levels of demand for the service, which opened to subscriptions during the first week in September.

However, the council says that while not all stickers may arrive by the time first collections take place under the new scheme next week, residents who have subscribed to the service will have their garden waste collected as normal on this occasion.

READ MORE: Shropshire Council set to start £56 green bins charge

 

“Bin stickers are being mailed from this week to all residents who have subscribed to the garden waste service so far,” said a spokesperson for Shropshire Council

“More than 49,000 people have signed up to the service in the three weeks since subscriptions opened. Due to the extremely high number of people wanting to subscribe to this service, it will take a little longer than initially anticipated to send bin stickers to all those who have subscribed, and some stickers may not arrive by 1 October.

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“The message to people who have subscribed is: When your sticker arrives please apply it to your bin straightway. If your sticker doesn’t arrive by 1 October, please put your bin out as normal on your usual collection day and it will be emptied.”

Next week will see the official start of the scheme for Shropshire Council’s previously free garden waste service, after a petition calling for the charges to be reduced was debated at full council yesterday (September 26).

The scheme means residents will now have to opt in for garden waste collections at a cost of £56 per year, which the council says will raise up to £4million towards budget savings of around £62m which are required to balance the books this financial year.