RESIDENTS have reacted to the news that St Helens Council has agreed to an annual £35 charge for green bin collections.
As the Star reported, the council's cabinet approved the charge last Wednesday which will affect 68,000 households across the borough.
The authority says kerbside collection costs about £900,000 a year and is trying to find savings in the face of budget cuts.
Residents will have to pay for their green bin to be collected between March and November at £1.75 per collection – or £1.50 under the £30 online cost.
Cabinet member for green, smart and sustainable borough, Cllr Seve Gomez-Aspron said the charge was a "direct result of austerity".
The changes, which will be implemented from Monday June, 5, have been met with a largely negative response from Star readers online and via social media.
One wrote: "£35 over the year isn't a massive amount but I refuse to pay it on principal, bearing in mind that it's just an extra charge on something we are already paying for.
"Nobody asked for a separate collection for garden waste, it was something imposed on us by the council as part of their recycling scheme, and it's not our fault that the council can't sustain it any longer."
Tracey Ayling-Jones added: “Another charge on top of a charge already taken for a job they can’t do properly anyway.“
Sick to the back teeth of countless different receptacles for rubbish including the bins left strewn along pavements after being left neatly outside houses to be picked up.“
Then there is the rubbish left scattered as they can’t aim properly when emptying into the truck. Absolute joke.”
Mandy Williams said: “There is going to be a lot of empty green bins and people burning garden rubbish.”
However, Andrea Bowles said: “When did we all become a massive bunch of whining babies?“
It's like listening to a group of kids going on. How about either pay the £30 a year or be brave and take your garden waste to the tip?“
Or is too much to ask in this day and age that people actually sort themselves out?”
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